Rank Your Dylan!

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:02 am

I know there are tons, so you only have to include the ones you have or know well enough. And don't bother with compilations or live discs, cause great as they are they don't really fit in with this study.

Ranking:

1. Blood on the Tracks
2. Highway 61 Revisited
3. Blonde on Blonde
4. Bringing It All Back Home
5. The Basement Tapes
6. Desire
7. Time Out Of Mind
8. Oh Mercy
9. Street Legal
10. John Wesley Harding
11. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
12. Another Side of Bob Dylan
13. "Love and Theft"
14. Times They Are A-Changin'
15. Nashville Skyline
16. New Morning
17. Bob Dylan
18. World Gone Wrong
19. Slow Train Coming
20. Infidels
21. Down in the Groove

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 9:02 am

Hmmm - well Live 1966 would be top of the heap but following the rules it would go something like this (though I have a big problem with number 1 - BOTT or BOB??).

1.Blonde on Blonde
2.Blood on the Tracks
3.Highway 61 Revisited
4.John Wesley Harding
5.Desire
6.Bringing It All Back Home
7.Another Side of Bob Dylan
8.Street Legal
9.The Basement Tapes
10.Love and Theft
11.Planet Waves
12.Slow Train Coming
13.Infidels
14.The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
15.Times They Are A-Changin'
16.Nashville Skyline
17.New Morning
18.Bob Dylan
19.World Gone Wrong
20.Time Out Of Mind
21.Oh Mercy
22.Knocked Out Loaded
23.Empire Burlesque
_________________

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:51 pm

I was reviewing the previous two (I think) versions of this last night! I'm not anywhere near your league, so will go for the 11 I have and know. I still have a way to go...

1. Blood On The Tracks
2. Blonde On Blonde
3. Bringing It All Back Home
4. Highway 61 Revisited
5. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
6. John Wesley Harding
7. Nashville SKyline
8. Time Out Of Mind
9. Planet Waves
10. Desire
11. Love and Theft

I know that wouldn't be the same if I had some of the others! Having heard Empire Burlesque, I agree with Mike's placing. Someone wroter here before that it was like GCW: good songs, awful 80s production. From what I heard, the songs weren't up to much either. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:54 pm

I see Infidels as being more of Dylan's GCW.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:01 pm

Desire makes your lists, but the other two 5 letter entries, Saved and Dylan, don't! Are they that bad? And what about Self Portrait (which I gather most people think is horrendous). And isn't Good As I Been To You meant to be pretty good. Aren't these all studio LPs, even if some of them are mostly/all covers? Sorry, there's so much to take on board...

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:02 pm

Of those that I have on CD (with the excpetion of JWH, which I have on vinyl), I'd rank them as follows:

1. Blood On The Tracks
2. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
3. Blonde On Blonde
4. Time Out Of Mind
5. Bringing It All Back Home
6. Highway 61 Revisited
7. John Wesley Harding
8. Love And Theft
9. Oh Mercy
10. Planet Waves
11. Desire
12. Another Side Of Bob Dylan
13. Street-Legal
14. The Times They Are A-Changin'
15. Infidels
16. Bob Dylan
17. Nashville Skyline

whar · Post by **whar** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 4:28 pm

1. Blood On The Tracks
2. Blonde On Blonde
3. Nashville Skyline
4. Highway 61 Revisited

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 4:34 pm

Otis
Oh shit, I forgot all about Saved, which is actually damn good, it would slot in just above Slow Train Coming or even higher, I really like it and its way underrated in my book. I remember seeing him live with Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers in Auckland and the final song they did was In the Garden - and man was it ever powerful, a real stunner.
Havent heard Self Portrait but Ive heard some people actually sing it praises for just being so damn strange and will probably be my next Dylan purchase. Havent heard Dylan or Good As Ive Been but yeah the production on Empire is ugly and I dont like Daniel Lanois and his productions either which accounts for Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind being so low on my list, Time Out of Mind should actually be higher I guess , if only for Not Dark Yet.
Havent heard Shot of Love but will get it sometime , am keen to hear it.

wardo68 · Post by **wardo68** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:05 pm

The top 20 are all five, four or three stars. The rest are two stars or lower.

1. Blonde on Blonde
2. Blood On The Tracks
3. Highway 61 Revisited
4. Bringing It All Back Home
5. Time Out Of Mind
6. The Basement Tapes
7. Another Side of Bob Dylan
8. John Wesley Harding
9. Times They Are A-Changin'
10. Oh Mercy
11. "Love and Theft"
12. New Morning
13. World Gone Wrong
14. Nashville Skyline
15. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
16. Infidels
17. Bob Dylan
18. Good As I Been To You
19. Planet Waves
20. Slow Train Coming
21. Self Portrait
22. Desire
23. Street Legal
24. Saved
25. Shot Of Love
26. Empire Burlesque
27. Under The Red Sky
28. Down in the Groove
29. Knocked Out Loaded

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:33 pm

wardo68 wrote: 21. Self Portrait
22. Desire
23. Street Legal

Self Portrait above Desire and Street-Legal? I'll admit to not having listened to SP since I was a kid (it was the only Dylan record my mom had

), but there are some excellent songs on the other two albums. To be fair "Joey" almost singlehandedly ruins Desire, but I remember SP being a painful experience all the way through. Will have to give it another listen.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:47 pm

My knowledge of Dylan is (I'm ashamed to say) about as spotty as a leopard with zits, but DESIRE is one of my favorite records of all time.

wardo68 · Post by **wardo68** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:39 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote: Self Portrait above Desire and Street-Legal?

I have tried and tried and tried to like Desire for the last 18 or so years, and I have failed. Side one is okay, but the rest leaves me cold. Street Legal is just too wordy, and that's saying a lot for him. Meanwhile, Self Portrait is interesting in an Ed Wood-painful sort of way.

Basically the ones at the bottom of my list are the ones I don't like, and the ones above are the ones I do. The differences between one rank and the next can be minimal.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:58 pm

wardo68 wrote: I have tried and tried and tried to like Desire for the last 18 or so years, and I have failed. Side one is okay, but the rest leaves me cold.

I agree side 1 is better, but I think Black Diamond Bay is a fantastic cynical story, and I like the simplicity of Sara. It'd be nice to make someone a mix of Elvis and Bob-- each dueting with Emmylou.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:20 pm

Mike Boom wrote:I dont like Daniel Lanois and his productions either which accounts for Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind being so low on my list, Time Out of Mind should actually be higher I guess , if only for Not Dark Yet.

Exactly. There are some other good 'uns on it, but NDY towers over it like a colossus. I think the production on that is perfect, and actually like it in general on the LP. I'm dead keen to hear Self Portrait. Sounds like a romp!

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:29 pm

Yeah, Im a bit surprised at the lack of love for Desire - I dont think there is a bad song on it - I really like Joey and Isis is flat out one of his best songs ever - I like Scarlet Rivera's violin and Emmylous vocals - especially on One More Cup of Coffee and Oh Sister. As a follow up to Blood on the Tracks I think its pretty incredible. Its really not untill Empire Burlesque that the wheels fell off and song choice and production got all fucked up. Street Legal is great, yes its wordy but it has great arrangements and great songs, Changing of the Guards especially and I think the Christian albums are unjustly overlooked by most. Saved, especially is great.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:39 pm

Mike Boom wrote:I really like Joey and Isis is flat out one of his best songs ever - I like Scarlet Rivera's violin and Emmylous vocals - especially on One More Cup of Coffee and Oh Sister.

Would agree about "Isis" and "One More Cup...", but for me "Joey" is one of Dylan's worst ever vocal performances and just drags along - or maybe it's the "harmonies".

The Rolling Thunder versions of "Hurricane", "Romance In Durango" and "Oh Sister" on the 1975 live set are top notch - superior to the album versions I think.

Extreme Honey · Post by **Extreme Honey** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:12 am

1.Nashville Skyline
2.Blood on the Tracks
3.Time out of Mind
4.Highway 61 Revisited
5.Desire
6.Blonde on Blonde
7.Shot of Love
8.The Basement Tapes
9.Another side of bob dylan
10.times are a changin'
11. Slef Portrait
12.Knocked out loaded
13.OH Mercy
13.Slow Train coming

AND MANY MANY MORE...DAMN THIS GUY IS GOOD

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 6:04 am

thomasso wrote:AND MANY MANY MORE...DAMN THIS GUY IS GOOD

Just another dumb American if you ask me!

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 7:55 am

Blonde on Blonde
Blood On The Tracks
Bringing It All Back Home
John Wesley Harding
Highway 61 Revisited
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Times They Are A-Changin'
Love and Theft
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
New Morning
Time Out Of Mind
Street Legal
Oh Mercy
Desire
Planet Waves
Infidels
Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline
Shot Of Love
Empire Burlesque
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Down in the Groove
Knocked Out Loaded
Under The Red Sky

I'd need to listen to World Gone Wrong, Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid Soundtrack, The Basement Tapes, Good As I Been To You, 'Dylan' and Self Portrait again before ranking them.

Extreme Honey · Post by **Extreme Honey** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 5:02 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:
thomasso wrote:AND MANY MANY MORE...DAMN THIS GUY IS GOOD
Just another dumb American if you ask me!

Oh Jebus Christ, I knew this would happen. For your information, I have many friends in America who are intelligent and I know many more who aren't the typical american. My theory is simple: Most Americans are dumb and ignorant (I never said I hate them, I have too many dumb friends myslef) and they're always in Tv. However, there are also many americans who are intelligent and mature (And I wouldn't say there are any dumb americans on theis board

).
And please don't take me as as an anti-american. Canada is full of dingbats as well, most of them in Vancouver and Yukon, though.

I think me and you have to settle this.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 7:57 pm

thomasso wrote:Most Americans are dumb and ignorant and they're always in Tv.

I knew there was something wrong with them! Thanks for clarifying that one.

Masterpiece? · Post by **Masterpiece?** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 8:55 pm

I tried, really I did. But in looking at my list of 24 eligible albums, it just became silly to even try ranking them.

But I will use this post to defend Empire Burlesque and Oh Mercy. I prize these albums alongside anything he's done, especially Oh Mercy.

Empire Burlesque is cursed with a dated sound, but there are some classic, basic Dylan songs that (to me anyway) stand up to the electronic fence. Clean Cut Kid, Emotionally Yours, Never Gonna Be the Same, Trust Yourself, I would almost call these archetypical Dylan songs. Granted, I started getting into Dylan seriously in the 80s, so I'm more comfortable with the production sound (moreso than GCW, actually), and I consider Tight Connection and When the Night Comes Falling to be guilty pleasures. But I enjoy EB no less than any other Dylan album.

As for Oh Mercy, I find it hard to argue that it's not a classic. It's just a beautiful listen from start to finish, and I need to know what people don't like about it, because I think it's a perfect marriage of his timeless talent and modern production.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:45 pm

thomasso wrote:Most Americans are dumb and ignorant (I never said I hate them, I have too many dumb friends myslef) and they're always in Tv.

Help!!! Let me out!!!

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:57 pm

The only song I like off of Empire Burlesque is Dark Eyes, and its no accident that its the only song that is just guitar and harmonica - the rest may be reasonable songs but theyre drowned in Arthur Bakers drum sound so its hard to tell.

Whats wrong with Oh Mercy? Well, you answered yourself. "Modern Production". Or to be more specific Daniel Lanois. The guy is the ultimate egotist in that he makes everyone sound like himself - whether its U2 or The Neville Brothers or Bob Dylan. Does every bloody song have to have an ambient drone in the background and be awash with "The Edge" like infinite guitar, or whatever the fuck he calls it? All Dylan needs is someone to start the tape running and try to convince him to leave his best songs on the finished record, not somone who wants to manufacture some "modern" sound and cover perfectly good songs in a gloopy mess.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:00 am

From my minimalist collection...

1. Blood ott
2. Bringing iabh
3. Blonde ob
4. Another sobd
5. Desire
6. Highway 61r
7. Street l
8. Nashville s
9. John wh
10. Self p