Bob Dylan

Swede · Post by **Swede** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:15 am

I got into Velvet Underground from recommendations on this list. Now I think I would like to listen to their contemporary (and maybe rival?) Bob Dylan. He isn't too popular where I am from, or at least he doesn't get much air-play, so I only know the cover songs and roughly three songs. What album do I start with for Bob? He seems to be prolific. Thanks.

squirrel · Post by **squirrel** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:16 am

Man, I'm jealous. I wish I could go back and rediscover Dylan. You're going to have a blast with it. I recommend going in this order (yes, you will end up getting all of these):

Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
The Basement Tapes
John Wesley Harding
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Desire
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Time Out of Mind
Love and Theft

The rest all have their moments, but aren't what I'd consider essential. Although the '64 and '66 Bootleg Series shows absolutely are essential. And the 30th Anniversary Concert is great to hear some of his best material done up by others, with a razor sharp house band...booker t and the mg's.

jack white · Post by **jack white** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:46 pm

you should probably throw oh mercy in there before love and theft, but other than that its a pretty flawless introduction to dylan.

ah! actually, check out blind willie mctell which is on the first essential and first bootleg series, or just download it. it is one of the best songs ever and an absolute mindfuck how he felt that he "never really nailed it" and missed out as being a centrepiece to an album. it is one of the best songs ever.

twentysixdollars · Post by **twentysixdollars** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:31 pm

I have difficulty suspending disbelief over Bob Dylan sometimes. He sounds a little like Eddie Cantor.

1> Another Side of Bob Dylan
2> John Wesley Harding
3> Highway 61 Revisited
4> Bringing It All Back Home
5> Blonde on Blonde

Buy them in that order if you must. If it were up to me I would have stopped after Bringing It All Back Home.

Post by **spzretent** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:33 pm

From a novice Dylan fan:

Blood On The Tracks
The Basement Tapes
Infidels
Highway 61 Revisited
Time Out Of Mind

anorthernsoul · Post by **anorthernsoul** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:32 pm

whether or not one wishes to do dylan chronologically, i definitely think that you should start with the freewheelin'; it was his first and i think it's more pallatable than highway, blood on the tracks, another side etc. it's got the same thing that bringing it all back home has in just having a stupid number of classic songs on (i'm aware that 'classic songs' is a pretty q-magazine style definition but i think it applies) as well as being reasonably easy listening. a year after falling for don't think twice and all that i was still excited to hear oxford town. john wesley harding's a very charming album too, one that i'd consider easier listening than the rest. his band sound terrific.

i'm awful at pulling songs out of dylan albums; it took a tape from a beautiful noise to open my eyes to fourth time around and a namedrop for me to pull queen jane approximately from highway. not to stray from the topic immediately, but, has anyone got blood on the tapes? a few of the versions on there, most notably if you see her say hello, are incredible stripped down versions of what's on the lp and are beautiful ... i seem to remember there was some fuss over an original version of the lp being re-done or possibly even released. any help appreciated ...

twentysixdollars · Post by **twentysixdollars** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:51 pm

spzretent wrote:From a novice Dylan fan:

Infidels

Infidels?!

Post by **spzretent** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:16 pm

i did say I was a novice Dylan fan.

Quite an all star cast on that record and I do really like it. Sweetheart Like You, Jokerman.

Post by **runcible** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:21 pm

I own one album:
Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1966 (which, as everyone knows, was recorded in Manchester).

Its the only thing by Dylan I heard and liked.

(maybe I should have put this in the 'Things you don't get' thread)

anorthernsoul · Post by **anorthernsoul** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:52 pm

one of those live lps is particularly wonderful, either the bootleg 64 or 66, perhaps 66 with fourth time around. his voice is perfect.

i think it would be possible to subsist entirely on dylan. if you can find blood on the tracks anywhere, check it out, spzretent ...

Post by **BzaInSpace** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:45 pm

The [original] 'Tangled Up In Blue' that appears on 'The Bootleg Series' may be better than the version on 'Blood On The Tracks'.

'Desire', for me, is the classic album.

candy-cane-girl · Post by **candy-cane-girl** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:01 pm

I agree, Desire was the one that got it for me, i dont think i would of got to where i am without bob dylan.

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:53 am

i agree, i would definitely not be the person i am today without dylan. once you start you just can't seem to stop.

last year i purchased this great box set of dylan (one of those presents for the missus that she gave the "hmm you sure this is for me" look) that i can sit and listento every piece of vinyl in it and still not be tired of listening to him.

absolutely amazing.

never got around to "love and hate" anybody wanna give me a review of it??

anorthernsoul · Post by **anorthernsoul** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:42 am

which set's that, shonn ..?

as soon as i'm employed i'm gonna pick up the bootleg series on vinyl. i was tres excited to find that lurking in the big twelve by twelve box sets were real records, rather than cleverly arranged cds (see: back to mono, with aqwful sound quality contained within)

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:30 am

why it's called bob dylan-biography.

x

squirrel · Post by **squirrel** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:28 pm

You would have stopped after Freewheelin'?

And actually Freewheelin' was not his first. Bob Dylan Bob Dylan was his first, although there are only a couple of originals on their.

anorthernsoul · Post by **anorthernsoul** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:58 pm

And actually Freewheelin' was not his first. Bob Dylan Bob Dylan was his first, although there are only a couple of originals on their.

ahh, right, thanks for that. i always thought of the freewheelin' as his first; i haven't even got bob dylan ... i heard things like in my time of dyin at my friend's and have been meaning to check out the lp

SpaceLine · Post by **SpaceLine** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:16 pm

i think blood on the tracks is his best, but that one took me some time, wasn't as immediate as some of the others. highway 61 is also stellar, and i love desire. his 1st and 3rd greatest hits sets too, i don't have the middle set.

the royal albert hall '66 double cd set is great, but really only the second disc for me as the first is his folky/acoustic stuff. i love the band, and it's the most defiant i've heard dylan sing. tom thumb's blues and one too many mornings in particular.

anorthernsoul · Post by **anorthernsoul** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:37 pm

ooh, i've got greatest hits two ... i don't like best-ofs at all but it's a good listen, with a pleasingly dull cover. worth a look and cheapo in sales and things.

Post by **spzretent** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 1:15 am

its pretty weird that the one cd that everyone keeps mentioning is the 1966 Royal Albert Hall which I own too.

candy-cane-girl · Post by **candy-cane-girl** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:37 pm

I think the 1975 LP box set is wonderful a blue 7" of tangled up in blue and isis, shame they are so expensive

jack white · Post by **jack white** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:08 am

the holloween 1964 bootleg is fucking bangin'. dylan is stoned off his face for the first half of the show, forgetting lyrics and just being a goofy dork. 1966 is probably the best, an absolute masterpiece, and perhaps the most important rock n roll document ever. 1975 is great fun too. 1-3 are also a must have if you dont have the essential 1 - blind willie mctell is that good.