Customer Reviews
A wonderfully eclectic collection. - By: Jazzrook, 23 May 2008 
Theme Time Radio Hour is one of the most original & enlightening music programmes on the air. It's brilliantly presented by Bob Dylan who plays an eclectic mix of often obscure records all linked by a theme. Dylan's knowledge of American popular music is immense & each programme is peppered with his unique combination of wit & wisdom. So, Ace Records are to be congratulated for issuing this double album containing 50 wonderful tracks of the kind of music to be heard on TTRH. The only thing missing is the man himself but that shouldn't deter anyone from acquiring this marvellous & wide-ranging selection of great music expertly compiled by Ace.
Is this the same man ? - By: Richard, 27 Mar 2008 The guy whoin the 60s used to wind up the Press & tell anyone who asked that some song was about light bulbs or something seems to have suddenly acquired vast knowledge over the last 10 years at least.
Maybe he goes on Wikipedia a lot as some of the info he imparts is not exactly rootedin most peoples' brains.
Dylan though showed signs of what was to comein an album which was eternally slagged off-SELF PORTRAIT.
Remember that one-where he showed he was not averse to covering other peoples stuff.It suited me fine as I love cover versions.
Anyway Bob next time you do one of these can you include plenty of high school pop-you know Bobby Vee who once sacked you-and a few of the other Bobbies like the great Bobby Rydell.And not forgetting Fabian-time he had some credibilty.
Oh & Barry McGuire who sang the greatest anti War song of all-Eve of Destruction
WORTHY OF 6 STARS - By: T. C. Casagranda, 24 Mar 2008 Quite frankly, this is the best reissue of 2008, already. It shows that not only has Dylan been the cultural commentator of the world, but that he is also the cultural curator of some amazing music. It is almost as if this is the music that has even shaped his own recordings. It is not that far from Louis Jordan to "Open The Door, Homer" on the Basement Tapes, or the early blues on this albumin relation to Love & Theft. But, isn't all pop/rock music Love & Theft ?
GOLDMINE - By: P. D. Warburton, 21 Mar 2008 Ace Records could hardly go wrong with this aesthetically. Whether it sells or not is anyone's guess. OK, we'll all have our individual misgivings about some of the 50 songs chosen here, but they're just quibbles. The cumulative effect of hearing so many great original voices & players is mindboggling. The sound fidelity is so much better than the Theme Time Radio Show MPEGs that most of us have been listening to. Rhythms, styles & subject matter are as diverse as anyone could wish for. For all the diversity, however, all the tracks share a common humanity & integrity, which seems to be the main point of Bob's radio showin the first place.
I can't imagine anyone being disappointed at shelling out money for this. One thing I've liked about TTRH is its balance: male/female, black/white, 1930s/40s, 20s/60s & so on. We've all been taken aback by Dylan's knowledge, & obvious love, of Caribbean & Hispanic music, the latter of which, I would like to see better represented on the collection. But this is overwhelmingly a celebration of American vernacular music. It's also an affirmation that, for all its inventions, its movies, its self-marketing, vernacular music has always been America's best expression of itself.
PW
Magnificent - By: Tony Floyd, 13 Mar 2008 If I was Prime Minister or President I would make Ace Records the national musical curator, & let them pick & choose any recording that they wanted for any project they wanted. They get it right time & time again, & this set is no exception,in fact this release even ups their game. You get two CDs containing 50 tracks & a beautiful 48 page accompanying booklet with a commentary for each track & illustrations galore. All housedin a neat card cover.
But, hang on, let's start at the beginning. Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour (or TTRH for short), the radio show, is everything you would expect of that eclectic, eccentric & electric troubadour. If you don't know it, though surely you do, each programme is an hour long & revolves around a specific theme (radio, jail, Christmas, luck, drink or whatever) with DJ Bob introducing each songin his sandpaper whisper, giving a brief & incisive commentary on the track or perhaps a pertinent quote or maybe a whimsical digression. The music played is hugely diverse, stretching back to the beginning of the 20th Century right up to last week. It covers all bases: country, blues, R&B, jazz, reggae, soul, rockabilly, punk, swing, any tributary that feeds into the great flowing meandering river of popular music. Each show is a delight & makes for fascinating listening whether you're a Dylan fan or not (though perhaps slightly more fascinating if you fall into the former category).
Show by show, then, the listener is being treated to nothing less than an alternative history of popular music. The themed approach prevents it from being a po-faced academic & ploddingly chronological exercise, rooting it insteadin the realities of lived human experience, whether noble or mean, gleeful or grim. (Tony Blackburn used to do a similar theme based thingin his `Golden Hour' backin his Radio 1 days but of course with barely a hint of the wit & grace with which Bob acquits his role.) Bob Dylan is using his drawing power to expand our horizons by bringing to our attention songs & recordings that we should know about if we take music seriously (and serious doesn't mean joyless). If you think you know music but you've never listened to a song recorded before 2005, or 1990, or 1979, or 1967, or 1955 then TTRH demonstrates that being so blinkered isn't good for your soul.
This wonderful double CD then is a selection of highlights from the first series of TTRH. There is no involvement from Bob Dylan directly, though the producer of his show is a co-producer/compiler here, but really that's not the name of the game. Even if there isn't one linking theme, the track selection is wayward & intoxicating as you would expect, mixing the old, the new, the familiar, the unfamiliar into a big ole cauldron (or maybe a copper kettle) packed with flavours & spices that shouldn't mix together but act & react to one another to produce a mighty potent brew. The time span covered is as expansive as a typical show too. The second track here dates from 1930 & that's followed by Shortnin' Bread from 1960 & then the mighty Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes from 2002. That's eight decades straddledin the course of three songs. And they fit together just Jim Dandy.
This is real music for real people, as it is meant to be, with all facets of life addressed with wit & grit & sauce & elegance (in other words you'll find no hollow empty processed Westlife/Blue/Pop Idol/X Factor style bleating here). If you don't find the prospect of this set appealing then I guess you'rein the wrong section on Amazon - home & garden is over there. To everyone else I say, don't think twice, it's alright to buy it.
