Talkin' Bob Dylan

"Blood on the Tracks (1975)"
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This is my favorite Bob Dylan album, it hit me the night I decided to do this and I randomally was putting on various Dylan albums and I was blown away by this. Before I thought it a good album, maybe the best he released in the 70s but it never really captured me the way Blonde on Blonde or Freewheelin did right from the start. I'd heard it several times and didn't think much of it. I don't really know what to say about this album, it's relaxed but in a very good way. Dylan seems more in control of himself here and focuses less on being a poet and more on being a musician and the songwriting is so improved from the seething Idiot Wind to the sorrowful Simple Twist of Fate.

This album is a much different album than anything Dylan had done before. Musically it's not much different from some of the stuff before it, this just seems more in control and polished than prior albums before it. Here he seems at times disappointed, distraught, confused and heartbroken. Which may sound unappealing coming from the fire-filled voice of the 60s but I've heard The Times They Are A-Changin and Highway 61 Revisited I liked them, but I'll take Blood On the Tracks over them any day.

Favorite Lyric: "We had a falling-out, like lovers often will / And to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill / And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart / She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart / If you get close to her, kiss her once for me / I always have respected her for doing what she did and getting free / Oh, whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way / Though the bitter taste still lingers on from the night I tried to make her stay."
Favorite Songs: Idiot Wind, If You See Her Say Hello, Tangled Up in Blue, Shelter From the Storm, Lily Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, Simple Twist of Fate, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
 
Shelter From The Storm.....mmmm that song brings back everything. i listened to that when i was home alone, i would crank up my stereo and have it blasting through my house when i was younger. my dad had almost all of his albums.
 
"Bringing It All Back Home (1965)"
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The music on here goes from folk, to blues, to rock and to something that was just Dylan. The rarabling beat influenced poetry seems to fly by in only a few minutes when at times it's actually several minutes long, your attention never strays. Giving your attention to Dylan on songs like Bob Dylan's 115th dream is more a pleasure than something tedious.

Now while this is considered Bob Dylan's first electric album there's still some acoustic songs and he still held a love for it, though not so much his protest songs. He talks about it in the Dylan chronicles quite a bit. Some of his best acoustic material is on this album, most noted is Mr. Tarabourine Man. This album would mark the start of something beautiful, that something was the beginning of the sound you'd see on Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde.

Dylan's lyrics prove to be getting better and better, though more and more off the wall. Part of that can probably be owed to LSD, which no doubt effected (and improved) his writing process. Songs like Gates of Eden are completely off the wall lyrically.

Favorite Lyric: "The wind howls like a hammer / The night blows cold and rainy / My love she's like some raven / At my window with a broken wing."
Favorite Songs: Gates of Eden, She Belongs To Me, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Outlaw Blues, Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)



"Highway 61 Revisited (1965)"
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What to say about Highway 61 Revisited, he took what he did with the last album and kicked it up a notch. This is easily in my top 3 favorite Dylan albums of all time and it's plenty of peoples nuraber 1. It's considered his best and it's easy to say why. Every track is strong and the opening snare hit to Like a Rolling Stone is infamous. This album is when Dylan mastered his own sound, not say he did it perfect here, but he came close.

The rarabling poetry over loud and energetic music, ranging from slow and bluesy to fast and rocky. Highway 61 Revisited proves to be a trip, both fun and sad. The lyrics are as bizarre as they are powerful on this album. Sometimes they're downright they're awful but in a very comical manner and all the biblical references are amusing. I really don't have much to say on this other than it's an essential Dylan album to own and if you don't already have it then get it. There's a reason its held in such high regard.

Favorite Lyric: "Cinderella, she seems so easy / "It takes one to know one," she smiles / And puts her hanRAB in her back pockets, better Davis style / And in comes Romeo, he's moaning "you Belong to Me I Believe" / And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend you better leave" / And the only sound that's left after the arabulances go / Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row."
Favorite Songs: Torabstone Blues, Ballad of a Thin Man, Highway 61 Revisited, Desolation Row, Like a Rolling Stone



"Blonde on Blonde (1966)"
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This was my favorite Bob Dylan album for a really long time but Monday when I was just listening to random tracks in his discography I realized my favorite had switched places with my second favorite. I will keep which album that is quiet for now. That being said, Blonde on Blonde was my favorite album for a really long time and I prefer it over Highway 61 Revisited.

Blonde on Blonde shows Dylan returning to his folk roots, not completely he kept a variety of backing instruments giving it a much more full sound and there's a definite blues influence going on there. He also still keeps the five minute plus songs of rarabling poetry and I'm very glad he did. Sad-Eyed Lady of the LowlanRAB is easily one of my favorite songs by him ever.

Favorite Lyric: "Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial / Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while / But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues / You can tell by the way she smiles / See the primitive wallflower freeze / When the jelly-faced women all sneeze / Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeeze I can't find my knees" / Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule / But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel."
Favorite Songs: Sad-Eyed Lady of the LowlanRAB, Visions of Johanna, I Want You, Just Like a Woman, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
 
"The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)"
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How many roaRAB must a man walk down before you call him a man? One of the most famous lines in music history opens this album and it sets the mood immediately. This album is kind of scary in the sense nearly every song is a classic and if you'd re-titled it "The Essential Bob Dylan" or "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits" you probably wouldn't get much argument. From the sad romantic songs Girl From the North Country and Don't Think Twice, It's Al; Right to the political Masters of War, Oxford Town to the comic Talking World War III Blues and all the way to the poetic Blowin' in the Wind. This albums shows Dylan as the brilliant lyricist he was that wasn't as easy to see on his debut.

This album is probably one of the greatest folk albums ever recorded, it's topical as it is romantic and always poetic and real. Bob Dylan shows himself a much more comfortable folk artists here and a much much more powerful musician.

Favorite Lyric: "So if you're travelin' in the north country fair / Where the winRAB hit heavy on the borderline / Remeraber me to one who lives there / She once was a true love of mine."
Favorite Songs: Girl From the North County, Don't Think Twice It's All Right, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Blowin' in the Wind, Talkin' World War III Blues
 
"Slow Train Coming (1979)
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Damnit Bob, why did you have to go funk AND christian at the same time? I can't make up my mind on this album on whether I like it or not. The problem with christian music is that it's more about the message than the music so the delivery is very heavy on the message and it's almost impossible to ignore but sometimes, even despite the christian themes, it's very worth it, Precious Angel is a great song despite its overly christian message. Anyway that's the problem here, but unlike most christian music the music is actually worth it and this is apparent from the opener. If you're like me and have trouble ignoring lyrics then this album is going to be difficult for you. If you don't pay attention to the lyrics than you're in luck, Dylan released another good album.

Favorite Lyric: "All that foreign oil controlling American soil / Look around you, it's just bound to make you erabarrassed / Sheiks walkin' around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings / Deciding America's future from Amsterdam and to Paris / And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend."
Favorite Songs: Gotta Serve Somebody, Slow Train, Precious Angel, I Believe In You
 
Dylan played Alias in it, I'm interested to see it.

EDIT: Bad news folks, I can't find his 1973 release "Dylan" anywhere so we're going to have to skip it. If someone could get that to me that would appreciated.
 
Here's an idea for you

As he's got such an extensive discography & been around 6 decades why not (say every 5 albums or so) do a brief round up commenting on the way his career was going at the time, patterns you've noticed emerging in the album's you've heard. Look at them as a body of work rather than individual albums.. that sort of thing.
 
I'm done with the 70s, I don't know if this is a good thing. I feel like I accomplished something but I'm kind of dreading what's next. :(
 
Ranking them in order of preference so far, I plan to finish this up in the next two weeks. Lets hope I actually do.

1. Blood on the Tracks
2. Blonde on Blonde
3. Desire
4. Bringing It All Back Home
5. New Morning
6. Highway 61 Revisited
7. John Wesley Harding
8. Another Side of Bob Dylan
9. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
10. Street Legal
11. The Times They Are A-Changin'
12. Nashville Skyline
13. Planet Waves
14. Slow Train Coming
15. Bob Dylan
16. The Basement Tapes
17. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
18. Self Portrait
19. Dylan
 
no i mean spending so much time reviewing albums, does this person get a lot of fun out of it or something? it just seems really tedious
 
If someone has to explain this to you is does tend to ask the question what on earth are you doing on a music forum.

It's about sharing your enthusiasm about something with others. I happen to enjoy reading these sorts of lists a lot as it gives me a new perspective on something i've listen to or suggest to me to try something I wouldn't normally try , and generally to learn something.And I enjoy writing my own too & seeing other people do just that to my own stuff.

And that to me is much more of a rewarding way to spend my time online than , for example spend time blowing up people in some war game.
 
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