Top 5 bob dylan albums

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Feb 02 - 07:06 PM

Dylan has an officially released take of it on "The Bootleg Series", a boxed set of 3 CD's that has many previously unreleased songs. I believe there's also a live version of it on a CD that came out a few years back with 4 or 5 concert recordings on it.

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: alanabit
Date: 23 Feb 02 - 03:18 AM

Thanks Little Hawk and Steve. I didn't know that "Blind Willie McTell" was from those sessions, although I do know the song and think it's a beauty. Mick Taylor, a great guitarist, but a rather less distinguished songwriter, was doing the song last time I saw him. I know I have heard Dylan doing it on some bootleg somewhere. No arguments there Rolfyboy, but I'm afraid that your mathematical skills are on a par with mine...

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Rolfyboy6
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 10:28 PM

In no particular favored order:

Bob Dylan

Freewheelin'

The Times The Are A-Changin'

Another Side of Bob Dylan

Bringin' It All Back Home

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde On Blonde

John Wesley Harding

Blood On The Tracks

That's my five and I'm sticking to it. Unless I add more. The other night at the annual "Evolution of the Blues" concert in Santa Rosa, great blues drummer Willy Jordan did Dylan's "Hollis Brown" old-style Mississippi Fife and Drum Band style, singing while playing only a snare drum. Magnificent.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 10:24 PM

Knocked Out Loaded is strange, all right. At least it's got "Brownsville Girl", which is pretty classic.

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,johnnythebone
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 06:12 PM

the basement tapes john wesley harding nashville skyline freewheelin' bob dylan time out of mind

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 12:31 PM

Not as much as I disliked Dylan and The Dead, or Knocked Out Loaded...

LOL!!!

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 12:26 PM

Clinton,

I thought you severely disliked Love & Theft.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 12:24 PM

Well, I like 'em all for one reason or another...

But top 5?

I'll do ya one better...

If I can have Infides (Keep "Jokerman"... "Sweetheart Like You" and "I and I" are the tracks that get me on that album...) and Oh Mercy, I'll be happy...

Maybe toss in a copy of Empire Burlesque, for "I'll Remember You", "Emotionally Yours" and "Dark Eyes"...

If it HAS to be 5, well, toss in any album except Dylan and The Dead, or Knocked Out Loaded...

;-)

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 12:06 PM

What kinda' grain are you expectin' over there Hawk? Wheat? Corn? Rice?

Just curious...

Spaw

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 11:52 AM

Blind Willie McTell is the standout of them all...incredible vocals and lyrics and the whole deal. There were some other good ones too, but I can't recall the names right at this moment. Maybe check it out at expectingrain.com ....

I'll see.

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 11:05 AM

I guess the most glaring ommission from Infidels was "Blind Willie McTell" which later turned up on the Bootleg Series. A strange ommission. Personallly I think it is the finest vocal performance of Bob's recorded works.

I read somewhere (maybe the Bootleg liner notes) that Bob was never quite happy with the way it turned out. The only thing that I can think about this is that he fumbles a bit on the piano near the end of the song, perhaps that's why he left it off.

I think Mark Knopfler's 12 String playing is beautiful on this track.

I like the finished version of Infidels, but it's not in my top five.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: alanabit
Date: 22 Feb 02 - 10:57 AM

Don't send me a copy! Shantner couldn't even act and his version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"... Shucks - let's just forget that nightmare... Still, I guess there is more to hear about "Infidels" LH, because you obviously know more about the story than I do. I was stuck between finishing my studies and busking around Europe at the time. So I did not get to read much of the music press. Can you give us some more details? I know that Sly and Robbie were the rhythm section and that the Keef style guitars (and indeed the Mick Taylor style guitar parts) were played by that marvellous maestro. (You can actually hear his lead slinking in through the mix at the end of "Jokerman" - a very different sound to the Knopfler licks which precede it). What got left out wich could have improved the album?

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Feb 02 - 02:07 PM

Yes, Khandu...the Bob Dylan and William Shatner outtakes are probably the MOST sought-after bootleg in history at this point, and are VERY hard to find. It could have been history-making music, if released, but the project foundered when Shatner insisted on naming it the "William Shatner and Bob Dylan Sessions"...that is, he wanted first Billing. Dylan walked out on him, after threatening legal action if the masters were not immediately destroyed. Rumour has it that one tape was surreptitiously "beamed up" to Shatner's ranch, where it still resides, closely guarded, along with a copy of "I Am the Best and To Hell With the Rest!", Shatner's still unreleased retrospective autobiography about his days as a star of stage and screen.

Has anyone got a copy of this Dylan/Shatner session? If so, contact the WSSBA immediately!

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 10:21 PM

Ok, I'm not a big Bob fan compared to some of you guys, but here goes

1)Bob Dylan

2)Freewheelin

3)Bringing It All Back Home

4)John Wesley Harding

5)Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61

PS Love and Theft is his best in 20 years

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: khandu
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 09:57 PM

Time Out of Mind

Desire

Self-Portrait

Nashville Skyline

Bob Dylan and William Shatner...Together At Last!

Okay, I am joking. #5 would be Oh Mercy

khandu

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,David Kempner
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 09:09 PM

Can we all agree the Bob Dylan is, quite frankly, the Daddy Of All Things Rock? He is the King, there is none higher. I'm in awe of his genius. His talent is scary; I bow to him.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 09:08 PM

Yeah, and "Infidels" could have been the most legendary album of the last 22 years...if Dylan had chosen a slightly different lineup of songs. It would have stunned his fans. Mark Knopfler was very frustrated by Dylan's choice of which songs to leave OFF the album. Knopfler was dead right. Kind of a shame.

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: alanabit
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 04:33 PM

"Blood on the Tracks" has rightly been identified as the masterpiece. "Highway 61" and "Infidels" have to be in there with "Freewheeling". What really took me about "Infidels" at the time was that it really rocked like a bastard, which was the last thing I had expected the man to do at the time. The fifth place is pretty tight for me. I don't know whether the new one is going to make it or if it's a toss up between "Another Side of..." and "Oh Mercy". Hell, this is tricky...

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 03:38 PM

I always loved "solid rock" from saved. I would love to say that it's because of the deep relgious meaning, but really, it's just that baseline....

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,planet waves
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 03:02 PM

i'm a total sucker for 'going, going, gone'.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 01:32 PM

Planet Waves was pretty refreshing at the time, and has some neat stuff on it, with tight playing by the Band. But it was eclipsed by Blood On The Tracks, so that's probably why it gets overlooked.

Here's a bit of trivia...Dylan was going to call Planet Waves "Ceremonies of the Horsemen"...but changed his mind.

"Dirge" is like a prelude to "Idiot Wind", the most outraged Dylan howl of his entire career...

"Wedding Song" overstates its case, being the ultimate statement of romantic love taken to the point of outright fanaticism. How ironical that it so briefly preceded the breakup of Dylan's marriage with Sara.

Lots of other good stuff on Planet Waves.

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,T-boy
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 07:51 AM

No-one mentioned Planet Waves !!

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,greg stephens
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 07:22 AM

why not throw in that awful harry belafonte record with dylan playing harmonica?

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Tweed
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 07:17 AM

1.Blonde on Blonde,
2.Bob Dylan
3.Good As I Been to You
4.Bringin' it all Back Home
5.Highway 61 Revisited

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Art Thieme
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 01:24 AM

Little Hawk,

I think we speake the same language !

All the best,

Art

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Feb 02 - 12:00 AM

You're a folkie to the very marrow, aren't you, Art? :-)

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: The Pooka
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 11:14 PM

Blonde on Blonde, man. Blonde on Blonde.

But yeah, John Wesley Harding. And Time Out Of Mind. Flip ya fer the 2 more.

Gotta go. Foggy ruins of time. My heart's in the hielands.

--sadeyed lady of th' lowlands

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: SDShad
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:51 PM

I've been listening a lot recently to "A Tree With Roots," a new remaster of the "unofficial" "Genuine Basement Tapes," and I've gotta say that even though it's not an "album" in any conventional sense, it'd have to make my list.

Sure, plenty of the stuff Dylan and the Hawks put onto tape sounds like just what it is: six guys hanging out in a basement, smoking dope and jamming. And some of it sounds kinda...well...bad. But it's well worth it for the many diamonds-in-the-rough there, expected and unexpected: the first recordings of songs such as "Quinn the Eskimo," "Million Dollar Bash," "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," "This Wheel's on Fire," "I Shall Be Released," and others, plus covers of things like three terrific Johnny Cash songs, "Belshazar," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "Big River." Even "Bonny Ship the Diamond," which begins with Dylan in poor voice indeed, ends up being raucous, fun, and confident.

Great--if rough-hewn--stuff, much of it.

Shad

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 08:55 PM

The first 4---and one of the other ones

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 08:20 PM

Don't even think of starting a top five Dylan songs thread.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: michaelr
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 08:19 PM

1. Blood on the Tracks
2. Blood on the Tracks
3. Infidels
4. the new one
5. Time out of Mind

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Peter T.
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 07:10 PM

I think the Columbia Bootleg is the most amazing of the albums, just for the range -- can this all be one person?

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:50 PM

Oh, yeah..."Live '66" Absolute flippin' dynamite! I wish I'd seen those shows. I was still in school in a small town, and had never seen any of my heroes in concert at that point.

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,joanie baez
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:25 PM

blonde on blonde, bringing it all back home, highway 61 revisited, blood on the tracks, live '66. in no particular order.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 03:13 PM

Im with LH on the Street Legal and Infidels thing. I love those records...Sweet heart like you is such a great song.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 02:31 PM

How did I forget the first self titled one?

You know what? This can't be narrowed down to five.

Steve

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Murph10566
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 02:06 PM

1.) Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

2.) Bob Dylan

3.) Times They Are A-Changin'

4.) Bringing it All Back Home

5.) Nashville Skyline

Still have my original (weathered) albums of these classics, even his first 'Greatest Hits...' (with the fold-out psychedelic Poster)...

What a gift; what a body of music !

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 12:30 PM

1. Blood On The Tracks - Simply incomparable.

2. Bringing It All Back Home - Has some of the most extraordinary lyrics he ever composed. "It's Allright Ma" and "Gates of Eden" were so amazing that I think even Dylan himself is amazed, in retrospect, that he wrote them.

3. Blonde on Blonde - The quintessence of electric Bob.

4. Freewheelin' - the quintessence of acoustic Bob, and THE groundbreaking album of its time.

5. Streetlegal - Always a personal favourite of mine, but not of most Dylan fans. I don't at all mind the ladies wailing along behind him, I think they sound great! And the lyrics on many of the songs are marvelous. It's a killer album in my opinion.

I did not include Biograph or The Bootleg Series, because they are collections. They're both terrific.

Other honourable mentions:

John Wesley Harding - Dylan has called it the first religious rock album. Well, it isn't rock, actually, but it's a great work...full of spiritual introspection/post motorcycle accident...very meaningful. "I Pity The Poor Immigrant" is one of the best religious parables in song that I have ever heard, and could be about any one of us.

Infidels - Very good. Could have been legendary had it dropped a couple of clunkers, and included "Blind Willie McTell" and some others from the same period. "Jokerman" stands out particularly.

Live At Budokan - A lot of people can't stand it. I love it, although the reggae numbers are a little odd...

Bob Dylan - Best guitar playing and most punchy delivery ever.

World Gone Wrong - That really brings it all back home!

Oh Mercy - Very, very good all round.

Self-Portrait - Kind of fascinating. Has some dreadful cuts, and some very good ones, and some that are just plain fun to listen to.

Empire Burlesque - A vastly underrated album...I darn near would put it in the top 5...but not quite.

Highway 61 Revisited - Apocalyptic, raucous, and totally classic...but easier to relate to at 20 than at 50.

Shot of Love - A neat album from the 80's, with an excellent mix of songs.

Slow Train Coming - Great musically, narrow philosophically, but still powerful.

Hmmmm...did I forget anything?

- LH

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,Steve Latimer
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 11:26 AM

I expected to see this crop up after the Desert Island thread. This one is awfully hard, but here is my list in (today's) order

1. Blood On The Tracks. I consider this to be the masterpiece he told us he was going to paint.

2. Blonde On Blonde. I think that most of Blonde on Blonde is wonderful.

3. Freewheeling. His first almost entirely self-penned album, a real look at the brilliance to come.

4. Bringing It All Back Home. So this may not be a popular choice on the Mudcat, but this album was the start of the electric Dylan. What a start.

5. I'm going to suck out here and go with the Bootleg series. I know it's three CD's, and I don't like everything on it, but the moments of brilliance that are captured over the thirty years are some of my favourite creations.

Honourable mention to Highway 61, Oh Mercy, Time Out Of Mind and Love and Theft.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:57 AM

Thanks for the correction. Disc one of live 66 is a good choice. "Infidels" and "Shot of Love" are both good 80's records.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: simon-pierre
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:54 AM

I think the choice is impossible. Of course his seven first albums (til' Blonde on Blonde), the next one (John Wesley Harding), but you absolutely need the two last (Time out of mind, Love & Theft), some in beetween (Nashville Skyline, Blood on the tracks)and the Bootleg Series and Biograph... It should be comlete.

Serioulsy, reduce to five, I would choose albums from the 60's first, but what he made in the ten last years(from Good as I been to you yo Love & Theft, including participations to various tributes and soundtrack) is amazing and is close in quality to his first years. It should not be overlook.

SP

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Jerry Dingleman: The Boy Wonder(inactve)
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:29 AM

someone had "self portrait" listed. I have always regarded this as his worst album, especially since his label released after he left them to fulfill his contract.

Spartacus,

"Self Portrait" was released as a planned album by Dylan and Columbia Records. You are confusing it with "Dylan," an album of outtakes that Columbia released when Dylan sought asylum at Asylum.

Interestingly, he was only at Asylum briefly before going back to Columbia and the two albums he did on Asylum are now on Columbia.

While I don't think that SP was one of Dylan's best, I've always found it enjoyable. In the past 10 years, Dylan has been doing great stuff again, but there was little of his 1980s music that did much for me.

My top five Dylan albums:

1) Blood On the Tracks

2) disc one of Live 1966

3) John Wesley Harding

4) The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

5) Blonde On Blonde.

On another day, I might have made different choices.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Johnny Squints
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:23 AM

-Blood On The Tracks -Highway 61' Revisited -Bringing It All Back Home -Bob Dylan -Bootleg Series.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:20 AM

Strangely enough, I can understand that. I still can't bear some of his renderings on that album, but that is definitely the only plausable explanation I have heard defending that album. I have a similar opinion about the first self titled album. I love it becuase he sounds like he wants it so badly. I have'nt heard too many albums with that kind of grit. It's really good hillbilly grit, too-makes me want to stomp my foot and yell and scream...

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,greg stephens
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 10:10 AM

self portrait seems extremely unpretentious to me, and normally bob dylan is the most pretentious man in the world (and why not hes got plenty to be pretentious about). on self portrait theres tracks where he just seems to besinging the song because he likes it, which i find totally charming. and since being charming is not bob dylans general approach to the publicthe record seems uniquely good to me. i suppose i secretly want bob to ring me up and ask me round for a drink and play a few tunes, and not be rude to me. well thats why I like selfportrait anyway. greg

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:59 AM

Maybe greg can explain the self portrait phenomenon to me. What do you like about that album?

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: GUEST,greg stephens
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:55 AM

bob dylan,freewheelin,highway 61,slow train,selfportrait

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:52 AM

See? Spaw's list is perfect. And extra points for choosing albums instead of biograph and the bootleg series in the top four. Theres a little bit of magic in albums by themselves. Especially old records.

Subject: RE: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:46 AM

Blood on the Tracks---- '75
Bob Dylan---- '62
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan---- '63
John Wesley Harding---- '67
Biograph---- '85
Bootleg Series---- '91
Bringing It All Back Home---- '65
Highway 61 Revisited---- '65

Any of the last four could be swapped in any order for number five.

Spaw

Subject: Top 5 bob dylan albums
From: Spartacus
Date: 19 Feb 02 - 09:20 AM

I started a thread yesterday asking for people's top five desert island acoustic albums and someone had "self portrait" listed. I have always regarded this as his worst album, especially since his label released after he left them to fulfill his contract. Anyway, to each his own. Now I'm curious to see what the consensus is. So if you have to narrow it down to the top 5, what are they?