Best Bob Dylan albums?

adam42381

I am planning on grabbing some Dylan cds and want to know which are the best. I only have the Essential Bob Dylan 2 disc right now. Point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

LedZepFan

I am a very casual Dylan fan, but I really like his 60's electric stuff-Bringing it all Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. Those are typically extremely revered too. Blood on the Tracks is a bit later and is also all sorts of revered but I don't really care for it.

Pearl Jam and toast

Stay away from the 80's.

The 80's nearly killed Bob Dylan (mostly the asshole producers that practically made his records themselves, and also a general creative low).

the only thing you need to hear is on the greatest hits vol. 3 generally..

He gets good again in the 90's.

Time out of Mind is one of his best works of his career.

anything else is brilliant.

You're going to love anything from Blood on the Tracks back.

daanarts

Blonde on Blonde and blood on the tracks are great starters. so is Highway 61.
if u more into bluesy.. get his latest.. Love and theft..

Pearl Jam and toast

bobby is supposedly working on a new one too !

StoneG82

Time Out of Mind could be my favorite Dylan record.

It's full of sadness and heartbreak.

and it's got "Not Dark Yet" on it which is one of the greatest songs ever written.

"I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door...."

adam42381

A friend of mine has all these on his computer and said he'd burn what I wanted. I don't want that many. Pick out the ones I should stay clear of and which gems to get. Thanks for your help.

Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bring It All Back Home
Desire
Dylan and the Dead
Good As I Been To You
Hard Rain
Highway 61 Revisited
Infidels
John Wesley Harding
Knocked Out Loaded
Nashville Skyline
New Morning
Oh Mercy
Pat Garret& Billy the Kid Soundtrack
Slow Train Coming
Street Legal
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Time Out of Mind
Unplugged

Evacuation Rules

adam42381 wrote:

I am planning on grabbing some Dylan cds and want to know which are the best. I only have the Essential Bob Dylan 2 disc right now. Point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.

folk:
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changing
Another Side Of Bob Dylan

rock:
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisted
Blonde On Blonde

his masterpiece:
Blood On The Tracks

StoneG82

adam42381 wrote:

A friend of mine has all these on his computer and said he'd burn what I wanted. I don't want that many. Pick out the ones I should stay clear of and which gems to get. Thanks for your help.

Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bring It All Back Home
Desire
Highway 61 Revisited
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Time Out of Mind
Unplugged

those are the essential dylan records. (just get Unplugged for the song "Shooting Star" which is beautiful.)

adam42381

StoneG82 wrote:

Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bring It All Back Home
Desire
Highway 61 Revisited
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Time Out of Mind
Unplugged

those are the essential dylan records. (just get Unplugged for the song "Shooting Star" which is beautiful.)

Thanks for the input. I've listened to Desire before and loved it. Not sure about the other stuff but I'm really wanting to get into his music. Thanks for a point in the right direction.

StoneG82

adam42381 wrote:

Thanks for the input. I've listened to Desire before and loved it. Not sure about the other stuff but I'm really wanting to get into his music. Thanks for a point in the right direction.

no problem. Dylan's records are stunning. I'm on a huge "Time Out of Mind" kick lately. That record is beautiful.

merkinball

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

Stay away from the 80's.

The 80's nearly killed Bob Dylan (mostly the asshole producers that practically made his records themselves, and also a general creative low).

There were a few good 80's releases, Infidels and Oh Mercy are both essential. Infidels has some lacking production, but the songs are excellent, check out the delivery on Jokerman, and I and I.

Oh Mercy has excellent production, and the songs are top notch (Ring Them Bells, Political World, Man in the Long Dark Coat, Shooting Star, Most of the Time).

chiquimonkey

i just recently got into dylan....blood on the tracks is excellent, definitely check that out.

kdpjam

merkinball wrote:

There were a few good 80's releases, Infidels and Oh Mercy are both essential. Infidels has some lacking production, but the songs are excellent, check out the delivery on Jokerman, and I and I.

Oh Mercy has excellent production, and the songs are top notch (Ring Them Bells, Political World, Man in the Long Dark Coat, Shooting Star, Most of the Time).

i like the older records like everyone else, but i agree with this.

karma defect

Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bring It All Back Home
Desire
Hard Rain
Highway 61 Revisited
John Wesley Harding
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan


It is hard to pick between these albums.

pearlzepfan

Lyrically "John Wesley harding" is brilliant.

But for someone's first Dylan album, I'd go with "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"

red mos

Blonde on Blonde is great (there is only 2 songs I don't like)
Freewheelin Bob Dylan is spectacular... definately pick this up.
I would mention essential Bob Dylan but you already have it.
People said stay away from the 80's Dylan, but honestly 1989's "Oh Mercy" is a really good album.. well I like it anyway.

Also Dylan hooked up with Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison in the late 80's/early 90's and recorded one of the best bands ever: The Traveling Wilburys. The stuff is out of print, (though I hear it will be re released this year). If you can find someone that has a copy of these 2 albums, they are worth checking out.

lumpyfred

If I were to suggest any one album to start with, I would unhesitatingly say Bringing It All Back Home. I think it gives an excellent overview of what Dylan can do, with both his first electric songs ever along with some of the best acoustic work he's ever done.

From there, you can either go backwards to his earlier, "folkier" stuff such as The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan or if you dig the electric immediately snag Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. Then, if you're like me, you will be completely in love and will start buying most of his other albums as fast as you can get your hands on them.

John Wesley Harding is another essential, especially if you really wanna hear the real version of "All Along the Watchtower".

Nashville Skyline features a duet with Johnny Cash of "Girl From the North Country" (although IMO this version doesn't hold a candle to the earlier Freewheelin' one) and, as you might guess, has a "country" sound to it.

I really dont need to say anything about Blood on the Tracks other than it just may be the best album you'll hear in your entire lifetime.

New Morning and Planet Waves (featuring The Band) are very solid buys, but I wouldnt get either first.

Oh Mercy is a beautiful album, and to whoever said all of his 80's stuff isnt worth checking out, listen to this album before you ever say that again.

Time Out of Mind is 100% genius, but I wouldnt recommend that as one of the first ones to listen to either.

Love and Theft is an absolutely great album to get for summertime IMO, this is one I love listening to when I'm sitting on a lawn chair on my deck in the evening.

There are many others that are great for sure, but the ones listed above are my absolute favorites. The Traveling Wilbury's suggestion was right on the money. "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" is probably my favorite of their work.

Pearl Jam and toast

merkinball wrote:

There were a few good 80's releases, Infidels and Oh Mercy are both essential. Infidels has some lacking production, but the songs are excellent, check out the delivery on Jokerman, and I and I.

Oh Mercy has excellent production, and the songs are top notch (Ring Them Bells, Political World, Man in the Long Dark Coat, Shooting Star, Most of the Time).

yeah those two (especially Oh Mercy) were the only real Dylan-level accomplishments of the era.. and they were lacking..

i didn't mean it wasn't worth checking out.. but the 80's have some songs so bad that they will scare you.. mostly just the cheesy 80's-ness about them (producers..).. what's even scarier is when he tried to fit the 80's image (he was in his 40's!).. but a lot of it is brilliant as always.. Brownsville Girl is beautiful.. although really the only good song on it's own bad album :-/


Oh Mercy was really his recovery record (meaning that's when he started to be bob Dylan again).

Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Bono (yes, Bono believe it or not) saved him.

Of course the first two was the Travelling Willburies along with a bunch of other cool people..

Bono met with Dylan in a bar one night..

i read it in Q magazine... the one with the enormous Dylan article/cover shot..

anyway, Dylan was talking to him about how he was going to quit and Bono started to convince him otherwise.. then Bono learned that Bob knew more about his native Irish folk music that he did which amazed him.. meh.. hard to explain but i credit him with some sort of comfort and hope-inspiring talk with Dylan.




oh, and start with Bringing it all Back Home for sure.

transplant

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Bono (yes, Bono believe it or not) saved him.

If you get the chance to read Dylan's Chronicles, he goes into good length about Bono and how he basically was the influence behind Oh Mercy. Thank heavens as that CD ranks up there with his best work. Shooting Star is my favorite closer.

What I find strange about Dylan's 80's work is that his b-sides are his greatest. Night Comes Falling From the Sky, Series of Dreams, Blind Willie McTell, Foot of Pride, basically that disc 3 off the Bootleg Series 1-3 are just out of this world. I even think the Grooms Still Waiting at the Altar, Carribean Wind are 80's (maybe late 70's) outtakes and holy crap do they rule.

Pearl Jam and toast

transplant wrote:

If you get the chance to read Dylan's Chronicles, he goes into good length about Bono and how he basically was the influence behind Oh Mercy. Thank heavens as that CD ranks up there with his best work. Shooting Star is my favorite closer.

What I find strange about Dylan's 80's work is that his b-sides are his greatest. Night Comes Falling From the Sky, Series of Dreams, Blind Willie McTell, Foot of Pride, basically that disc 3 off the Bootleg Series 1-3 are just out of this world. I even think the Grooms Still Waiting at the Altar, Carribean Wind are 80's (maybe late 70's) outtakes and holy crap do they rule.

there might be a good reason for that..

see..

the 80's were like the holocaust of rock music.

i could write a fucking paper proving that, but just to put it in a nutshell..

they tried to kill bob dylan (converted that little jewish boy to christianity even )

Then there's hair metal, shit-pop, etc etc etc.. im sure no one's gonna argue that..

but anyway,.. 80's producers made those records of Bob's... meaning that it's likely that the best music of the sessions could be left off the records due to their lack of sense.

actually that article goes into some sort of detail about how Bob would come in and play the song and the producers would get their little 80's posse together and (this part's in my words) try their best to ruin it.

He's back though, no worries

adam42381

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

there might be a good reason for that..

see..

the 80's were like the holocaust of rock music.

i could write a fucking paper proving that, but just to put it in a nutshell..

they tried to kill bob dylan (converted that little jewish boy to christianity even )

Then there's hair metal, shit-pop, etc etc etc.. im sure no one's gonna argue that..

but anyway,.. 80's producers made those records of Bob's... meaning that it's likely that the best music of the sessions could be left off the records due to their lack of sense.

actually that article goes into some sort of detail about how Bob would come in and play the song and the producers would get their little 80's posse together and (this part's in my words) try their best to ruin it.

He's back though, no worries

So you're from Winston-Salem? I was born and raised in Kernersville and just moved to Fort Myers in January. What a small world. Out of curiosity, where are you going to school?

U2rocks

You started well with getting the Essential Cd's..that's how I started off with it. I would say the best 2 CD's to start off with are

Blonde on Blonde
and
Blood on the Tracks

I managed to get a 3 pack with them and Time Out of Mind. Man, I was hearing BD for damn near 4 weeks.

miller8966

I love another side of bob dylan....His jesus album "slow train coming" is actually really good, and did win a grammy.

Blonde on Blonde-thin mercury sound
Highway 61-buy it..it contains desolation row which is the greatest song ever
Freewheelin-Classic folk..changed the face of music
Another side-anti-protest record
Time they are a changing-protest record

pearlzepfan

I know it's not many peopls's favorite. But I think "Street Legal" is also very brilliant.

And I don't know how anyone can say Dylan did nothing in the 80's, I mean, as mentioned before, you've got Oh, Mercy, and you've got "Infidels" and you've got "Empire Burlesque." All three great in their own way

transplant

pearlzepfan wrote:

I know it's not many peopls's favorite. But I think "Street Legal" is also very brilliant.

yes it is. that one along with Slow Train Coming are 2 cd's I adore however I just wait for others to realize it other than recommend them.