The Wallflowers Self-Titled Debut Album in 1992

It’s never easy to exist in the shadow of your father. It’s even more difficult when your father’s shadow just happens to be in the shape of legendary folk songwriter, Bob Dylan.

In 1992, Jakob Dylan took his first step out into the public eye as something more than just “the son of Bob Dylan”. The self-titled debut record from his band The Wallflowers hit stores on August 25, 1992 on Virgin Records and while it ultimately received a four star review from Rolling Stone magazine, it failed to attain the same commercial success that future releases from The Wallflowers would achieve.I found some more information here.

The record itself is full of the gruff, but assuring tones of Dylan’s voice that fans have come to know and love over the past twenty years that the band has been performing. The Wallflowers shows the sound of a young band attempting to find it’s voice and it’s overall direction. Most of it’s songs extend past the five minute mark and show Dylan’s influences may have been more rooted in songs written by one of his father’s famous collaborators, Tom Petty, than in much of the music that his father created. On the record’s closing track, “For The Life Of Me”, Dylan takes on the tough subject of suicide in the same dark and poetic fashion that he would soon become famous for. It’s a haunting finale to a record that travels all over the emotional map.

At the time of it’s release, the majority of the world had their ears tuned to Seattle and it’s ever-evolving grunge music scene. In turn, The Wallflowers were somewhat overlooked initially in favor of their grittier contemporaries, but in a few short years, the band would soon go on to sell millions of records, grace multiple magazine covers and sell out concert arenas around the world.

Date Posted: Monday, July 11th, 2011
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