The Wallflowers
The world is littered with the failed offspring of the famous.
Bob Dylan is a legend. Jakob (pictured) is his son.
After the Wallflowers, with Jakob as the singer and principal songwriter, were dropped by their label following their debut album, it looked as though Jakob was going to forever live in his father’s expansive shadow. However, the younger Dylan had a couple tricks left.
Quickly rebounding, the Wallflowers; Dylan, Rami Jaffe (keyboards), Greg Richling (bass), Michael Ward (guitar) and Mario Calire (drums) hooked up with Interscope Records and got a second chance at making a first impression.
While “6th Avenue Heartache” did well, it was the troubled yet captivating “One Headlight,” that broke through and made the Wallflowers a major act.
“6th Avenue Heartache,” the first single off “Bringing Down The Horse,” was not a surprising choice since a demo of that song got them signed.
The “(Breach)” album was released in ’01 with “Red Letter Days” coming a year later. Neither album had the impact of “Bringing Down The Horse.” In ’05 the group made something of a comeback with “Rebel, Sweetheart.”
While the Wallflowers didn’t tour in ’06, individual band members did. Jaffee hit the road with the Foo Fighters on their acoustic tour, and a solo Dylan opened for T-Bone Burnett.
Jaffe left the Wallflowers in ’07 and Dylan made his solo debut, “Seeing Things,” the following year. “Collected: 1996–2005,” a ’09 greatest hits package, was supported by a tour that included Bill Appleberry on keyboards and guitarist Stuart Mathis, who had been with the Wallflowers since ’07.
Then the group went on hiatus.
“We all felt we were losing the plot a little bit and we needed a break,” explained Dylan. “And that year break becomes two years, then becomes three years, and before you know it five or six years go by pretty quickly.”
When the Wallflowers reconvened to recording their sixth studio album, the line-up had some familiar faces: Dylan, Jaffe (having returned), Richling, Mathis, and drummer Jack Irons.
“I can’t do what I do in the Wallflowers without them. I miss it,” stated Dylan. “I came up loving bands and I want to be in one.”
Everything that made “Bringing Down The Horse” a brilliant album was evident on “Glad All Over.” The hook filled songs on the ’12 album possessed an epic vision as Dylan sounded less like his father and more like Bruce Springsteen. “Hospital For Sinners” and the hard-edged “Reboot The Mission,” featuring The Clash’s Mick Jones, stood out on an album filled with gems.
When no one was looking “Exit Wounds,” the Wallflowers seventh studio album, dropped.
Their first effort in nine years debuted at #183 on the Billboard 200.
The ’21 album was completed before the COVID-19 pandemic but didn’t want to release it when so many people were suffering. When the pandemic subsided the album dropped.
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