Aka: Bob Dylan, born in Duluth, Mn, raised in the heart of the ‘iron range‘ in the town that moved (literally)- Hibbing, Mn. Later he would be recognized as the greatest singer-songwriter the world has ever known.
1. Blood On The Tracks, 1974. In the midst of divorce from his wife Sara, he put together this gutsy heart-wrenching album that displays every emotion thinkable. In a later interview he had this to say about it: “A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I mean, people enjoying that kind of pain.” To quote an earlier song of his: “Pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn’t it?”
2. Highway 61 Revisited, 1965. An absolutely genius album and considered by many one of the greatest albums ever recorded. If I didn’t like Blood on the Tracks so much, I’d put this as my #1, as many do. It is an album that forever changed the face of rock music and what it could be, starting with the great in your face put down song “Like A Rolling Stone” which clocked in at over 6 minutes in the era of 2-3 minute radio singles.
The Beatle’s Nowhere Man grew out of Dylan’s “Ballad Of A Thin Man”; the confused person that just doesn’t quite get it. “Because something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is, do you Mr. Jones”. The Counting Crows big hit “Mr. Jones” has the lyric “I want to be Bob Dylan, Mr. Jones just wishes he were a little bit more funky.”
The bar was raised, and music would never be the same.
3. Bringing It All Back Home, 1965. Released 6 months prior to Highway 61, this was the start of the transformation into the electric Bob Dylan. The first side of the album is riveting Rock & Roll. Bowing down to his roots, the 2nd side is all acoustic, though they hardly can be called folk songs. This is the first of the three albums at which he is at his artistic peak- thoughts and surreal images flying out of his head at breakneck speed. This album contains Subterranean Homesick Blues (the card-flipping video that INXS paid tribute to in the 80’s), and Mr. Tamborine Man- a song that has nothing to do with Tamborines and was popularized by the Byrds with a shorter radio-friendly version. Take note of the Beatle’s lyrical leap around this time (Rubber Soul, Revolver)… it’s no coincidence.
4. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, 1962. His 2nd album release, and first of all original material. This put him on forefront of the intellectual folk music map with “Blowin’ In The Wind”, the sweet “Girl From The North Country”, the best kiss-off song of all time, “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright”, and the antiwar song “Masters of War” which ends with the biting lyric to those in power who sit in their mansions and send kids off to war: “And I hope that you die. And your death’ll come soon. I’ll follow your casket. In the pale afternoon. And I’ll watch while you’re lowered. Down to your deathbed. And I’ll stand o’er your grave. ‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead.”
No wonder why he was considered a protest singer.
5. The Bootleg Series, Vol 4, Live 1966, The Royal Albert Hall Concert. This is probably the most famous bootleg ever; finally ‘officially’ released in 1998. Bob Dylan was the hero and savior in the ‘intellectual’ Folk Music crowd and Rock & Roll carried no respect. Dylan had moved on, Like A Rolling Stone was #1 on the charts, and he was considered a sellout. This concert documents the anger felt and is a major turning point in history. The first half of the concert finds the audience in reverential awe of his acoustic set. In the 2nd set, chaos erupts, as he dons and electric guitar with his band (later to claim their own fame as The Band). After listening to boos and heckling from the crowd between songs, the famous “JUDAS!” shout comes out of the audience just before his final number. He turns to the Band and yells “PLAY FUCKING LOUD!” as he shove the song down their throats he tears through the greatest version of “Like A Rolling Stone” you’ll ever hear.
6. Blonde On Blonde, 1966. The final of his trio of groundbreaking mid-sixties albums- the first Rock double album ever released. Quoting from the Dylan Encyclopedia: “Blonde On Blonde is a monument to the Dylan muse and everything a great work of art, rock ‘n’ roll, or otherwise, shoud be: profound, poetic, irreverent, funny, expressive, and diverse… the list could go on forever. If Dylan had never recorded another note, this would have turned him into a myth instead of merely an icon- and still might yet. It is a collection for the ages: rare is the person, be they musician, poet, Wall Street arbitrageur, postdebutante, or grease monkey, who comes away unaffected by Blonde on Blonde.”
7. Time Out Of Mind, 1997. After a near death bout of pericarditis, this album came out to huge critical acclaim. It surprisingly reached #10 on the album charts and gave him his first and long deserved Grammy for Album of The Year. The songs are mostly dark in nature, written by an older and more reflective Dylan that features a deep and gravely voice reminiscent of Tom Waits, and is produced by Daniel Lanois. Contrary to popular belief, it was recorded before his long hospital stay and recovery, but it is certainly understandable to think it was recorded afterwards.
8. Oh Mercy, 1989. At the recommendation of U2’s Bono, Dylan chose Daniel Lanois to produce his first album in several years. Neither knew what they were getting into. Lanois remodeled a building in the French Quarter for the specific use as a recording studio for this single project. Lanois is a sculpter of sound, Dylan is an old school one-take live in the studio performer. Apparently the butted heads quite a bit during the recording of this album. Lanois, having recently produced U2, Peter Gabriel and The Neville Brothers, was hardly star-stuck by Dylan and bugged the hell out of him; Dylan, hardly star-stuck by Lanois, bugged the hell out of him back.
It is said Lanois (maybe Townshend style?) destoyed a Dobro out of frustration, and Dylan would often leave the studios to walk the streets of New Orleans to vent. Lanois called Dylan lazy, and Dylan thought Lanois spent too much time messing around with take after take, mixing and remixing. The final results were more than pleasing to everybody and resulted in easily the best album since Slow Train Coming, and without a doubt, one of his best sounding albums ever.
9. John Wesley Harding, 1968. At the height of his creative powers, Dylan was involved in a motercycle accident which took him out of commission and out of the limelight. Whether he was actually in an accident or just made up the whole affair to take a break from the chaos of his breakneck career is still open to speculation. What is known though, is he retreated to the small country town of Woodstock, New York and holed up with The Band at “Big Pink” where he would record with them in a makeshift studio which resulted in both The Band’s vital “Music From Big Pink” and the first bootleg the world would ever know, finally to be officially released as “The Basement Tapes” in 1975.
The album itself found Dylan in a new before unheard smooth voice and with a laid-back folksy country feel to it, while still retaining his exceptional writing ability. This subdued album was released during the height of psychedelica in the time of “Sgt Peppers”, and The Stone’s “Their Satanic Magesties Request”, and featured the song that Jimi Hendrix made famous: “All Along The Watchtower”.
10. The Bootleg Series 1-3, 1997. What can I say? Three cd’s of unreleased songs that are better than most artists official albums…
Does this help, BJ, or just muddy up the waters more? I’m no fan of greatest hits albums, but there is an excellent 3 cd box set called Biograph that gives a great overview of his career up until 1985… oh yea, it was also the first multi-album (and cd) box set that we now see so frequently with hits, out-takes, and alternate versions of songs.
I’d be more than happy to burn some cd’s for you (or anyone else) of anything I have if you want to email me… of course that would be illegal, wouldn’t it!?
