Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited... Bob Dylan's 10 best albums, ranked
Bob Dylan's top 10 albums, ranked by Jim Comet.
And indeed he was, still is and forever shall be. The voice of a generation. The first artist to combine pop music with great literature.
His music and words were a catalyst for social change that arguably changed the world.
After Bob Dylan the role of the singer-songwriter would never be the same.
But what are his 10 best records? A tough task to select them like this, so feel free to disagree with me.
Bob Dylan's second full electric LP and regarded by many, including myself, as the greatest album ever made. His songs had become longer, deeper and lyrically more abstract and introspective. The Warhol starlet Edie Sedgwick is widely regarded as the muse for much of the album. The sound, while fully electric, is more understated than the previous record. He replaced The Band as recording musicians with local Nashville session players as he felt the previous lineup couldn't get the sound he wanted. Robbie Robertson was the exception, and he plays on the record. The first double album ever released, it’s four flawless sides of wax. This should be in every record collection.
'One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)'
His first full electric record Dylan opens the album six minutes of cutting anger and vitriol. Poetry and rock’n'roll met on 'Like A Rolling Stone' and kickstarted the 60s. Frustrated by the limitations of the folk scene, inspired by The Beatles and the way The Byrds had interpreted 'Mr. Tambourine Man', Dylan created a whole new electric sound, drawing inspiration from the Mississippi delta and New Orleans, without compromising his integrity or wordsmanship. Indeed, his satirical put down of the press of 'Ballad Of A Thin Man', may be the greatest song ever written. A perfect entry record into the world of Dylan, this was the one that got me hooked after I bought it many moons ago in the Swop Shop, the legendary second-hand record store on MacCurtain Street in Cork.
'Ballad Of A Thin Man'
By the mid 1970s, at an artistic crossroads and his marriage in trouble, Dylan would channel all the mixed emotions that come with such turmoil into making his rawest and most emotional record. His son Jakob described the record as the sound of his parents splitting up, and it was, but it only told one side of the story, and not always nicely. I doubt Sara Dylan spends much time listening to 'Idiot Wind'. Bob was really meticulous in getting the sound he wanted. He tried various musicians and studios before eventually relocating to Minnesota at his brothers suggestion where he recorded the bulk of it using local musicians. The entire album was recorded using open D tuning which he had learnt from Paul Brady. This explains the meandering feel of the record, where the songs seem to drift into each other.
'If You See Her Say Hello'
The second album, this is when it all started to happen and he unwittingly became the voice of an increasingly disaffected younger generation. America 1963 on the outside was all Hollywood, showtunes and mom's apple pie but bubbling underneath was racism, segregation, social injustice and Vietnam.
A generation was emerging who didn't live through WWII and didn't think their parents and elders knew better. They needed a voice, and that voice would emerge from the coffee houses of Greenwich Village and would spread far and wide, changing popular culture forever. Allen Ginsberg famously described 'A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall' as the symbolic passing of the torch.
'Masters Of War'
By 1996 Dylan was not in a great place personally or artistically. His marriage was over, he was drinking too much, the constant touring was taking its toll, and his self-confidence was fragile. He was also suffering from writers' block, not having released any original material since 1990. That winter he retreated to his farm in Minnesota where he was snowed in. Unable to leave and buy umpteen loaves of bread he began to write and the words and music began to flow.
The resulting album would mark the beginning of that incredible creative run that continues to this day. Featuring his strongest collection of songs since the mid-'70s, producer Daniel Lanois crafted the record into vast soundscapes. It's easy to picture the vast snow-covered Minnesota plains while listening to it.
'Not Dark Yet'
This album always feels a bit all over the shop probably because it’s both acoustic and electric. As if he’d changed horses midstream. To be fair, he was at a musical crossroads at the time. Increasingly tired of the folk scene, he’d also met The Beatles and was particularly taken by the Rubber Soul album. Dylan saw his music going in this direction, which split his fanbase and would see him denounced as Judas in some quarters.
Trying to keep everyone happy, side 1 was acoustic and side 2 electric, and each as good as the other. 'Mr Tambourine Man', 'Gates Of Eden' and 'It’s Alright Ma I’m Only Bleeding' were leftovers from the previous album, while side 2 contained 'Maggies Farm' and the iconic 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'.
'All Over Now Baby Blue'
In 1967 while everybody else was tuning in, turning on and dropping out, Dylan went back to basics and released an album of simple songs steeped in traditional American roots music, or Americana as we call it today. Unimpressed by psychedelia and recovering from the alleged motorbike accident Dylan returned to the music he was most comfortable with.
Unlike the big productions that were popular that year Dylan kept it simple. Just himself, a drummer and bass player. Songs were far from simple though. They still retained that Dylan cutting edge. Three months after the record's release, Jimi Hendrix recorded All Along The Watchtower and it became his biggest song.
'Dear Landlord'
How does a 79-year-old artist like Bob Dylan remain relevant today? He returns to the music that he knows best and plays it in the rawest and most honest way he knows how. Exactly what he did on his latest record. Musically it's a melting pot of country, blues, folk and everything else that's in his musical DNA, combined with that voice.
While the world always listened to his words, those words take on extra gravitas when combined with 79 years of age, wisdom and experience. You can almost imagine him going through the old photos in the attic writing the record. Listening to the album is like a history lesson in itself.
'Key West'
Others might consider this a strange choice, but I have a particular grá for this record. It's not a conventional Dylan album, rather a mostly instrumental soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which Dylan played the character Alias.
The theme of the film is the decline of the old west, and the resulting melancholic resignation which hangs over the film is perfectly captured by Dylan's sometimes understated score. Slim Pickens' death scene, featuring 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door', is just beautiful and moving.
'Knocking On Heavens Door'
Dylan's third album and the first to feature all original material. This one basically carried on where Freewheeling left off, but the songs were getting darker, more intense and certainly more powerful. 'The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll', 'With God On Our Side' and 'Hollis Brow'n all dealt very strikingly with poverty, racism, social injustice and America's role in the world in a way that no artist had ever done before.
It reached a rapidly increasing audience far beyond the sometimes insular folk scene. The title track became the rallying cry for the 1960s protest movement and inspired so many to try to change the world in a positive and progressive way.
'Ballad Of Hollis Brown'.
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We asked readers to submit their opinions on Jim’s selections. Here’s some of the feedback below:
I can't believe that you didn't include Desire. It has to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
I saw Bob twice. In my opinion, Blonde On Blonde is his best album.
I would personally put Highway 61 on top. In my opinion, it’s the greatest album ever made. I remember listening to it in bed the day I bought it on my red Dansette record player. It just got better the longer it went on till it came to the last track which completely changed my perception of music. ‘Desolation Row’, in my opinion, is the greatest song ever written.
Desire and Planet Waves are worth an honourable mention.
He’s the best and I like your choices. I’ve not heard John Wesley Harding or Rough And Rowdy Ways but have the others. Thanks for your insight and info on things we don’t know of. I think he’s better than Shakespeare.
Cracking list! I don't know enough to argue the finer points but know enough to know this is a great list. Hard to argue with top four.
I think that Love And Theft from 2001 deserves to be on the list. It's a great, later period album with good songs and a harder-edged sound.
Not got a lot of problem with the choice, although I would have Bringing It All Back Home higher up the list. I think 'Desolation Row' is an outstanding song and there are many more classic tracks on this album.
Including Pat Garret while leaving out Desire, Modern Times, Tempest etc is questionable.
Much to agree with, and nicely put. I'd omit Pat Garrett and include Love And Theft.
In no particular order - Desire, Street Legal, Time out of Mind, Modern Times, Blood on the Tracks, Blonde in Blonde, Highway 61, Good as I've Been to you, Oh Mercy & Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Decades overlooked. Desire, Street Legal, Basement Tapes, all the live releases with their wonderful reinterpretations.
Desire, Street Legal, Nashville Skyline, and Oh Mercy would merit inclusion. Blood on the Tracks stands peerless, even among Dylan’s best.
What about Street Legal in 1978? I think it's a very good album, with memorable songs like ‘Baby Stop Crying’ and ‘Is Your Love in Vain?’.
Desire has to be in top ten. Best track is ‘One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)’.
Oh Mercy has to be included in the Top 10 of Dylan's albums. His first collaboration with Daniel Lanois, it includes ‘Most of the Time’, ‘Political World’, ‘Disease of Conceit’ and especially ‘Ring Them Bells’, his paean to the Day of Judgement.
I don’t agree with Pat Garrett. And where is Slow Train Coming?
My choice would be Oh Mercy rather than Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. I agree with the rest of your ranking.
It’s a fair list but most of my generation (born early 1960s) would rank Blood on the Tracks no 1. Two significant omissions for me instead of JWH and The Times… I would have Basement Tapes - the most fun you can have with the Zim in relaxed mode; and Desire with the great political ballad ‘Hurricane’. I liked Slow Train too but probably not top 10.
Due credit for Modern Times needs to be included Give it a spin often as I do, and all will be happy!
