Recommend me some Dylan.

[Dannñ B]

I have a few of his albums that I really like and I'm in the market for more.

Yo tengo:
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bringing It All Back Home
Desire
Highway 61 Revisited
Love and Theft (Which I don't really listen to, but I hear that it's very good)
Nashville Skyline
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin'

He has so many records so I need some guidance.

Oh, I have Infidels and Empire Burlesque on vinyl but haven't listened. How are those?

[Scotty]

Highway 61 Revisited is amazing
Blonde on Blonde is a Must

Pick up the 2 Disk Esscentials that should cover everything else you need.

Also as a side note if you can find the 30th Anniversary 2 CD set that's got some great stuff on it.

[RickM]

You have most of the great ones.

Probably the best thing you can get is the Bootleg box set (it's called Vol. 1-3). Also get Vol. 4 which is "Live 1966" and Vol. 5 is "Live 1975". All of those are amazing.

I like Planet Waves and Basement Tapes (both with The Band).

Street-Legal is a great underrated album. So is New Morning.

My favorite album of all time is Shot of Love. A wonderful record and very underrated.

Infidels was very good. It could have been great but he left off some really good songs like Blind Willie McTell and Angelina. Those are on the Bootleg box set. Empire Burlesque has some great songs and some that sound very dated, it was Dylan's one experiment with an 80s sound.

[Dannñ B]

Highway 61 Revisited is amazing
Blonde on Blonde is a Must

Pick up the 2 Disk Esscentials that should cover everything else you need.

Also as a side note if you can find the 30th Anniversary 2 CD set that's got some great stuff on it. Yeah, those are good. Anything besides what I listed that I own?

[Dannñ B]

You have most of the great ones.

Probably the best thing you can get is the Bootleg box set (it's called Vol. 1-3). Also get Vol. 4 which is "Live 1966" and Vol. 5 is "Live 1975". All of those are amazing.

I like Planet Waves and Basement Tapes (both with The Band).

Street-Legal is a great underrated album. So is New Morning.

My favorite album of all time is Shot of Love. A wonderful record and very underrated.

Infidels was very good. It could have been great but he left off some really good songs like Blind Willie McTell and Angelina. Those are on the Bootleg box set. Empire Burlesque has some great songs and some that sound very dated, it was Dylan's one experiment with an 80s sound. Oh yeah, I have the Live 1966 and Live 1975. Those are very very good. The Royal Albert Hall Concert is fantastic. I heard some of the other bootleg collections, but the other versions of songs don't interest me that much. I'll check out Street-Legal and Shot of Love.

[Scotty]

Oh the Unplugged get the Unplugged.

[Dannñ B]

How is John Wesley Harding?

[PeterSparker]

Infidels I love, some of his best songs, also Oh Mercy and Time Out Of Mind are great latter albums. The Basement Tapes is what it sounds like, loose demos essentially, but Bob and The Band play all these new tunes with such charm.

I also love the born again albums myself, regardless of anyones feelings on the subject matter its hard to argue that Slow Train is one of Bob's best sounding albums. Saved is really for the most hard core fans, but it is pure gospel soul, and Shot Of Love is a diamond in the rough imo. Beautiful songs on that one, and far less preachy.

I think Street Legal (especially the recent remastered and remixed version) is a major album, but there are really no "greatest hits" type tracks on it, its just deep and abstract and emotional. Usually ignored I think it has some of the best prose lyric writing he ever did, its brutally honest.

And there's also John Wesley Harding which is minimal acoustic Bob, with a very understated collection of songs.


Those are the few I would recommend that you didn't mention owning. The rest really fall into a bunch of other sub categories, albums that were pieced together by the record company or ones he literally wanted to suck, so people would leave him alone. So take those next handful you don't have then grab all the 'Bootleg' series discs!

[PeterSparker]

How is John Wesley Harding?

Good, very sparse, and he's getting that Nashville Skyline nasal twang going a bit softer here, but its very folk and country sounding music.


(and its just fascinating listening do that disc now, seeing what Jimi Hendrix was getting out of it from the covers he did from this album)

[RickM]

Oh Mercy is really good. I'm a huge fan of Slow Train Coming and Saved as well but I didn't mention them as they aren't everyone's cup of tea.

Time Out Of Mind is well-done but I find it a little dreary, not in the quality of the music but in the mood of album. I don't listen to it very often, to be honest. Love and Theft is a little more lively and I really like that one.

[TheKraken]

I really like Empire Burlesque, you should definitely get around to that one.

You should also get a copy of...

The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert. The famous 1966 concert that produced the "Judas!" moment. It's "Royal Albert Hall" like that because the bootleg that floated around for decades got the venue wrong. It's really fascinating to listen to the crowd. They're quiet and respectful during the accoustic set, but almost seem cautious... and then during the electric set, they're in open rebellion.

Oh Mercy (1989) A dark, focused record that came after a pretty wacky period. Some of his best late-perdiod stuff.

Time Out of Mind (1997) Considered almost a sequel to Oh Mercy, another really dark record.

New Morning (1970) This one's just fun. It's not his most amazing statement or whatever, but alot like Love & Theft, he's just having a good time playing music, and you can feel it.

Street Legal (1978 ) Dylan thinks it's his most underrated album. Pretty lush arrangements.
Any live album you can find, really. Dylan totally rearranges his material for almost every tour, so it's almost like new songs. Hard Rain (1976), Real Live(1984), and At Budokan(1979) are favorites of mine.

I've got all his stuff. I think there's something worth hearing on pretty much every album...

[Natty P]

I think you're fine on most of the Dylan essentials with the discography you already mentioned. Classic Rock Radio ought to do the rest.

[Dannñ B]

I just got Bob Dylan tickets!!!

[RickLM]

I just got Bob Dylan tickets!!!

You'll love it! He's got nice opening acts on this tour.

His tour starts in Grand Rapids on August 12, and I'm debating this one. I've seen him live 8 times already and want to hang on to my money but darn its hard to stay away.

Meanwhile, Tom Waits plays Detroit on August 11. Wouldn't that be a sweet couple of nights to catch?

[Mister Mets]

Oh Mercy is probably the best from his Christian period. Lots of stand out songs, especially "Man With the Long Black Coat."

[Duncan]

I'd also like to recommend his blues covers albums "World Gone Wrong" and "Good as I Been to You". They show Bob as the bluesman that he really is.

I'm also gonna see Bob in August. I'm excited to see the new band members in person.

[aj110]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/thespoiledmind/chapelleband.jpg

I rip and I rhyme!
I rhyme and I rip!

[Angel of Distraction]

Get on AIM, I will send you songs off the Bootleg Box Set.

[RickLM]

Get on AIM, I will send you songs off the Bootleg Box Set.

Make sure Foot of Pride is one of them!

[Angel of Distraction]

Make sure Foot of Pride is one of them!

Don't have that, I just borrowed one disc of it.

[Mister Mets]

Here's a link to Mojo magazine's Top 100 Dylan songs (critics list, and readers list) which is good enough to list the songs by album, and ranking.

http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Mojo100greatestDylansongs.htm

The readers list (and lots of others) could be found here.
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo_p4.htm#The%20Beatles%20101%20Greatest%20Songs

[Mark]

Dylan Pt. 2

[RickLM]

Here's a link to Mojo magazine's Top 100 Dylan songs (critics list, and readers list) which is good enough to list the songs by album, and ranking.

http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Mojo100greatestDylansongs.htm

The readers list (and lots of others) could be found here.
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo_p4.htm#The%20Beatles%20101%20Greatest%20Songs


Cool lists but man so many good songs not even there. "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "Never Say Goodbye", "Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar", "Foot of Pride" would be in my top 25. Oh well, the man can't be contained by mere lists.

[Angel of Distraction]

Bah to Like a Rolling Stone being first. Most well known does not equal best.

[RickLM]

Bah to Like a Rolling Stone being first. Most well known does not equal best.


I'm more surprised that Positively 4th Street is second. I enjoy it but there are surely some better choices than that.