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Recorded at Skyline Studios, The Church, Delta Studios,
Cherokee Studios, Sound City.
The Engineers - Don Smith, Britt Bacon, George Tutko, Judy
Feltus
Album Art - Charles Sappington
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As with most other 1980s Bob Dylan albums, KNOCKED OUT
LOADED is a piece-meal work--a combination of various
sessions, performed by different groups of musicians,
presenting the many sides of Bob Dylan. Touching upon
juke-joint R&B ("You Wanna Ramble"), reeling
Stones-like blues-rock ("Got My Mind Made Up,"
co-written by then touring partner Tom Petty and featuring
his Heartbreakers), and a gospel arrangement of a Kris
Kristofferson tune ("They Killed Him") which
inevitably harkens back to Dylan's earlier spiritual
explorations, the bard seems unsure where his own
attention lay.
Still, much as KNOCKED OUT lacks a sense of cohesion, it
doesn't exclude the mystery of Dylan's best work.
"Brownsville Girl," an eleven-minute opus
co-written by playwright Sam Sheppard, is vintage
Zimmerman, struggling to encompass an entire worldview
within the context of a mid-tempo, brassy, Tex-Mex
blues-as-passage-in-a-diary. It is a rough-edged diamond
that is among the most unique parts of Dylan's entire
catalog, and it was delivered so effortlessly that nobody
dared thin.
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