Oh man, the “Caribbean Wind” with pedal steel rehearsal is awesome. Maybe my favorite Dylan song of the ‘80’s.
Going to try and rank every Bob Dylan album I've heard from his "official" discography. Rules: Assume that the tiers are a stronger indicator of how I feel than individual numbers. (a) and (b) denote stuff that switches all the time. If I can't really remember the album, gonna add it to the "haven't heard in a while" column as a way to push me back towards some of the stranger corners of his discography. Not including bootlegs and weird comps, that's too hard. Tiered Ranking (Last Updated 5/5/22): 1a. Bringing It All Back Home 1b. Blood On The Tracks 3. Highway 61 Revisited 4. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan 5. Nashville Skyline 6. Blonde on Blonde 7. Slow Train Coming 8. The Basement Tapes 9. Infidels 10. Fallen Angels 11. New Morning 12. Dylan & The Dead 13. The Times They Are A-Changin' 14. Rough and Rowdy Ways 15. Another Side of Bob Dylan 16. Time Out of Mind 17. Bob Dylan 18. Oh Mercy [Most of recorded music exists below the above records] 19. Desire 20. Street-Legal 21. Love and Theft 22. Shot of Love 23. Planet Waves 24. Good As I Been To You 25. Shadows in the Night 26. Modern Times 27. Together Through Life 28. Christmas In The Heart 29. Tempest 30. Saved 31. Triplicate 32. Self Portrait 33. Under the Red Sky 34. World Gone Wrong 35. John Wesley Harding Haven't Heard In A While: Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Empire Burlesque Knocked Out Loaded Down In The Groove
Indeed. I love "Slow Train Coming" at #3. I recently picked it up on vinyl. Also love New Morning at #8. It's very underrated.
I'm very much in love with his blues-indebted work. He's got the perfect voice for it, and the "gospel" albums are paradoxically the place where I think it shines most. New Morning is so fantastic. Clean singing with no bloat or unnecessary left turns, just a bunch of 2-to-3-minute ditties that are perfectly written. I'd kill for whatever his "old age" version of that album would be. I think he still has a classic in him.
Can't do the entire thing, but I think my top 5 isn't the typical: 1. The Basement Tapes 2. The Freewheelin Bob Dylan 3. Bringing It All Back Home 4. Highway 61 Revisited 5. Blood on the Tracks Ok actually it's not that atypical, but how can you leave those three off any list? I love Desire and Times They Are A-Changin and Planet Waves but
Yeah, honestly the top of Dylan's canon becomes super boring to talk about at a certain point. I'm more interested in figuring out WTF he was thinking on Oh Mercy.
I can't believe he just decided he was going to transform himself into a country crooner to write Nashville Skyline. What a record and what a brilliant man.
Been listening to Desire a lot recently. It was never really one of my favorites but I'm gaining a new appreciation for it. "One More Cup of Coffee" is an incredible song.
I have a weird affinity for Street Legal. Not sure why, outside of New Pony none of the songs are any of my favorites by him, but that album is one that just clicks with me.
Another Side... has busted its way into my top 5 favorite Dylan records. I feel like most people rank it last when it comes to the all acoustic albums (other than the self titled). It's a perfect mix of cerebral songwriting and comedy. He takes himself very seriously 1 second and then shits all over it the next. "I don't believe you" is one of the best songs ever written.
Well judging by my post on page 2 it's always been top 5. So don't listen to anything I post. His discography is a fucking anamoly though. Almost daily I'm amazed all over again by pretty much every record he put out for 15 years straight
Every time I come back to an album I thought I knew well, I find all kinds of new things. The joy of the journey with a genius of his caliber.