Bob Dylan: Biograph

Bob Dylan: Biograph

1985

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing (oh, man...This is gonna take awhile...)

Disc One: 1. Lay Lady Lay  2. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down   3. If Not for You  4. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight  5. I'll Keep It with Mine  6. The Times They Are a-Changin'  7. Blowin' in the Wind  8. Masters of War  9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  10. Percy's Song

Disc Two: 1. Mixed-Up Confusion  2. Tombstone Blues  3. Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar  4. Most Likely You Go Your Way (Live)  5. Like a Rolling Stone  6. Jet Pilot  7. Lay Down Your Weary Tune  8. Subterranean Homesick Blues  9. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) (Live)  10. Visions of Johanna (live)  11. Every Grain of Sand

Disc Three: 1. Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)  2. Mr. Tambourine Man  3. Dear Landlord  4. It Ain't Me, Babe  5. You Angel You  6. Million Dollar Bash  7. To Ramona  8. You're a Big Girl Now (Live)  9. Abandoned Love  10. Tangled Up in Blue  11. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Disc Four: 1. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?  2. Positively 4th Street  3. Isis   4. Caribbean Wind  5. Up to Me  6. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You  7. I Wanna Be Your Lover  8. I Want You  9. Heart of Mine (Live)  10. On a Night Like This  11. Just Like a Woman

Disc Five: 1. Romance in Durango (Live)  2. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)  3. Gotta Serve Somebody  4. I Believe in You  5. Time Passes Slowly  6. I Shall Be Released  7. Knockin' on Heaven's Door   8. All Along the Watchtower (Live)  9. Solid Rock  10. Forever Young (Demo Version)


                                                                
Gigantic vinyl box set monster from 1985, that follows (perhaps  invented?) the standard box set formula...A Bunch of greatest hits mixed with a motley assortment of outtakes, demos, and live versions...Presented in non-chronological order, which was probably wise, since the only way to get me to sit through gospel Dylan is the promise of a rare non-album "Highway 61"-era single...Probably, the single most entertaining aspect of the box set is the big-ass book and copious  liner notes where Dylan give his usual mix of incredibly precious information and complete and utter BS...I've probably already discussed all the hits, so I'll mostly just talk about the non-album stuff and tracks from albums I haven't discussed yet (aka stuff I don't own)...I'll break this down, record by record...

Disc 1:

They ease you into "Biograph" with the highest concentration of legit hits found in the set...Only a few rarities but they're good ones..."I'll Keep it With Mine" is top notch...Just a simple, luminous beauty of a song that was apparently recorded for the "Blonde on Blonde" sessions...On one hand, the quietude of the song might have slowed down the whirlwind that was "Blonde on Blonde,"but on the other hand, imagine how fucking awesome that album would have been if he'd replaced "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"  with this...I also like "Percy's Song" even though it's 1,000,000 years long...I can't help it, it brings back fond memories of watching "Don't Look Back" and wondering what in the hell that cool song Joan Baez was singing...I should also point out how much I enjoy "Masters of War"...I know it's blustery and unsubtle but damn if you don't feel it here (motions to beer gut)...

Disc 2: Alright, now we're digging into the vaults a bit...Over half of this disc is non-album stuff.....This kicks off with Dylan's first single which was electric Elvis Rock n' Roll?!?!  It's nothing too staggeringly great, but it's super fun to hear Dylan tackle this style...Actually, once it gets going, it's not too dissimilar to the electric portions of "Bringing it All Back Home"...We also have a "Shot of Love"-era B-Side (?!?!) called "Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" which isn't half bad...Just a pretty generic blues that isn't too preachy on a casual listen..."Jet Pilot" is interesting, it's just a chunk of an early take of "Tombstone Blues" that features an M. Night Shyamalan type twist ending...I sorta think this disc is the best one in the set, due to the back-to-back pairing of two fantastic outtakes: "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" which is a desolate, dissolute acoustic track...real lonesome stuff ...And " I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) " feels like more of a legit single than  most of the singles Dylan actually released...It makes my head spin that he didn't include this on one of his albums and instead threw it onto side 4 of a box set...

 On a side note, I've never heard the "Before the Flood" Dylan/Band live album...Boy, is the stuff from that album on here weird...Compare its stiff weirdness with the brilliant live recording of "Visions of Johanna" that follows it...

 Disc 3: Some more unreleased live stuff on Disc 3...There's also an alternate version of "Quinn the Eskimo" that's suitably creamy..."Abandoned Love" would have fit right in on "Desire"...Same crisp songwriting style, same vaguely irritating violin...Nah, the violin sounds fine here...Again, it's the cumulative effect of the instrument...Put any song on from "Desire" on and it sounds great individually...

Disc 4: Is almost all rare/unreleased...It starts off with a couple of non-album singles, "Positively 4th Street" (which I've discussed in a previous post) and the "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"  which is such super classic "Highway 61"-era Dylan that I can't believe isn't more popular...I had never heard it until I bought this boxset roughly 10 years ago...This spindly, non-country-ish Hawks were such an amazing band...Who bought them wah-wah pedals and clavinets? Who?!  Another score here is "Up to Me," a "Blood on the Tracks" outtake that sounds exactly like "Shelter from the Storm," although I think I might actually like it a bit more than "Shelter"...It feels less forced somehow...Also be sure to check out "I Wanna Be Your Lover," where Bob blatantly rips off the Beatles/Stones but bests both of those bands...He uses the opening line of "I Wanna Be Your Man" for the chorus and then writes a bunch of evocative lyrics that highlight how shallow the British-Invasion still stuff was at that point..."Baby, I'm in the Mood for You" is somewhat slight folkie Dylan but worth it to hear Bob get all wacky with his vocal delivery at the end...They also include a couple of 80's outtakes that are surprisingly fun and listenable...I don't remember enjoying these 80's Dylan albums at all, but for some reason these sound great to me...Maybe because I know in  3 minutes or so I'll get to hear some cool 60's stuff? Or is it really that he cut all the good songs from his 80's albums (in fear of it possibly highlighting the fact that the rest of it is so lacking)? I dunno...But "Caribbean Wind" rules...

Disc 5: They start to get back to the hits with the final disc, in an attempt for a strong finish, I'm guessing, but this is where fatigue starts to set in for me...Possibly due to a cluster of sterile "Slow Train Coming" songs...I kinda dig some of the world music feel on some of the stuff on this disc...Like "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)" and the 70's outtake "Romance in Durango" which seriously won me over...They end on a strong note with an intimate rel-to-reel demo of "Forever Young" that offers up yet a third drastically different take of the song...

Overall, a trawl through this thing is serious fun for a Dylan fan...I think a beginner would be completely overwhelmed by all of this, but maybe not...It's about 90% awesome and I agree that the mosaic sequencing really bolsters the less interesting 70's and 80's stuff...

Here's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window" by Bobby D tha Bo$$....Enjoy...

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Greatest Hits Albums (Volume 1/Volume II/The Essential Bob Dylan)

Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits Albums

1967

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35  2. Blowin' in the Wind  3. The Times They Are a-Changin'  4. It Ain't Me Babe  5. Like a Rolling Stone  6. Mr. Tambourine Man  7. Subterranean Homesick Blues  8. I Want You  9. Positively 4th Street  10. Just Like a Woman

A collection of all the Bob Dylan songs you've probably heard 10 billion times already...As I listened to this, I realized I'm no longer capable of consciously hearing "Blowin' in the Wind"...It's become refrigerator hum to me...A lot of this suffers from "Stairway"-itis...Don't get me wrong, it's all fantastic stuff, but I just don't pull this from the record shelf too often except to hear "Positively 4th Street" (an awesomely bitter song that doesn't appear on any of his proper albums...God, this Dylan guy sounds like a real asshole...Ever seen that "Don't Look Back" movie? ASSHOLE!! But he's an amazingly hilarious asshole, so he gets a pass from me)...



Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits Volume II

1971

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Columbia Records

Track Listing: 1. Watching the River Flow  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right  3. Lay Lady Lay  4. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again   5. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight  6. All I Really Want to Do  7. My Back Pages  8. Maggie's Farm  9. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You  10. She Belongs to Me  11. All Along the Watchtower  12. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)   13. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues  14. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall  15. If Not for You  16. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue  17. Tomorrow Is a Long Time   18. When I Paint My Masterpiece  19. I Shall Be Released  20. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere  21. Down in the Flood     

Now this is a greatest hits album! Compiled by ol' wheezy himself, it's absolutely perfect...If I were to put together a Dylan greatest hits album, this is pretty much what it would have looked like...And as a bonus there's a good EP's worth of new material on here (mostly re-recordings of Basement Tapes material, which hadn't been released yet), which is where you can find the banjo-y version of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" with the alternate lyrics that bust on Roger McGuinn for fuckin' up the lyrics on the Byrds  version...One of the few instances where the new studio tracks on a greatest hits album actually live up to the hits...This album gets my highest possible recommendation...





Bob Dylan: The Essential Bob Dylan

2000

Columbia/Legacy Records

Format I own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: Disc One: 1. Blowin' in the Wind  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right   3. The Times They Are a-Changin'  4. It Ain't Me Babe  5. Maggie's Farm  6. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue   7. Mr. Tambourine Man   8. Subterranean Homesick Blues  9. Like a Rolling Stone  10. Positively 4th Street   11. Just Like a Woman  12. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35  13. All Along the Watchtower  14.  The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)  15.  I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Disc Two: 1. Lay Lady Lay  2.  If Not for You  3. I Shall Be Released  4. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere  5. Knockin' on Heaven's Door  6. Forever Young  7. Tangled Up in Blue  8. Shelter from the Storm  9. Hurricane  10. Gotta Serve Somebody  11. Jokerman  12. Silvio  13. Everything Is Broken  14. Not Dark Yet  15. Things Have Changed

 A CD-era double disc monster that mashes up Volume 1 and 2 and puts them in chronological order and then delves into the post-1971 wasteland of Dylan albums...It's still not as listenable as Volume II, since the early stuff is overly-familiar and the post '71 stuff gets spottier and spottier as it goes on..."Jokerman" is a fucking incredible adult contemporary pop single though...God, I love that song...Honestly, I bust this out for "Jokerman" every now and then, but I can imagine if you're a newcomer to Dylan, this compilation might blow your mind (and also drive you away from post-"Desire" Dylan)...

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Albums Part 3 (Planet Waves/Blood on the Tracks/Desire)

Here's part 2 in a series of quick rundowns of the scattered Blob Dylan albums I own...I did zero editing on this post, so let me know if it's too screwed-up...




Bob Dylan: Planet Waves

1974

Asylum Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. On a Night Like This  2. Going, Going, Gone  3. Tough Mama  4. Hazel  5. Something There Is About You  6. Forever Young  7. Forever Young  8. Dirge  9. You Angel You  10. Never Say Goodbye  11. Wedding Song


Bob Dylan teams up with the Band again to kick out the mehs...This is the dictionary definition of a meh album for me...Dylan doesn't have anything particularly exciting to say (his most vivid writing is all the "Sweating pussies on bar stools" poetry on the back cover), so we're treated to imagery like, "Today on the countryside it was a-hotter than a crotch!" Uhhh...okay...

I'm also not a huge fan of the Band's trademark clavinet/wah/country/funk/rock sound...The first couple of tracks sound great but right around "Tough Mama" I just can't take anymore...The Band gets too Band-y for me and I feel like I'm in dusty record hell...Plus odd choices like putting two versions of 'Forever Young" back to back doesn't help...Still, if you find this cheap (and it's always cheap) there are a few must-have tracks, "Going, Going, Gone" and "Dirge" wallow in some really delicious despair...Also don't miss the slow version of "Forever Young" since it features some of my favorite Dylan vocals (especially at the end of those "may you always do for others, and let others do for you..." lines) (I'm still trying to determine if the Rod Stewart song from the 80's is a cover or just the most blatant rip-off ever written)...Definitely not bad, but not too great either...



 Bob Dylan:Blood on the Tracks

1975

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Tangled Up in Blue  2. Simple Twist of Fate  3. You're a Big Girl Now  4. Idiot Wind  5. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go  6. Meet Me in the Morning  7. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts  8. If You See Her, Say Hello  9. Shelter from the Storm  10. Buckets of Rain


Intensely personal singer/songwriter fare was extremely popular during this era and Dylan tries his hand at the genre and unsurprisingly blows away all the competition...In fact, he's never made an album anywhere near this good ever again (I mean, who knows...Maybe in a few months Bob will pump out an album that makes "Blood on the Tracks" sound like "Planet Waves" but I wouldn't hold my breath for too long)... To be super honest, it's not my favorite Dylan album (I prefer my Dylan a little more mysterious) but I can see why a lot of people consider this his best...It's packed with sharp storytelling ("Tangled Up in Blue"), heartache ("If You See Her, Say Hello") and unforgettable imagery ("Idiot Wind") ...By the way, you cannot miss "Idiot Wind," which is possibly my favorite track the man ever wrote...Just the most brutal, bitter take-down of an ex ever penned (sample lyrics: "You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies, One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes,  Blood on your saddle...Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth, You’re an idiot, babe, It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe...), but don't feel too bad for the girl, Bob gives himself a proper beatdown in the final chorus...I especially recommend this album to folks who don't like Bob Dylan...None of the usual hurdles that trip people up are here...He sings beautifully and clearly, the lyrics and imagery are immediate, and the instrumentation is crisply professional...James Taylor albums sound really empty after you play this thing...




Bob Dylan: Desire

1976

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Hurricane  2. Isis  3. Mozambique  4. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)  5. Oh, Sister  6. Joey  7. Romance in Durango  8. Black Diamond Bay  9. Sara


If you're anything like me, you'll probably be blown away by your first couple listens to this album but then kinda never play it again...It's great stuff, but again, I prefer my Bob to have a bit more mystery...I can only listen to the long-form Get Out of Jail Free card of a song "Hurricane" so many times...It's like re-reading a police report over and over...The first time is the most interesting...Still, I haven't heard it in about five years and this fresh listen gives it back some of its original sparkle...But holy fuck, does "One More Cup of Coffee" rule...Now that's the sense of mystery I've been looking for...A sort of mist-filled, pitch black gypsy ballad about drinking a last cup of coffee before heading to the valley below...All of Side One is pretty flawless...I do find that the incessant violin starts to give me a headache somewhere in the middle of Side Two...Still, a very cool record filled with good stories, an old world music feel, and great melodies...I feel like I'm being overly critical...People usually love this record...

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Albums Part 2 (John Wesley Harding/Nashville Skyline/New Morning)

Here's part 2 in a series of quick rundowns of the scattered Blob Dylan albums I own...



Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding

1967

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. John Wesley Harding  2. As I Went Out One Morning  3. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine   4. All Along the Watchtower  5. The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest  6. Drifter's Escape   7. Dear Landlord  8. I Am a Lonesome Hobo  9. I Pity the Poor Immigrant  10. The Wicked Messenger  11. Down Along the Cove   12. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight


It actually took me awhile to really get into this one...On first listen only the title track, "All Along the Watchtower," "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" really stood out...The whole thing is sparse, dry, grey and has this vague sense of impending biblical doom...Like the lyrics are etched in a slab of granite...Real sober stuff...But after listening to it for years I've discovered it's a mood that no other record in my collection has, so it's become a go-to album for certain weighty, overcast days...When you need a good, ambiguous moral lesson...Right around the point where you hit "Down Along the Cove" and "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," there's almost an odd sense of relief, like you've finally emerged from the brimstone and hellfire and all the suffering is gone...Like he's suddenly just stumbled onto Side One of "Nashville Skyline"...Definitely a weird album but interesting as hell...




Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline

1969

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Girl from the North Country  2. Nashville Skyline Rag  3. To Be Alone with You  4. I Threw It All Away  5. Peggy Day  6. Lay Lady Lay   7. One More Night  8. Tell Me That it Isn't True  9. Country Pie  10. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You

I liked this album so much more than I thought I would... Dylan's voice suddenly changes into a sweet, croon and he does a gentle, slick, good-natured country-pop record...This contains the only successful Bob Dylan duet where he teams up with Johnny Cash for a re-recording of "Girl from the North Country"...When they stop trading verses and finally sing together there's a slight bit of stumbling but it's 75% smooth...Either Johnny was quick on his feet or Bob was taking it easy on Johnny...I'm almost thinking the latter (contrast this with ever other duet he's ever done ever)...Man, I hate those old fogey duet records, but I would loooooovve it if Bob suddenly did one. Can you imagine Bob tripping up Lady Gaga or Josh Groban? Anyway, "Nshville Skyline" is fluffy and slight (with a 27-minute track listing) but I'm saying these attributes are virtues in this context...I don't know if I could make it through 45-50 minutes of this style but 27 minutes is incredibly perfect and refreshing...This would be a great Bob Dylan album for folks who don't like Bob Dylan... "Tell Me That it Isn't True" kinda rules the universe...



Bob Dylan: New Morning

1970

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. If Not for You   2. Day of the Locusts  3. Time Passes Slowly  4. Went to See the Gypsy  5. Winterlude  6. If Dogs Run Free  7. New Morning  8. Sign on the Window  9. One More Weekend  10. The Man in Me  11. Three Angels  12. Father of Night

Is it wrong that I rank this right up there with "Blonde on Blonde"? This record absolutely blows me away...I cannot even begin to understand why this album is considered minor Dylan...I consider this album to be Dylan's greatest vocal performance, where there's hints of the classic Dylan voice, the sweeter Nashville Skyline style and a new third variation that I can only describe as a sandblasted soul man...Listen to "Sign on the Window"...That part where he sings "That must be what it's all about..." is one of the best deliveries I've ever heard...The way his voice cracks and scrapes just punches you right in the friggin' beergut...I love the ultra-dry recording, all the mic popping, the stumbling pianos...The title track and "Day of the Locusts" are still my two favorite Dylan songs...There's a few filler-ish tracks ("Three Angels," "Went to See the Gypsy," "If Dogs Run Free") but honestly, even the filler is fascinating...

Alright...We'll pick this up later this week, with a batch of albums that I like significantly less than these ones...Oh, boy!
       

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Albums Part 1 (Times They Are a-Changin'/Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61 Revisited/Blonde on Blonde)

I remember right around this same time last year, my goal was to finish the Bob Dylan section by the end of 2014...As is the case with most of my goals,  it didn't happen...But know what? I'm doing it this year! However,  I've been kinda dreading the Dylan section. It's the same feeling I had when I was about to tackle the Beatles section...Here's an artist who's been discussed to death!!! (Yes, the official cause of death for all four Beatles and Bob Dylan was determined to be endless discussion...)

So what could I possibly contribute to the conversation that everyone else hasn't? My opinions on Bob Dylan are basically the same as everyone else...I think the early stuff's great! Big surprise! When I read other record review sites I always skip the Beatles and Dylan sections...There hasn't been a single new or novel thing said about either artist in decades!!! But I didn't want to skip the Dylan section because it goes against the prime directive of this blog...To listen to all the albums I own in alphabetical order...So I decided to just do a very quick rundown of each Dylan record I own...Maybe a few rambling sentences that lets you know what I think of each one (spoiler alert: I think they're great!)...

Oddly enough, I don't own the first few Dylan albums from his acoustic folk period. Why? This will probably sound blasphemous to most music fans but I'm just not really that interested in acoustic folk...Not even by Bob Dylan...Plus I've heard most of the songs 10 thousand times!!!!! If I loan out a copy of "Freewheelin'" and don't get it back, it's not a biggie cos I can replay the entire album in my head...So without any further ado... Here's the first in a series of quick rundowns of the scattered Bob Dylan albums I own...



Bob Dylan: The Times They Are a-Changin'

1964

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. The Times They Are a-Changin'  2. Ballad of Hollis Brown  3. With God on Our Side  4. One Too Many Mornings  5. North Country Blues  6. Only a Pawn in Their Game  7. Boots of Spanish Leather  8. When the Ship Comes In  9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  10. Restless Farewell

I find this album kinda tedious...The title track is Earth-shakingly fantastic, but the rest of it is the most dour, preachy acoustic folk meanderings I've ever heard... As monochrome as the cover...I found a vinyl copy of this in the dollar bin at Eastside Records and rarely put it on...And when I do I usually skip around a lot...This could have been a good 45 though! Imagine the title track backed by "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" (where he rhymes "table" with "table" a record three times!!)?  I'd also accept a follow-up single containing "One Too Many Mornings" b/w "Boots of Spanish Leather".... Skip it unless you live in a coffee house and have no sense of humor whatsoever...        


 Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home

1965

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Subterranean Homesick Blues  2. She Belongs to Me  3. Maggie's Farm  4. Love Minus Zero/No Limit  5. Outlaw Blues  6. On the Road Again   7. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream   8. Mr. Tambourine Man  9. Gates of Eden  10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)  11. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Now this is where I really get into Bob Dylan. This and the next two records are among my all-time favorite albums...He really hammers home that he was the greatest lyricist on the planet at this point ...The album is split between acoustic material and electric judas material and both forms are equally powerful..He's equally adept at humor ('Subterranean Homesick Blues" and 'Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" (which is one of my favorite Dylan tracks) as he is at the serious stuff (the absolutely stellar "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding")...And "Mr. Tambourine Man" is one of the few Dylan songs in the "overplayed" category that I can still listen to...It still contains a world of mystery after my 10,000th listen...That's serious craftsmanship...I consider this and Highway 61 to be the best introductions to his vast discography...Do yourself a favor and just buy 'em both on the same day and binge binge binge..



Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited

1965

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Like a Rolling Stone   2. Tombstone Blues  3. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry  4. From a Buick 6  5. Ballad of a Thin Man  6. Queen Jane Approximately  7.      Highway 61 Revisited  8. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues  9. Desolation Row  


I love the hell out of this album...It's almost all electric and it has this wiry energy, where the band is just sloppy and cracking as Dylan blows his harmonica recklessly and delivers reel after reel of motormouth poetry...There has never been a better cross-country driving record....Personal favorites: "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"...One thing that's rarely mentioned  is how damn funny Bob was at this point..."The sun's not yellow, it's chicken!" is one of the best lines in any song ever...End of discussion...




Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde

1966

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1.  Rainy Day Women #12 & 35  2. Pledging My Time  3. Visions of Johanna  4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)  5. I Want You  6. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again  7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat   8. Just Like a Woman  9. Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine  10. Temporary Like Achilles  11. Absolutely Sweet Marie  12. 4th Time Around  13. Obviously 5 Believers  14. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

Epic double album. It's weird, because although it's often lauded as his best album, I don't personally know a single person who worships this album as much as I do...To me, this is easily his best, but I'm somewhat hesitant to recommend it until you're absolutely foaming at the mouth for more Dylan after becoming addicted to "Bringing it All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited"...I could get lost in this album for hours...Every song is a whole little city that I want to live in...Is "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" too long? I don't know. I never want it to end, so the answer is no...So many favorites here: "Visions of Johanna," "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)," "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," " Absolutely Sweet Marie ," " 4th Time Around"...All drop dead classics.  It should be noted that this is where the "generic Dylan" voice first occurs as far as I can tell...The nasal, breathy, rising "hehhHHH heh heHHHH..." that you do when you're imitating Bob Dylan... I will admit this album has a few songs I actively dislike such as the dumb "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and the repetitive blues joke "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"...But everything else is of such staggering quality that the low points aren't really worth a mention...

Well, that's all the Dylan I'm willing to talk about today...We'll check out another handful in the next post...