While not considered one of his classic records, Empire Burlesque has some interesting moments. The biggest issue/stumbling block in re-visiting the record, outside of the hideous cover art, is just how 80's sounding it is. Self-produced by Dylan, he let Arthur Baker (New Order, Afrika Bambaataa) do the final mixing and the result was a very of-the-time sound in 1985.
Dylan said of his previous release, Infidels, that those songs "stuck around too long" in his brain, and for his studio follow-up Empire Burlesque just took a long time to get recorded. Bob took his time and played with a host of players, in a bunch of various studios. In the end there is an overarching sound (thanks to, or because of, Baker) and leaving the production aside for a second there are a few good ones here.
Both the opening, "Tight Connection To My Heart" and especially the closing "Dark Eyes" are excellent songs in completely different directions. The opening "TCTMH" goes back to Bob's Street Legal days with back-up singers and huge sounds, but still lyrically searches and connects while closer "Dark Eyes" is the album stunning highlight, taking everything back to basics, proving Bob still has it.
The overly dramatic ballads of "I'll Remember You" and "Emotionally Yours" are both OK at best and sappy at worst, while "Clean Cut Kid" is an interesting experiment of a protest song wrapped in 50's stylized retro rock. The middle of the record does lag however as both "Never Gonna Be The Same Again" and "Trust Yourself" are bland efforts lyrically and musically from the Bard.
The real stumbling block in revisiting this album though is the production. Efforts like "Seeing The Real You At Last" uses thin drums, percussion and sax, sinking the effort while "When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky" has all the makings of a classic, but is swamped in overdone 80's sound.
Now that Bob has released outtakes via the excellent Bootleg Series Volume 16, listeners can get a better sense of what he was going for which sidelines Empire Burlesque a bit. Maybe an effort like "Seeing The Real You At Last" was never going to be Dylan's best, but it sure sounds better here then on the original album as does this fantastic version of "When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky" from Bootleg Vol 1-3.
The songs that make up Empire Burlesque were recorded over an extended period, by a host of known musicians (Sly & Robbie, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Ron Wood) and while not everything works, (it is much closer to Dylan's worst album than his best) it is still fun to go back and re-visit this album that still clearly sounds like it is straight out of 1985.
So put in on and enjoy...Here are a few tunes to get you started with the ultimate 80's video to start....
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