The Joker and the Thief – Henry Sturcke

An unusual LP appeared in stores just after Christmas 1967. The timing and lack of fanfare seemed a conscious counterpoint to the shopping frenzy that precede Christmas. The LP, John Wesley Harding, confounded those who’d followed Dylan before this. Both lyrically and musically, the album stood in stark contrast to his previous release, Blonde on Blonde. After the dense verbal swirl of Blonde’s lengthy songs, these were brief and understated. And in place of a thicket of sound, we hear a voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica, subtly supplemented by drums, bass guitar, and (on the final two tracks) steel guitar. It seemed not only a ...