Bob Dylan

[Hobo]

I'm sitting here listening to 'Diamond Joe' from the 'Good As I Been To You' album. I know a lot of people don't like Dylan for his voice (which I don't get, but the same arguement is levelled for Leonard Cohen and probably could be for someone like Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark, well my Dad makes that point to me anyway).

I'm just thinking that despite for a couple of years, Dylan is just mind bogglingly brilliant. 'Good As I Been To You' and 'World Gone Wrong' are my two favourite Dylan albums because his voice is so weird by the time he gets to record them, added to the fact they're both accoustic albums as opposed to the more Bluesy or even country influcened albums that came after them. I don't think that he's the best songwriter ever, but he's pretty unique. To paraphrase Irish folksinger Christy Moore there are songwriters and then there's Dylan. He's in a class of his own.

I can't think when he was at his best. Obviously you've got his early stuff (which I think pales in comparison to Leonard Cohen's early work but it's still great), his rock period, country peirod, whatever he was at in the 70s, I think we can discount the 80s with the exception of maybe 'Blind Willie McTell' or 'Jokerman' theres not much brilliant stuff from him then. I personally think between 1992 and 1994 when he recorded the albums I mentioned above he was at the top of his game not neccessarly in those albums as a song writer but it shows him as an interpreter of songs and harks back to his folk roots. After that his stuff isn't as good, 'Modern Times' is hit and miss for me, I've never heard 'Love and Theft', 'Time Out of Mind' is pretty good up until the 15 minutes of boredom that is 'Highlands'.

He was certainly prolific in the 60s and theres an awful lot of good stuff in there, 'Blood On The Tracks' might be the pinnacle of Dylan's brilliance. A guy I used to know critised Dylan for lacking soul in his preformance, I think theres a lot in 'Blood On The Tracks'. Of all the Dylan albums I have that might be the only one of his older albums that I listen to a lot (seconded by 'Another Side..').

So....yeah...discuss

[ROC]

The 60s era Dylan, probably. It's a tough choice, but I think he penned his most important and personally his best songs in that era.

[Guest Ringu]

Blonde on Blonde.

That's when he was at his best.

[ClaRK! Kent]

Ringo wins this thread.

Roughly, from the end of the Another Side period to when he made Blonde on Blonde, that's the creative zenith if nothing else. 3 of the best albums of the decade, the best live tour in rock history, and he wrote a book too!

He also had a good period, a very good period in fact, in the mid-70s with Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, Desire and the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, but nothing up to the mid-60s stuff, really.

[Guest JACQUES OF MONTREAL]

Traveling Wilburys > *

[Summers]

Traveling Wilburys > *

Winner.

[ClaRK! Kent]

Blonde on Blonde > Traveling Wilburys > *

[Steeb]

Blonde on Blonde < Traveling Wilburys < *

Fix'd. (Y)

[ClaRK! Kent]

[METALMAN]

I'm not sure what anybody else thinks, but I like the songs by Bob Dylan when he "sold-out" by using electric guitars and the like. I love his folkier stuff too though.

[Venom]

Roughly, from the end of the Another Side period to when he made Blonde on Blonde, that's the creative zenith if nothing else. 3 of the best albums of the decade, the best live tour in rock history, and he wrote a book too!

[Bushmeister]

Since you people seem to be pretty knowledgeable about Dylan... Recommend me some of his material similar to "Maggie's Farm". Please?

[ClaRK! Kent]

Of his?

Well, that song itself is pretty much an updated, ironic take on the traditional folk song "Peggy's Farm" and of the similarly traditional "Magee's Farm" he'd sung at a protest rally in 1963 I believe, so... in terms of that, his 'rocked-up' versions of his older stuff on the 1966 electric tour are pretty similar. Try to find the versions of "One Too Many Mornings" or "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" from the 1966 live album, Bootleg Series #4.

Otherwise, the album Bringing It All Back Home, which "Maggie's Farm" is from has a lot of stuff with a similar sound. "On The Road Again", "Outlaw Blues", and especially "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" are in the same vein.

[Bigal]

Dylan's best period is probably the early 60s, when while writing great protest songs, he also penned some beautiful love songs. "The Rolling Thunder Revue" of 1975 (6?) is probably his best live stuff, but it involves a lot of his early songs, so yeah.

However, post-2000 I've really enjoyed his stuff. "Things Have Changed" is possibly my favourite song of his, "Love & Theft" was his best album in years ("Mississippi" is incredible), and "Modern Times" has its moments.

Oh, and his best albums (of the 30 I own):

Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1962)

Blonde on Blonde (1966)

Blood On The Tracks (mid-70s)

Shot of Love (early-80s)

Empire Burlesque (mid-80s)

Love & Theft (2001)

"Shot of Love" and "Empire Burlesque" are both derided all the time, but they're actually really good.

Oh, and Bushmeister, if you can't find the Bootleg Series versions that RK recommended, hit me up on MSN and I'll send them your way (Y)

EDIT: Oh, must mention "Is Your Love In Vain?" from "Street-Legal". Get it.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Bringing It All Back Home

[Hobo]

I will share the love for 'Things Have Changed'.

[Bigal]

Repeating it 8 times on the plane (while singing along fairly loudly) was a little sad, but I still it.