My Dylan Project

 Released August 12, 1981 This is the third album in Dylan’s “Christian trilogy,” but he’s moved away from the straight gospel sound to more of a rock sound. I really liked this album (the only song that just doesn’t fit is the strange one about Lenny Bruce - not sure what Bob was going for there.) My favorite songs are all on what’s side 2 on the vinyl: “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar,” “Summertime,” and “Every Grain of Sand.” Dylan must like “Every Grain of Sand,” because he closed out every (or almost every) set on his last tour with it.  The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar: https://youtu.be/sh4c4-1Ch0E?si=Wjuf0gXozGjiUT62 Don’t know what I can say about Claudette that wouldn’t come back to haunt me  Finally had to give her up ’bout the time she began to want me But I know God has mercy on them who are slandered and humiliated I’d a-done anything for that woman if she didn’t make me feel so obligated

 Released June 23, 1980 Halfway through the studio albums!  This album has even more of a gospel feel than “Slow Train Coming,” with Dylan sounding totally committed to his new beliefs. The backing singers sound great and the musicianship is excellent. If I were a Christian in 1980, I might have been thrilled by this album. Being me in 2025 (not religious and certainly not Christian) I find it a little dull. Every song is basically about the same thing, and Dylan’s lyrics are pretty straightforward. No breathtaking wordplay, no lines that make you just shake your head and say “How does he do that??”  There are some powerful songs here, though, for what they are, especially “In the Garden” and “Pressing On”.  The next album has a song about Lenny Bruce, so there’s that to think about! 

 Released August 20, 1979 It’s easy to see why so many critics were appalled by this album. Without our knowledge of the years to come, some wondered if this was it - would Bob spend his remaining career playing exclusively Christian music, abandoning his earlier work, and proselytizing from the stage? People were kind of blindsided. But anyone who was paying attention then could see that Dylan had always been fascinated by the Bible. And with his extremely difficult divorce he was struggling to find meaning in life.  I think this album is very good. Dylan’s voice is strong and the musicians are excellent (they include Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits). The backing singers seem to fit in much better with this type of music. The lyrics aren’t as complex as those of my favorite Dylan songs, but you can’t have everything. There’s even a kind-of-children’s song, “Man Gave Names To All The Animals,” which is a lot better than you might expect.  “Slow Train” is great, but my favor...

 Released June 15, 1978. Poor Bob really wasn’t doing well while making this album. His divorce was being finalized, he was fighting for custody of his children, he couldn’t really find a producer he liked or musicians that satisfied him or even a studio to record in. He was getting ready for a tour in Japan and the organizers made it clear they only wanted to hear his hits. When the album came out, it was almost universally panned by the critics, but it did sell well. And if you prowl around on the Dylan subreddit, you’ll find that it has a LOT of fans.  I really liked some of the songs, especially “Changing of the Guard,” “No Time to Think” and “Where Are You Tonight?” Others, not so much. It was the first Dylan album I’ve listened to where his voice bothered me on some songs. Also, in general, I wasn’t crazy about the background singers. The musicians are great, though. Probably an album where I’ll go back & listen to certain songs, but not all of them. He really does s...

 Released January 5, 1976 This album came out in the midst of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour, and features a lot of the same musicians. It’s unusual in that Dylan co-wrote most of the songs (with playwright Jacques Levy.) Scarlet Rivera’s violin adds a feeling of mystery to many of the songs, and EmmyLou Harris’s accompanying vocals add a lot, too.  I’m not crazy about “Joey”, but I love “One More Cup of Coffee”, “Isis” and “Sara,” although “Sara” is incredibly sad to listen to now. “Black Diamond Bay” is also fun, reminiscent of “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” in its cinematic qualities. I half-like “Hurricane” - the performance and the tune are great, but the lyrics are just too literal for me. Still, Dylan wrote it to publicize the situation, and in that he certainly succeeded. Black Diamond Bay: https://youtu.be/73N211qQCZU?si=ZqflfqJDnAXKp0cl

 Released June 26, 1975 Chronologically, in terms of release dates, this album belongs here, but it was actually recorded eight years earlier, in 1967. Dylan was recovering from his motorcycle accident in Woodstock, NY. He and most of what would soon be The Band (everyone but Levon Helm, who only joined them for a few songs) recorded this in the basement of the rented house called Big Pink. In 1967, Dylan’s previous album was Blonde on Blonde, and his next would be John Wesley Harding. So listening to this in between Blood on the Tracks and Desire is confusing, because by that time Dylan had moved on. Anyway, this is a really fun collection of songs, recorded in a simple, relaxed way, but sounding surprisingly good. My favorites are “Crash on the Levee” and “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” and also “Bessie Smith,” which was written by Danko and Robertson. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere: https://youtu.be/AUtLZPcThwY?si=a-ewuZnZ-b04c6eF

 Released January 20, 1975 This is the famous album that Dylan created while his marriage to Sara was falling apart. He’s said that it’s not autobiographical, but Bob…come on. Anyway, this album is perfect, and some of the songs will break your heart (“Idiot Wind”.) Others will make you wish they could be made into a movie (“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts”).  If I had to pick favorites, they’d probably be “Tangled Up In Blue” and “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” But I love all of them. “Situations have ended sad Relationships have all been bad Mine’ve been like Verlaine’s and Rimbaud But there’s no way I can compare All those scenes to this affair Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go” https://youtu.be/Claf8E18eLs?si=KX4pr3QpQhLvplbY

 Released January 17, 1974 This album is backed by The Band, and it’s excellent. There are some really good songs here, including *two* versions of “Forever Young,” because apparently Dylan just couldn’t decide which was better (the slower one is better.) “Going, Going, Gone” and “On a Night Like This” are probably my favorites. I really like “Wedding Song,” too, but knowing what’s coming up in “Blood on the Tracks” tinges it with sadness for me.  Forever Young, slow version: great work from The Band here, especially Robbie. https://youtu.be/Vz231O7Cw-I?si=4Uluk7nOtD_YKJrk

Released November 16, 1973  This is the much-maligned album Columbia released without Dylan’s input or approval, during a time when Dylan was leaving Columbia for Asylum Records. It contains only covers - studio outtakes from “Self Portrait “ and “New Morning,” recorded in either 1969 or 1970. It got dismal reviews, and I can kind of see why, since there’s no original material, and the choice of tracks is a weird collection of traditional songs, popular numbers and contemporary songs like “Big Yellow Taxi”. There are several songs with a gospel choir who don’t really contribute much.  I didn’t hate it, but it’s definitely not a top album. My favorite songs were “Lily of the West” and “Spanish is the Loving Tongue,” but there’s a much better version of the latter out there: https://youtu.be/5BADpfgi2KY?si=_RQMjM6YM8cpoDCu

 Released July 13, 1973  This is the soundtrack album from Sam Peckinpah’s film starring James Coburn, Slim Pickens, Katy Jurado, Kris Kristofferson and many others, including Bob in a small part. Bob had never written a movie soundtrack before, and it turned out OK, even resulting in one of his biggest hits, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. There are some great instrumentals, too, especially the Main Title Theme, Turkey Chase and the Final Theme.  (Prior to this, Dylan did release Greatest Hits Volume 2 in 1971. Technically, it is a studio album, but since most of the songs on it were originally released elsewhere, I’m not going to listen to the whole thing. It does include a few previously unreleased tracks, and a couple of reworked songs, which I did play. My favorites were When I Paint My Masterpiece and I Shall Be Released.) If you need a good cry, watch this clip from the movie, featuring “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.  https://youtu.be/yjR7_U2u3sM?si=eM8araOj8wfSAZY...

 Released October 24, 1970  This album was released only four months after “Self Portrait” - possibly because Dylan wanted to make people forget about “Self-Portrait,” although he’s said it was just the way the timing worked out. It was much more positively received by the critics. It’s definitely a more cohesive album. Most of the songs are pretty simple, about the joys of country living and domestic life. Dylan mostly returned to his regular voice, and there’s some great playing on it. A few of the songs were written for a project that never worked out - Archibald MacLeish asked Dylan to write some songs to use in his new play, “Scratch”. Things really didn’t go well.   I wasn’t mesmerized by any of the songs, but there are some I liked, including “Day of the Locusts “ and “Went to see the Gypsy.”  “Three Angels” is odd but interesting. “If Not for You” was a hit for Olivia Newton-John. I did not like “The Man in Me” because I don’t listen to Dylan to hear him...

 Released June 8, 1970 This is, in fact, a Dylan self-portrait. Dylan’s second double album is famous for being almost universally panned by the critics. No one liked it. It contains only four original Dylan songs; the rest are a strange collection of covers - blues, folk, even standards like “Blue Moon” - plus some live cuts he threw in for no discernible reason - plus whatever “The Mighty Quinn” is. He uses his “Nashville Skyline “ croon again, which sometimes works and sometimes just sounds weird, like he’s channeling Elvis.  According to his book Chronicles Volume 1, Dylan was going through a very hard time - besieged by fans who came to his home and invaded his privacy, he was trying anything he could think of to make people stop treating him like some sort of prophet.  The albums jump around so much it’s very hard to focus on any particular track. I thought the live version of “Like a Rolling Stone” was pretty bad, but the live version of “She Belongs to Me” was ver...

 Released April 9, 1969 The album in which Bob suddenly has a fantastic voice (he said he gave up smoking), croons with Johnny Cash, and just sounds oddly happy. I love this album - it’s so relaxing, and it lets you rest your brain a bit after the darkness of “John Wesley Harding”. And the cover photo is charming. Favorites on this album: “I Threw it All Away,” “Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You”.  https://web.archive.org/web/20171115101632/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/how-bob-dylan-found-his-new-country-voice-on-nashville-skyline-20160408 Bob on the Johnny Cash Show: https://youtu.be/93NnaKMDUSo?si=fsW2SSJr1upchPeZ

 Released December 27, 1967 If I ever heard this album before, I don’t remember it! This was the first studio album released after Dylan’s motorcycle accident  in 1966 (he also recorded the Basement Tapes, but I’m skipping those for now.)  This album was a major departure from the three previous - he’s back to acoustic, and only two musicians besides Dylan. The songs are much shorter, but not necessarily simple. The album has been called a “Biblical rock album” and some think it reflects a new, “reborn” Dylan.  I liked this album a lot. The songs are great and the musicianship is excellent. Favorites include All Along the Watchtower (of course), The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest, and I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Dylan must like this last song too, because he’s performed it in almost every show on his latest tour.)  https://youtu.be/1N8SRE97NrM?si=JsHRoMExNhgxDpdd

 Released June 20, 1966 The first double rock album in history! I have to admit that it had been a long time since I’d listened to this album in its entirety. Of course, some songs are very familiar, and others I barely remember. I didn’t own the vinyl, so I went out & bought it, since it seems like that’s how it’s best heard. Yes, we have a turntable. We just had it refurbished! This album is the third in what a lot of people (but probably not Dylan) call his electric folk-rock trilogy. It’s got more of everything: more songs, more surrealism, more (and better) musicians (Charlie McCoy! Hargus “Pig” Robbins! Robbie Robertson!) more takes (“Stuck Inside of Mobile” and several other songs had 20), more and better harmonica from Bob. Also, it was the first time he recorded away from New York (in Nashville).  Really hard for me to pick favorite songs, but I think I have to go with Visions of Johanna, One of Us Must Know, Obviously 5 Believers, and Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowland...

 Released August 30, 1965 I’m getting through this set of albums fast, because I have them almost memorized. This is another one that’s definitely in my top 5. Probably thousands of words have been written about it. It’s all-electric except for “Desolation Row”; it has some great musicians, including guitarist Mike Bloomfield; it includes “Like a Rolling Stone,” which many say is the greatest rock and roll song ever written. In the middle of recording the album, Dylan went off to Newport, and we all know what happened there.  Some of the songs had 15, 16 takes, which have all since been released in the Bootleg series. Some day I’ll get to those… Again, it’s really hard for me to pick a favorite song. Let’s just put “Like a Rolling Stone” on a separate mountain and look at the others. I’ll pick “Highway 61 Revisited” because it’s a perfect song with lyrics I’ve mulled over so many times, I almost understand them. But “Tombstone Blues” is right up there, too.  https://youtu...

 Released April, 1965 In the spirit of this project, I listened to this album all the way through, which will mark approximately a thousand listens (very loose estimate). I love almost every single song on this album; it’s definitely in my top 5. This was the album on which Dylan “went electric,” the first time he recorded with a band. The first side is completely electric; side 2 is mainly acoustic. The overall sound is very different from anything that came before. It’s almost impossible for me to pick a favorite song, from an album with so many gems, including “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “It’s Alright Ma,” but I’ll go with “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (one of the few early songs Dylan is still performing.) This song has imagery I think about almost daily. Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you Forget the dead you’ve left, they will not follow you The vagabond who’s rapping at your door Is standing in the clothes that you once wore Strike another match, go star...

 Release date: August 8, 1964. I guess this is “another side” in the sense that these songs aren’t as pointedly political, deal with more general social issues and include more songs about relationships, but who knows what Columbia was thinking. There are also a few songs, like Chimes of Freedom, which have imagery hinting at what he’ll do later. This is the album that reflects his growing interest in Rimbaud, but also his disintegrating relationship with Suze Rotolo (I never want to hear Ballad in Plain D again; even Dylan himself said he probably shouldn’t have written it.) It makes for kind of a mishmash.  I should probably say Chimes of Freedom is my favorite, because it’s considered one of his key works, but I’m going to be shallow and pick Motorpsycho Nightmare, because it’s hilarious. It uses the same structure and essentially the same melody as Bob Dylan’s 115th dream, coming up in the next album!  Well, I couldn’t leave Unless the old man chased me out ’Cause I’d...

Released February 10, 1964. Still just Bob; no band yet!  This is Dylan’s first album of all-original material (although he did borrow melodies from at least two songs, which is very much in the folk tradition.) The album is more quiet and serious than Freewheelin’, with many songs about racism, poverty and social change. I admire these songs, especially “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” but I have to admit that my favorite on the album is probably “When The Ship Comes In.” The imagery is great, the melody is original and it takes a rather menacing turn in the last verses: Oh the foes will rise With the sleep still in their eyes And they’ll jerk from their beds and think they’re dreamin’ But they’ll pinch themselves and squeal And know that it’s for real The hour when the ship comes in Then they’ll raise their hands Sayin’ we’ll meet all your demands But we’ll shout from the bow your days are numbered And like Pharoah’s tribe They’ll be drownded in the tide And like Goliath, ...

 I just discovered this song, written in March 1962 (preceding the writing of Blowin’ in the Wind by a month). It was intended for the Freewheelin’ album, but pulled at the last minute, allegedly due to fears from Columbia that it was too political. It was replaced by Hard Rain.  It was finally released years later as part of the Bootleg series. I think it’s an amazing song. In 1963, Dylan gave this account of how he came to write "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" to critic  Nat Hentoff , who wrote the  liner notes  for  The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan : I was going through some town and they were making this  bomb shelter  right outside of town, one of these sort of  Coliseum -type things and there were construction workers and everything. I was there for about an hour, just looking at them build, and I just wrote the song in my head back then, but I carried it with me for two years until I finally wrote it down. As I watched them building, it struck ...

 Well, here we go.  This was the album that made everyone notice, that propelled Dylan towards fame. The one that inspired Johnny Cash to write him a fan letter! The one that contains at least five classics: “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “ Girl from the North Country,” “Masters of War,” “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” You can definitely hear the folk/blues influences, we’re still acoustic, but things are shifting.  This one is the opposite of his first one, in terms of authorship - he wrote all but two of the songs. Apparently, he recorded some additional songs he didn’t write, but he kept bringing in more and more obviously better songs that he wrote, and the record producers woke up to what they had.  You can read hundreds (thousands?) of detailed articles about this album, so I won’t go on.  My favorites here are “Masters of War” (I can almost hear the anti war protesters saying “this is not “Where Have all the Flowers Gone”) a...

 Released March 19, 1962. Most people who follow Dylan’s career at all know that his first album contains only two original pieces, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody”. The rest are traditional folk/blues songs by others, although Dylan did arrange several of them. In many of them, his debt to Guthrie and other artists is obvious in his phrasing and delivery.  The album didn’t do well at first, and thus a lot of people skip it, but I think that’s a mistake. It’s interesting to hear such a young Dylan, the one that was playing in the coffeehouses and in relatively small venues. Are there flashes, hints, of the Dylan-to-come? I guess that’s been debated for years. Perhaps there are clues in his intensity and commitment to every song.  My favorite song on this album - probably no surprise- is “Song to Woody”. It’s so nicely put together and he sings it so quietly and sincerely. And maybe there’s a flash of Future Dylan in “Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings”....