dylan

i want some dylan in my collection. i like the guy, but he's released so much damn material i really have no idea where to start. any suggestions? i don't like "greatest hits" type-stuff and career retrospectives, so if you could point me to essential albums, well, that'd be good.

Geez man - that's a tall order. His first 10 or so albums are pretty great.

Here's a good site where you can pick through and listen to samples of each one

Bob Dylan Albums

I started with Highway 61 Revisited and I think that's a good place to start. It has 'like a rolling stone' which is one of his most famous songs. Vintage 60's. It's also mostly a fun upbeat album and ends with 'desolation row' which is a classic never ending dylan track.

The other great albums from that era, and also good places to start, are 'bringing it all back home' and 'blonde on blonde'.

If you're more interested in the early folk music dylan then 'another side of bob dylan' is a great choice. So is 'the freewheelin bob dylan' which has classic folk tunes like 'blowin in the wind', but I think you have to really enjoy folk music to get into the whole album.

My favorite dylan album is 'blood on the tracks'. When I first heard it as a teenager I couldn't get into it. I thought it was slow and dull. Now I love the way all the songs kind of work together as an album, even if they're not all great songs. But it has 'tangled up in blue' and 'shelter from the storm' which are dylan at his best.

I just looked at the the list and realized I forgot 'the times they are a-changin' which is another classic folk album.

So yeah, look at that list and choose one from albums 2, 3, or 4 if you want folk dylan or choose one from albums 5, 6, or 7 if you want electric dylan. Then go from there.

If I had to pick one it would be"Blonde on Blonde". I love all the warped organ on those songs.

"Visions of Johanna" is far and way my favorite dylan track. But the whoel album has this great drunken swagger to it that just hits the spot for me when I'm in the mood....

But damn there are some good arguments for any number of his albums...

I loves me some classic Dylan, but do NOT underestimate his newer stuff, especially Time Out Of Mind........yes its a much more calm, reserved, bluesier, traditional Dylan, but the stuff is just choice live-your-life background music.............lyrics are simple but profound.........neat to hear such a prolific & 60's societally affecting mind look back on his life & call things for what they are in solid, simple terms..........

I'd pick Blonde on Blonde, too.

Go for the cream of the crop... Highway 61 revisited and Blood on the tracks...

Has anyone else noticed how dark ol' Bob.D.'s gotten in the last few years? I believe he could be accused of holding the heart of american music in his ancient hands, definately one of the most inspired and influential artists of the 20th century, and his message has grown increasingly dark and sorrowful.I dont know if that says something sad about him or something sad about us, since weve always been the ones he's writing about.Just an observation.

The trilogy of Bringin' It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde is probably the greatest three album run in rock history. Blood on the Tracks is his next greatest album, IMO.

Yeah definately blood on the tracks, highway 61, the times they are a changin, and blonde on blonde are all great.

the new album, a 2 disc set from the 1965-66 tour, is fucking amazing. disc 1 is all acoustic stuff, just brilliant. disc 2, he PLUGS IN. a huge deal on that tour, that a folk singer plugged in, but the disc is just phenominal. possibly one of the greatest live recordings ever.

of yeah, its called live 66. from the bootleg series. if you like dylan, you NEED this album.

hahaha ok my favorite is nashville skyline. love to spend the night with peggy day.

If your local library has CDs, chances are they have Dylan albums. I burned songs from Bringing It All Back Home, Blonde on Blonde, Blood On the Tracks and Live 1966 from library copies recently.
Of course, when I was a teen I owned Bringing It All Back Home. I owned Blonde... too, but only lately have I truly appreciated how great "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" and "Visions of Johanna" are. I actually re-discovered the latter when Yo La Tengo played it before a show.
I generally don't like live Dylan; he does strange things to his songs sometimes. But "I Don't Believe You" on the live 1966 is...as good as music can get. And the new Rolling Thunder Tour album, Live 1975, is an almost perfect two-CD set. I'm ambivalent to "Mama You've Been on My Mind"; the rest is great...in fact, if you count it as a 2002 album, it is easily, easily my favorite CD of last year. IMO nothing even comes close.

edit ps- I don't mean to be mean to GogoMonster below, but I'd have to say Highway 61 Revisited is very much my favorite...but the reason I edit here is that I remembered my old book of Dylan articles compiled by Craig Mcgregor. I need to get that from my parents' house and put some quotes on here; as a general rule, in his 1960s interviews Bob tried to severely fuck with the minds of his interviewers...very fun to read.

[Edited on Mar 29, 2003 by Cheech]

I love the song Hurricane. Good luck with your collection.

I have to agree with everyone Blonde on Blonde is probably his best work....
Depends on if your more into acoustic folk or his RnR stuff...
I have everything up to john wesley hardin, the 60s LPs are considered his best work along with the 70s LP, Blood on the Tracks.

[Edited on Mar 29, 2003 by Go_Go_Monster]

ill second 'freewheelin bob dylan'. 'dont think twice, its all right' is one of my favorite songs. nick drake, johnny cash and waylon jennings have all covered it.

even of you hate collections as much as i do, 'essential bob dylan' is a great release. as a matter of fact, most of columbias 'essential' albums are really good.

...well no one else has mentioned it...I am very partial to the albums: John Wesley Harding...and Nashville Skyline....The have a nice gritty Americana feel to them...and Nashville Skyline used the top sessions guys- who were tops for the country set in the day...good luck

[Edited on Mar 29, 2003 by coldenginelogic]

Yeah, yeah, but the best live full band record Dylan has ever recorded IMHO was "Hard Rain". Don't miss out on that treat. It gives me chills up and down my spine.

just buy it all. you really need all of it. bob only has, what, like 40 albums? it'll only set you back like $800 or so. but really, what price is that to pay for the enrichment of your soul? and don't think you can skip out on the 80's christian albums, either. property of jesus is a good song, kinda.

i am having the same problem. i have known for years that i need to listen to more bob dylan but i just never have gone out and bought any.

i'm going to start with blood on the tracks or blonde on blonde.

blonde on blonde


oh mama
can this really be the end



dont look back

[Edited on Mar 30, 2003 by zenhell]

Nobody said Saved...

imho: (not necessarily in order)
1. Blood on the Tracks or Desire (early2mid seventies must have epics of the soul)
2. Blonde on Blonde (like absinthe dreams, visionary, highly original)
3. Highway 61 Revisited (classic)
4. Bringing it All Back Home (1st electric, 1/2 acoustic, also classic)
5. The Freewheelin Bob Dylan (2nd album,acoustic, classic folk protest material)
6. THe times They Are a Changin (more folk)
7. Another Side of BobDylan (acoustic, including more ballads)
8. John Wesley Harding (rugged, almost scary folk/country recorded after he almost died in motorcycle crash and recluded to woods)
9. Nashville Skyline ( with Johnny Cash, country music; the real deal!)
also the biograph comps are cool having outakes and unreleased versions,
and even best of bob volume 1 + 2 are good intros, and the 80's born again material has classics "slow train coming" for instance

life is not complete w/out bob! hail bob! they dont make em like that anymore!

and the movie Masked and Anonymous from a cupla years back