dylans discography is interesting with hits and misses, I always think about when I nerd out in front of people about bob dylan and how they could go home and find one of these lower tier albums first and be very confused. One of my biggest fears for real
@@MayFlwr hahaha I hear you. Honestly part of why I take such a critical eye to some of the lesser stuff - eg, Self Portrait - is that I’d hate for someone to start there and get discouraged.
desire is my favourite dylan album but I really appreciate your inputs here and your different perspectives! many rankings dismiss his output after the 60s bar a few but you really have given each album a fair shout rather than a glance over. It's refreshing and I can't wait to see this series through to the end! Thank you!
Hey thanks so much for the kind words! Bob has a fascinating catalog, and even when he misses the mark, it's interesting to investigate why. Appreciate you checking it out!
@@DustinLowmanMusic both really. I love the idea of him rebelling, just doing what he felt was right. Reminds me a lot of MGMT’s Congratulations and what that meant for them at that time. Also the music is great and fun. I love the recurring girl group vocals, the weird airiness of songs like copper kettle and the ease of let it be me and blue moon among many.
I think it's sad you can't recognize the genius of Street Legal and Desire. You're missing out, there's so much value there. You can't dismiss those lyrics with, "eh, they're problematic." Besides that, both of these albums are so instrumentally inspired and have such bold artistic directions.
Well, as for Desire, I lavished some pretty heavy praise on it here, I just think it has both a lot of brilliance and some real wrongheadedness. My issues with Street-Legal include the icky feeling I get from some of the "problematic" (your word, not mine) lyrics, but they extend beyond that. Having heard the piano demos for Street-Legal, I know there was a better album in there, and I wish that's the one we got. But in any case, my takes aren't gospel, they're just my takes. I appreciate you watching and weighing in!
@@DustinLowmanMusic I danced with my wife to Changing of the Guards at our wedding (her favorite ever Dylan song), and my mom is a huge fan of New Pony. He's definitely tapping into lyrical blues tradition there, playing a character that matches the heavy feeling of the music. Elvis Costello writes in his latest memoir about how "Is Your Love in Vain?" inspired him to leave a toxic relationship. These songs require some context. As for the production, the backing vocalists absolutely slay these tracks, and the big horns epimotize a the late 70's campyness. In the Dylan discography, it feels essential for capturing a musical moment that was shortly lived, and I value it for that. With all that being said, I understand the music won't hit everyone the same way, and the connections we all build with his music are quite personal. I know that Blood on the Tracks is objectively an amazing Dylan album, but I've never really fallen in love with it. I go Time Out of Mind when I want sad Dylan. Today I was bumping Infidels and Shot of Love. Excited to see where you place them.
@ hey, thanks for your comment. It’s absolutely true that we all build personal and contextual connections with these songs, and I don’t begrudge anyone their love for a song or album that I don’t love. I appreciate you watching and weighing in!
Street legal is very sad boy and appeals to love lorn dudes in their mid twenties; as a 27 year old, I think it’s pathetically relatable at times lol. I especially love “True Love Tends to Forget” because it’s not super chauvinistic like the ones you mentioned. To paraphrase Christgau, it’s just kinda gross hearing those things come from late thirties Dylan. Kinda like if the Violent Femmes released their debut in their thirties lol
There's no rights or wrong. But, imo Self Portrait is brilliant for a Dylan fan, and worth it just for his vocal on Copper Kettle and Days of 49. Also, Another Self Portrait is a revelation. PG&BTK works fine as an OST; it's not meant to be an album 'proper'. I think you undersell Desire and Street Legal. Yes, maybe Dylan could be sexist at times, but it was also the 1970s! Love The Basement Tapes, too, and that whole period. It's probably my favourite album, full stop. The 6 disc, Complete Basement Tapes is my most precious release in my music collection. Fun video, thanks.
Hey, thanks for your thoughts and the kind words! To elaborate a tiny bit - Re: Self Portrait, when I listen to it without my Dylan obsessive hat on, I hear how typical fans would hear it, and hear mostly half-baked music. Re: SL, I hear ya. I’ve actually listened to it a lot but just landed in a very lukewarm place, where the sexism in the lyrics is one of my complaints but not the only one. Anyway, curious to hear what you’ll think of the 80s stuff 😉
This is a really great video! I’m continuously impressed by your vocabulary and your quality of analysis. Surprised to see Basement Tapes so high, it makes me want to revisit it. I also really appreciate your take on Slow Train Coming, especially Serve Somebody, which is a top 5 Dylan song for me despite being an atheist. My stepdad found a STC vinyl for $1 a while back and gave it to me, easily best quality per value in my collection.
I loved street legal personally! Maybe not my top 5 bob dylan albums, but it was a refreshing change of pace after the previous few. I like the backing choir type vocals and the brass instruments are used nicely. But just my opinion :P
@@rileysharp6800 A lot of people love it and I don’t begrudge anyone their love for it. I maintain that if he’d kept the arrangements a little closer to their demo forms the album would resonate more tenderly for me.
Really looking forward to seeing where Time Out Of Mind lands. Not dark yet is one of my favourite Dylan compositions and I firmly believe that the album has 0 skips. Very nice airy production.
As a freshman at Colgate University and a huge Dylan fan, I was doing a table read for a theater production when one of the other kids turned to the director as asked "aren't you the guy who wrote Hurricane?" And that's how I met Jacque Levy. I think you can tell those songs are collaborations, especially Hurricane. The meter and cadence of the lyrics just don't have the effortless flow of typical Dylan
Yeah, I think you're right. Reading Clinton Heylin's book, it became especially clear to me that Levy had a lot to do with a lot of these songs - "Romance In Durango" is another. Desire as a whole is sort of a perplexing entry in Dylan's discography for me.
Saying Street Legal is garbage is just wrong. Changing of the Guards is a masterpiece. It's one of his best albums and in his top 10 in my opinion. Sounds like you didn't like some of the lyrics so labeled the whole album as poor....
Enjoyed the video a lot even if I think you are dead wrong about Street Legal! I agree that The Basement Tapes and Slow Train Coming are among the 70s highlights. Would be interesting once you are done with the primary albums and decade rankings to go back and rank the Bootleg Series (and I guess the copyright protection / non-BS live album releases). As others have said, Another Self Portrait in particular made me rethink Self Portrait itself.
another excellent video, list and analysis. this is an excellent series. re: blood on the tracks where do you come down on the released studio version w/ a band vs. the stripped down version of bootleg series #14. i think the songs are much more beautiful on the bootleg series version. would love your thoughts!
@@morrimoto Hey thanks! Appreciate you watching. Re: BotT acoustic vs. band, I think they made the right choice in mixing the tracks. The acoustic takes have a lot of spirit, but on their own, they feel monochromatic as a collection, whereas the official release feels very multidimensional - sometimes stone alone, sometimes righteously infuriated.
I was about to ask yesterday if there’d be a continuation - I haven’t been entertained by any do these rankings until I saw yours. Also what’s the “payback” section for ?
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! The "Payback" section is a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek section solely for the "Dylan" (1973) album, which Columbia released possibly to get back at Bob for briefly changing labels to Asylum.
@@DustinLowmanMusicVan tier list any time soon? He’s my fav artist. Understandable if he’s not on your Dylan level of course. Curious to know what your work of his if you’re not gonna do a tier list
This was amazing much appreciated can you please do the same type of album ranking for Bob Marley and The Wailers? He has an amazing discography and catalogue that is worthy of a deep dive might not be as extensive as Bob Dylan but worthy nonetheless.
I think Self Portrait doesnt seem all that much of a "left turn" and "self sabotage" in hindsight. It's a covers album but most of the covers are good-great, and the live stuff is great too. Don't you hear the first track? "All the tired horses in the sun, how am I supposed to get any writing done" He's basically facing writers block and so this is what he came up with. Ultimately I think its stronger than new morning and the other early 70s material... Until "blood on the tracks".
@@blondiesaband Another Self Portrait is excellent. It’s just a world away from the original. It’s entirely possible that Dylan wanted to show people that he was human in 1970.
Blood on the Tracks is definitely S Tier but in my opinion most of the songs on the album have an alternate version that’s far better than the studio recording. You’re a Big Girl Now, Idiot Wind, and If You See Her, Say Hello are three of my favorite Dylan songs, but I’m not a fan of the studio recordings. Not sure how other people feel.
@@wyattfields6965 I’d say the alternate versions are excellent in isolation, but if they were the whole album, it’d be less multidimensional than the official release.
I would call Blood on the Tracks his best album, but if I was making a list of top Dylan tunes I think only Simple Twist of Fate and lily, Rosemary would be on it from that album, and they wouldn't be near the top
Still baffled by Self Portrait. It isn’t possible that he included songs like The Boxer in good faith, but if it was a hoax, why did he spend so much time recording this album? Also, I agree with you about Black Diamond Bay, which is my favorite on the album
@@_Singularity_ it wouldn’t be the first time that an artist spent a lot of time on a work of art that turned out not so good. I don’t know, I think it’s equally likely that it was intentionally bad and that Dylan had just momentarily lost his way.
I think there was (and is) a bit of a cult-worship around Dylan, which turned him off, sent him further into a transformative, often reclusive, “screw you” spirit. By the 70s, he certainly had enough “screw you” money to do whatever he wanted and didn’t pander to fans or expectations. Some Dylan fans may disagree with me on this, but he is an actual human being, flawed, and makes bad songs and albums sometimes. But he has remained uncompromising in his artistic mission, for better and sometimes worse. My opinion on those 70s albums is never static. I can love one this year, which I may dislike next year. But if forced at gunpoint to pick one from that era, Blood on the Tracks. I always liked the spiritual complexity in Bob. Even in his bad stuff there’s a transcendent quality, sometimes a humility that a higher power is really pulling his strings. I enjoy your brisk, efficient takes on his works.
@@GoneButNotGone I feel like you took the words right out of my brain. Even as a Dylan obsessive, I try to take an honest critical look at him and his work, and not treat every album like it’s a work of sacred genius. Thanks for watching and for the kind words!
@ I’ve been in that Dylan-is-God mindset in my younger days. I remember getting VHS tape copy of Don’t Look Back and watching it over and over and over, and making my friends watch it - obsessed would be putting it mildly. I’m wondering if this new biopic is going to spawn a new generation of Dylan-mania, which won’t be a bad thing if it gets the kids interested in anything other than today vapid pop music.
@ A new wave may indeed be happening. The trailers and teasers and such have created a buzz. I spend some time perusing the lesser known songwriter channels on UA-cam and I’m seeing a lot more Dylan covers surface, by young folk. And not just the famous hits, but the deeper cuts. That’s always a good sign. Moreover, seeing loads more Dylan archive footage and interviews surface. Among the more interesting bits are interviews of Dylan’s childhood buddy, Louie Kemp, who wrote one of the better books on Bob. I’m sure you are familiar, but some of his stories from Minnesota and the 70s period are incredibly illuminating. And for those interested in Dylan’s early roots, especially his Jewish roots and religious incarnations, Kemp is a great source. To tie this back to the aforementioned point, it’s important to demystify our heroes and idols to a human level, lest we get lost in the myths. One detail I learned from Kemp was that he and Dylan (age 17) saw Buddy Holly live at the Duluth Armoury 2 days before Holly died in that plane crash. Just thinking about the impact of this on Dylan’s trajectory.
@@stitchgrimly6167 JWH has gotten a lot of love from people who’ve watched. It’s definitely making me take another look at it. My feelings are pretty steadfast, but it’s cool to see how many people really dig it.
I'm in the minority with you about Desire. it's such an uneven album to me, I love the evocative storytelling on Romance in Durango and Black Diamond Bay but Joey is just turgid and breaks up the albums flow. To me it's like the 70s equivalent of Another Side Of where you have the heights of Chimes of Freedom and To Ramona disrupted by the awful stuff like Ballad in Plain D and I Shall Be Free No. 10 (the original from Freewheelin is an infinitely better and funnier song).
New Morning has more great songs than Freewheeling and Another side in my opinion. Lower high points, but sign on the window is a fantastic centerpiece still
Bob had some great songs in the 1970s, but he never had a single consistent album. Some of them are downright terrible. It became obvious early on that his best years were behind him, and he wasn't going to get away with writing wilfully obtuse lyrics that stoned hippies and wannabe intellectuals would ponder over, misunderstand, and proclaim as genius for fear of not getting it any longer. The game was up.The whimsical wordplay of previous albums wasn't going to cut it in the new era, so he had to write actual songs, and he couldn't. He had been left behind. He still had a few flashes of brilliance left though, but not many. BOTT is almost up there with his best, but Lily, Rosemary.... and Buckets of Rain are awful. Desire suffers from the same problem. It has some great songs, but some absolute stinkers that drag it down. There's a good compilation album worth of material from the entire decade, but most of it is for devotees only.
I know this take is out there but I think it's too extreme. The 60s was without question the most effortlessly great period of his career; greatness in the subsequent decades was much more effortful. But he reached some incredible heights - many unlike any he reached in the 60s - after 1969.
@@DustinLowmanMusic He had to work hard for anything that was even a patch on his earlier work, and it shows. Co-writers, multiple producers and studio trickery to fill the cracks couldn't hide the fact that his fire had gone out. It's not difficult to find some trite, half baked, and just cynical lyrics from any record from 70-79. I tried listening to them all over and over, but there was always a line that would jar, often deliberately, and take me out of the moment. I know he was trying to shake off his prophet mantle, but he just came across as nasty, uninterested and defeated.
Man, you have some high standards! Dylan's 70 output is frequently mind blowing imo. In the 60s, he pretty much was the zeitgeist. Arguing that he couldn't maintain that for another whole decade seems a bit unfair. BotTs is the equal of any 60s Dylan album. New Morning, Desire, Street Legal, Slow Train are all excellent. Planet Waves ain't bad either. These days, we are lucky if bands put out a couple of decent albums every decade! Just my take...
dylans discography is interesting with hits and misses, I always think about when I nerd out in front of people about bob dylan and how they could go home and find one of these lower tier albums first and be very confused. One of my biggest fears for real
@@MayFlwr hahaha I hear you. Honestly part of why I take such a critical eye to some of the lesser stuff - eg, Self Portrait - is that I’d hate for someone to start there and get discouraged.
desire is my favourite dylan album but I really appreciate your inputs here and your different perspectives!
many rankings dismiss his output after the 60s bar a few but you really have given each album a fair shout rather than a glance over. It's refreshing and I can't wait to see this series through to the end!
Thank you!
Hey thanks so much for the kind words! Bob has a fascinating catalog, and even when he misses the mark, it's interesting to investigate why. Appreciate you checking it out!
Fuck it, I really like Self Portrait. It’s genuinely a top 10 Dylan album for me.
Top 15 for me
Is it the concept behind or the music itself (or both)?
@@DustinLowmanMusic both really. I love the idea of him rebelling, just doing what he felt was right. Reminds me a lot of MGMT’s Congratulations and what that meant for them at that time. Also the music is great and fun. I love the recurring girl group vocals, the weird airiness of songs like copper kettle and the ease of let it be me and blue moon among many.
Same. It's like the White Album, but made by Bob Dylan. I love how rough and straightforward it is.
All the Tired Horses is pretty crap though
You lost me at street legal. Such a great album. Changing of the guards. No time to think are epic.
A lot of people love it. I don't begrudge anyone their love for it. It's good that people get more out of it than I do!
I think it's sad you can't recognize the genius of Street Legal and Desire. You're missing out, there's so much value there. You can't dismiss those lyrics with, "eh, they're problematic." Besides that, both of these albums are so instrumentally inspired and have such bold artistic directions.
Well, as for Desire, I lavished some pretty heavy praise on it here, I just think it has both a lot of brilliance and some real wrongheadedness. My issues with Street-Legal include the icky feeling I get from some of the "problematic" (your word, not mine) lyrics, but they extend beyond that. Having heard the piano demos for Street-Legal, I know there was a better album in there, and I wish that's the one we got. But in any case, my takes aren't gospel, they're just my takes. I appreciate you watching and weighing in!
@@DustinLowmanMusic I danced with my wife to Changing of the Guards at our wedding (her favorite ever Dylan song), and my mom is a huge fan of New Pony. He's definitely tapping into lyrical blues tradition there, playing a character that matches the heavy feeling of the music. Elvis Costello writes in his latest memoir about how "Is Your Love in Vain?" inspired him to leave a toxic relationship. These songs require some context.
As for the production, the backing vocalists absolutely slay these tracks, and the big horns epimotize a the late 70's campyness. In the Dylan discography, it feels essential for capturing a musical moment that was shortly lived, and I value it for that.
With all that being said, I understand the music won't hit everyone the same way, and the connections we all build with his music are quite personal. I know that Blood on the Tracks is objectively an amazing Dylan album, but I've never really fallen in love with it. I go Time Out of Mind when I want sad Dylan.
Today I was bumping Infidels and Shot of Love. Excited to see where you place them.
@ hey, thanks for your comment. It’s absolutely true that we all build personal and contextual connections with these songs, and I don’t begrudge anyone their love for a song or album that I don’t love. I appreciate you watching and weighing in!
Street legal is very sad boy and appeals to love lorn dudes in their mid twenties; as a 27 year old, I think it’s pathetically relatable at times lol. I especially love “True Love Tends to Forget” because it’s not super chauvinistic like the ones you mentioned. To paraphrase Christgau, it’s just kinda gross hearing those things come from late thirties Dylan. Kinda like if the Violent Femmes released their debut in their thirties lol
@ Totally. I think Christgau has a pretty accurate take on this album.
The 8 hours complete basement tapes even better. a pure bliss
Never too much Basement Tapes
Best Dylan bootleg with 1-3 and Tell Tale Signs
Awesome series Dustin. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Oh Mercy, Time out of Mind, Love & Theft, Modern Times etc.
@@likearollingstone007 thanks!! Can’t wait to share em
These are fantastic summaries. Thanks dude
My pleasure!
Great series, I'm looking forward to your opinions on the early 2000's albums!!
Thanks for watching! I love a lot of the 2000s stuff, I can't wait to dig into that
There's no rights or wrong. But, imo Self Portrait is brilliant for a Dylan fan, and worth it just for his vocal on Copper Kettle and Days of 49. Also, Another Self Portrait is a revelation. PG&BTK works fine as an OST; it's not meant to be an album 'proper'. I think you undersell Desire and Street Legal. Yes, maybe Dylan could be sexist at times, but it was also the 1970s! Love The Basement Tapes, too, and that whole period. It's probably my favourite album, full stop. The 6 disc, Complete Basement Tapes is my most precious release in my music collection.
Fun video, thanks.
Hey, thanks for your thoughts and the kind words! To elaborate a tiny bit - Re: Self Portrait, when I listen to it without my Dylan obsessive hat on, I hear how typical fans would hear it, and hear mostly half-baked music. Re: SL, I hear ya. I’ve actually listened to it a lot but just landed in a very lukewarm place, where the sexism in the lyrics is one of my complaints but not the only one. Anyway, curious to hear what you’ll think of the 80s stuff 😉
This is a really great video! I’m continuously impressed by your vocabulary and your quality of analysis.
Surprised to see Basement Tapes so high, it makes me want to revisit it. I also really appreciate your take on Slow Train Coming, especially Serve Somebody, which is a top 5 Dylan song for me despite being an atheist. My stepdad found a STC vinyl for $1 a while back and gave it to me, easily best quality per value in my collection.
@@EthanRoseKuntz Thanks Ethan! The gospel period is so unjustly maligned, there’s so much value in those songs.
I loved street legal personally! Maybe not my top 5 bob dylan albums, but it was a refreshing change of pace after the previous few. I like the backing choir type vocals and the brass instruments are used nicely. But just my opinion :P
@@rileysharp6800 A lot of people love it and I don’t begrudge anyone their love for it. I maintain that if he’d kept the arrangements a little closer to their demo forms the album would resonate more tenderly for me.
@ where can i find the demo forms?
@@rileysharp6800 I’m not sure honestly. I found them by unrepeatable accident.
@ damn, well if you have any luck let me know! I’d love to listen to them
@@rileysharp6800 you got it 🫡
Really looking forward to seeing where Time Out Of Mind lands. Not dark yet is one of my favourite Dylan compositions and I firmly believe that the album has 0 skips. Very nice airy production.
@@gangnamchild6310 That album has a lot of high points and introduces Dylan’s great late-career work. Will get to the 90s soon enough 😉
As a freshman at Colgate University and a huge Dylan fan, I was doing a table read for a theater production when one of the other kids turned to the director as asked "aren't you the guy who wrote Hurricane?" And that's how I met Jacque Levy. I think you can tell those songs are collaborations, especially Hurricane. The meter and cadence of the lyrics just don't have the effortless flow of typical Dylan
Yeah, I think you're right. Reading Clinton Heylin's book, it became especially clear to me that Levy had a lot to do with a lot of these songs - "Romance In Durango" is another. Desire as a whole is sort of a perplexing entry in Dylan's discography for me.
Saying Street Legal is garbage is just wrong. Changing of the Guards is a masterpiece. It's one of his best albums and in his top 10 in my opinion. Sounds like you didn't like some of the lyrics so labeled the whole album as poor....
Enjoyed the video a lot even if I think you are dead wrong about Street Legal! I agree that The Basement Tapes and Slow Train Coming are among the 70s highlights. Would be interesting once you are done with the primary albums and decade rankings to go back and rank the Bootleg Series (and I guess the copyright protection / non-BS live album releases). As others have said, Another Self Portrait in particular made me rethink Self Portrait itself.
Glad you enjoyed! I definitely plan to go back over the Bootleg Series - so many studio albums to get through 😂
I'm keen to see your Christmas video special on "Christmas in the Heart" which is undeniably an all-time top 5 Dylan album, bar none.
@@Michael69 I listen to it every year 😉
@@DustinLowmanMusic Me too! And so does my family! Against their will!!
@@Michael69 😂 😂 😂
another excellent video, list and analysis. this is an excellent series.
re: blood on the tracks where do you come down on the released studio version w/ a band vs. the stripped down version of bootleg series #14. i think the songs are much more beautiful on the bootleg series version. would love your thoughts!
@@morrimoto Hey thanks! Appreciate you watching.
Re: BotT acoustic vs. band, I think they made the right choice in mixing the tracks. The acoustic takes have a lot of spirit, but on their own, they feel monochromatic as a collection, whereas the official release feels very multidimensional - sometimes stone alone, sometimes righteously infuriated.
Great video man
Thanks for checking it out!!
I was about to ask yesterday if there’d be a continuation - I haven’t been entertained by any do these rankings until I saw yours.
Also what’s the “payback” section for ?
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! The "Payback" section is a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek section solely for the "Dylan" (1973) album, which Columbia released possibly to get back at Bob for briefly changing labels to Asylum.
One of my favorite deep cuts from Bob has to be went to see the gypsy, everytime it comes on I gotta sing along
@@joelgonz03 Such a great song
I might be the only one, but I actually listen to the Pat Garrett soundtrack more than any other Dylan album. It has a vibe that's very soothing.
It's entirely possible that you're the only one, but more power to you!
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is my favorite Bob Dylan 1970s album
More power to ya!
mine too .. I bet they had fun in Mexico making the movie
@@asshat23871 That's for sure
And I wish we'd give Planet Waves some more love... How about that Astral Weeksy-feeling on Never Say Goodbye! Unparalleled.
You've outed me as not one who reveres Astral Weeks - I dig it, but I like some of Van's other stuff much more.
@@DustinLowmanMusicVan tier list any time soon? He’s my fav artist. Understandable if he’s not on your Dylan level of course. Curious to know what your work of his if you’re not gonna do a tier list
@ maybe someday! There are other artists I know better so I imagine I’ll start with them if and when I do another one.
Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts is indeed a splendid track, but my preference is always to listen to it in the Baez version.
@@duncanleith9172 She can always be trusted to render his material memorably
This was amazing much appreciated can you please do the same type of album ranking for Bob Marley and The Wailers? He has an amazing discography and catalogue that is worthy of a deep dive might not be as extensive as Bob Dylan but worthy nonetheless.
@@jonathanbarnes7641 I’m not as familiar with his discography, but maybe someday! Thanks for watching and for the kind words.
@ sounds good 😌 you’re welcome 😇 ☮️
The audio is too low, but this is a good video.
Thanks for watching and for the feedback! If other people have issues I'll reupload with louder audio.
never listened to basement tapes before, definitely going to listen it after this
You simply must. It's such a rewarding listen
Oh man, I really like New Morning.
@@ThisBirdHasFlown I do too!
I think Self Portrait doesnt seem all that much of a "left turn" and "self sabotage" in hindsight. It's a covers album but most of the covers are good-great, and the live stuff is great too. Don't you hear the first track? "All the tired horses in the sun, how am I supposed to get any writing done" He's basically facing writers block and so this is what he came up with. Ultimately I think its stronger than new morning and the other early 70s material... Until "blood on the tracks".
Hey, I'm glad you get something out of it that I don't. As I referenced in the video, I love "All The Tired Horses."
this is great, please buy the novel Opaquely A and rank the chapters this way if you have time, thanks
@@bluecloud6437 hahahaha I’m on it
Pat Garrett is a Classic
S Tier!!!
Desire could have been a much better album if not for one terrible decision. Dropping the brilliant Abandoned Love for Joey!
@@JasonRicard-l1l Abandoned Love is amazing. We just might break that out st Cafe Wha on the 30th 😉
1. Blood on the Tracks 2. Street-Legal 3. Desire
New to this channel. Are you a Grateful Dead fan?
@@hunterbrewer9102 I’ve never done a true deep dive but I respect their songwriting chops and their cover repertoire!
The Self Portrait bootleg is my favorite bootleg. I can never understand the derision
@@blondiesaband Another Self Portrait is excellent. It’s just a world away from the original. It’s entirely possible that Dylan wanted to show people that he was human in 1970.
Blood on the Tracks is definitely S Tier but in my opinion most of the songs on the album have an alternate version that’s far better than the studio recording. You’re a Big Girl Now, Idiot Wind, and If You See Her, Say Hello are three of my favorite Dylan songs, but I’m not a fan of the studio recordings. Not sure how other people feel.
@@wyattfields6965 I’d say the alternate versions are excellent in isolation, but if they were the whole album, it’d be less multidimensional than the official release.
I would call Blood on the Tracks his best album, but if I was making a list of top Dylan tunes I think only Simple Twist of Fate and lily, Rosemary would be on it from that album, and they wouldn't be near the top
@@aaronmurray4624 interesting take!
Hmm. I should probably give the basement tapes a listen!
@@NickJardine Yes! And listen close - blink and you might miss some of the lyrical brilliance.
Uggh You called “Street Legal” Garbage…
It’s actually S Tier..
Still baffled by Self Portrait. It isn’t possible that he included songs like The Boxer in good faith, but if it was a hoax, why did he spend so much time recording this album?
Also, I agree with you about Black Diamond Bay, which is my favorite on the album
@@_Singularity_ it wouldn’t be the first time that an artist spent a lot of time on a work of art that turned out not so good. I don’t know, I think it’s equally likely that it was intentionally bad and that Dylan had just momentarily lost his way.
I think there was (and is) a bit of a cult-worship around Dylan, which turned him off, sent him further into a transformative, often reclusive, “screw you” spirit. By the 70s, he certainly had enough “screw you” money to do whatever he wanted and didn’t pander to fans or expectations. Some Dylan fans may disagree with me on this, but he is an actual human being, flawed, and makes bad songs and albums sometimes. But he has remained uncompromising in his artistic mission, for better and sometimes worse. My opinion on those 70s albums is never static. I can love one this year, which I may dislike next year. But if forced at gunpoint to pick one from that era, Blood on the Tracks. I always liked the spiritual complexity in Bob. Even in his bad stuff there’s a transcendent quality, sometimes a humility that a higher power is really pulling his strings. I enjoy your brisk, efficient takes on his works.
@@GoneButNotGone I feel like you took the words right out of my brain. Even as a Dylan obsessive, I try to take an honest critical look at him and his work, and not treat every album like it’s a work of sacred genius. Thanks for watching and for the kind words!
@
I’ve been in that Dylan-is-God mindset in my younger days. I remember getting VHS tape copy of Don’t Look Back and watching it over and over and over, and making my friends watch it - obsessed would be putting it mildly. I’m wondering if this new biopic is going to spawn a new generation of Dylan-mania, which won’t be a bad thing if it gets the kids interested in anything other than today vapid pop music.
@@GoneButNotGone agreed totally. Anytime there’s a new wave of Dylan fans, I’m for it.
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A new wave may indeed be happening. The trailers and teasers and such have created a buzz. I spend some time perusing the lesser known songwriter channels on UA-cam and I’m seeing a lot more Dylan covers surface, by young folk. And not just the famous hits, but the deeper cuts. That’s always a good sign. Moreover, seeing loads more Dylan archive footage and interviews surface. Among the more interesting bits are interviews of Dylan’s childhood buddy, Louie Kemp, who wrote one of the better books on Bob. I’m sure you are familiar, but some of his stories from Minnesota and the 70s period are incredibly illuminating. And for those interested in Dylan’s early roots, especially his Jewish roots and religious incarnations, Kemp is a great source. To tie this back to the aforementioned point, it’s important to demystify our heroes and idols to a human level, lest we get lost in the myths. One detail I learned from Kemp was that he and Dylan (age 17) saw Buddy Holly live at the Duluth Armoury 2 days before Holly died in that plane crash. Just thinking about the impact of this on Dylan’s trajectory.
Your sixties list would be perfect if you swapped Another Side with JWH.
@@stitchgrimly6167 JWH has gotten a lot of love from people who’ve watched. It’s definitely making me take another look at it. My feelings are pretty steadfast, but it’s cool to see how many people really dig it.
Winterlude is just To Ramona but dumb
Accurate
I'm in the minority with you about Desire. it's such an uneven album to me, I love the evocative storytelling on Romance in Durango and Black Diamond Bay but Joey is just turgid and breaks up the albums flow.
To me it's like the 70s equivalent of Another Side Of where you have the heights of Chimes of Freedom and To Ramona disrupted by the awful stuff like Ballad in Plain D and I Shall Be Free No. 10 (the original from Freewheelin is an infinitely better and funnier song).
New Morning has more great songs than Freewheeling and Another side in my opinion. Lower high points, but sign on the window is a fantastic centerpiece still
@@samoppedisano3994 it’s a very rich album musically, that’s for sure. Sign on the Window is a prime example.
Justice for Lily Rosemary
Amen
how could you not go back to The Hurricnae? baffling.
Bob had some great songs in the 1970s, but he never had a single consistent album. Some of them are downright terrible. It became obvious early on that his best years were behind him, and he wasn't going to get away with writing wilfully obtuse lyrics that stoned hippies and wannabe intellectuals would ponder over, misunderstand, and proclaim as genius for fear of not getting it any longer. The game was up.The whimsical wordplay of previous albums wasn't going to cut it in the new era, so he had to write actual songs, and he couldn't. He had been left behind.
He still had a few flashes of brilliance left though, but not many. BOTT is almost up there with his best, but Lily, Rosemary.... and Buckets of Rain are awful. Desire suffers from the same problem. It has some great songs, but some absolute stinkers that drag it down. There's a good compilation album worth of material from the entire decade, but most of it is for devotees only.
I know this take is out there but I think it's too extreme. The 60s was without question the most effortlessly great period of his career; greatness in the subsequent decades was much more effortful. But he reached some incredible heights - many unlike any he reached in the 60s - after 1969.
@@DustinLowmanMusic He had to work hard for anything that was even a patch on his earlier work, and it shows. Co-writers, multiple producers and studio trickery to fill the cracks couldn't hide the fact that his fire had gone out. It's not difficult to find some trite, half baked, and just cynical lyrics from any record from 70-79. I tried listening to them all over and over, but there was always a line that would jar, often deliberately, and take me out of the moment. I know he was trying to shake off his prophet mantle, but he just came across as nasty, uninterested and defeated.
Man, you have some high standards! Dylan's 70 output is frequently mind blowing imo. In the 60s, he pretty much was the zeitgeist. Arguing that he couldn't maintain that for another whole decade seems a bit unfair. BotTs is the equal of any 60s Dylan album. New Morning, Desire, Street Legal, Slow Train are all excellent. Planet Waves ain't bad either. These days, we are lucky if bands put out a couple of decent albums every decade! Just my take...
@@suartgilmour4540 I’m with ya
Lester Bangs
Several days late. There will be consequences.
Hahahahah someone should've told me I had a deadline!