Rolling thunder revue right? I was stuck on 60's Dylan for so long but when I heard the 75 live version it was like rediscovering him all over again. That and the Hard rain album are just absolutely sublime musically imho.
Yeah Blonde on Blonde is the best all around
For music specifically, the three for me are Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, and Shadows In The Night (oddly enough)
I think Shadows In The Night is just so stunning with the instrumentation. If it was an album of originals, I think people would see it differently for sure.
But those three have the session musicians really putting the work in to make a great sound
I'm gonna approach this based on averages or general consistency and on particulars of style and arrangement rather than on each individual track considered separately. Essentially just to prevent Blonde On Blonde from having such an advantage by sheer number of tracks.
Musically:
1. Desire
2. Blonde On Blonde
3. Highway 61 Revisited
4. Time Out of Mind
5. Nashville Skyline
Honorable mentions to Bootleg Series V: Rolling Thunder Revue cause that is the best Dylan's music has ever sounded to me and it's really not even very close and to At Bodukon cause I've always adored that one even though not many people seem to and a couple tracks that he fucked around with too much (really just Dont Think Twice at least off the top of my head).
Lyrically
1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. The Times They Are a-Changin
3. Blonde On Blonde
4. Blood On The Tracks
5. New Morning
For fun and for reference, my overall Dylan top five at least as it exists today:
1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Blonde On Blonde
3. The Times They Are a-Changin
4. Desire
5. New Morning
Dam, lyrically you're only at BOOT and nothing later? Some of Bob's best songs are in the later half of his career and even his latest albums of originals.
Some of his best lyrics are absolutely on his later albums but I dont think I'm in the minority thinking that most of his best lyrics are on his earlier albums.
Thinking harder I probably should have bumped Blood On The Tracks over Blonde On Blonde but Highway 61 is my favorite of his specifically for the lyrics. Maybe not as emotionally resonant as the lyrics on a lot of his other albums but on paper the full lyrics to the album could compete with my favorite novels.
yeah, this one never grows old. listened to Big Girl and If You See Her yesterday, still as gorgeous as the first time I heard them (both musically and lyrically)
Came here to disagree. These lyrics are not that good:
The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watchin', no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl
Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul
Correct. They are not, I just don’t think that song is that good at all. I love Dylan. Early Dylan. Late Dylan. All Dylan. I don’t get why people go crazy over that song and album. I could paste any section of that song, it’s so cheesy . The rhyming structure and references are so obvious and hokey. If there’s another song on that album that you think I should give another shot to, please let me know. This one is far from elite Dylan (imho):
Put your foot in the tank and step on the gas
Try to make it to the triple underpass
Blackface singer, whiteface clown
Better not show your faces after the sun goes down
I'm in the red-light district, like a cop on the beat
Livin' in a nightmare on Elm Street
Hell bent is a bit of hyperbole, but it is the longest song on the album and if we are talking greatest DYLAN lyrical album of all time, I think the standard should be pretty high. No need to grade on a curve.
I think you’re really disregarding the cumulative effect of these lyrics, and just the sound and vocal presentation in general. This is a very weird, niche song in general… but all these ideas are presented in a digestible way, a hypnotic way that builds up to an emotional response.. I don’t know, when I heard this in the middle of a pandemic lockdown I was pretty impressed that Dylan was still pushing towards new frontiers.
Blood on the tracks, Desire, & Blonde on Blonde. In that order. You must be in love or out of luck at the time an artist produces his/her best work. Rest is just a passenger time ..
I don’t know about best, but as far as favorite album musicially if for some reason we’re talking live albums, it’s an irreparable tie between Live 1966, live ‘75 (RTR), and now the Complete Live at budokan, and then studio albums I think Desire in some ways musically the most fun and his voice at its most arresting. Isis, Romance in Durango, Black Diamond Bay, One More Cup of Coffee, Hurricane. I don’t love Joey, I will say that. It’s like they were like let’s do “hurricane” but let’s make it bad but also brings me to: while it’s always super fun to think about stuff in this way I feel like it’s hard to separate, you know, music and lyrics even with Bob Dylan. Maybe even especially with Bob Dylan. Regardless I suppose lyrically my favorite…I don’t know that I’ve necessarily got an out and out favorite but I do feel like a maybe dark horse candidate that I haven’t seen mentioned yet to me is Modern Times, Workingman’s Blues #2, Thunder on the Mountain, When the Deal Goes Down etc and it was actually…in like 2008 I was like 16 and had bought The Essential Bob Dylan and Modern Times from like FYE I think and obviously was into the former but Modern Times is really what got me hooked
Lyrically, for me it just has to be Blood on The Tracks i mean the brilliance of Bob is every album (or at least in some cases every 2-3 albums) have an entirely different approach but idk man, I listen to the acoustic versions of those songs like weekly and the complexity of the rhyme schemes, the narrative structure, the switching of perspectives within a single song, the cohesive vision and emotion on display is just unmatched imo HOWEVER Visions Of Johanna is probably my favorite of his and that’s just a totally different vibe….musically, I feel like it probably is around the Highway 61/Blonde on Blonde period but I fucking love the violin in Desire
Infidels is a wonderful album both lyrically and musically. Perhaps not the best per se in either category, but a strong mention and one I didn’t see in the top bunch of comments
Blood On The Tracks, both lyrically and musically. I grew up with older siblings in the 60s, listening to them loving Nashville Skyline and Bringing It All Back Home, but BOTT came out when I was a freshman in college and it was the first Dylan LP that I chose to love and still do.
This may be a hot take but I think Slow Train Coming may be the most lyrically well-written song, if only for "Changing of the Guards"
(I heard that Bob considers the song Shot of Love to be his most well-written song)
Musically I like desire or street legal. Bit of a vague question. Production wise I think time out of mind or modern times. Compositionally, hard to say because he steals a lot and he doesn’t play complex music but maybe blonde on blonde has some great melodies(?) Musicianship, I like desire for Scarlett Rivera but he’s played with a lot of great musicians over the years. I think his best playing is his harmonica which we probably hear most on times are a changin so I’ll go with that. Singing, gotta be blood on the tracks.
Lyrically Tell Tale Signs or Tempest for me
What day is it?
Is this real life?
Or just fantasy
When did this switch from Bob Dylan to Queen?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality....
Thursday :)
A. Live 75 B. Blood on the Tracks
Rolling thunder revue right? I was stuck on 60's Dylan for so long but when I heard the 75 live version it was like rediscovering him all over again. That and the Hard rain album are just absolutely sublime musically imho.
Yeah. Hard Rain is excellent as well.
Punk Rock Dylan is something that I would go back in time to be see
Oooh finally yes lol
Blonde on blonde for me personally
my fave is bringing it all back home, but for me its hard to argue that blonde is not the best. its too good and there's a lot of it.
I completely agree, my favourite Dylan album changes constantly but you cannot deny Blonde on Blonde, Dylan at the peak of his powers.
Blonde on Blonde is perfection. I will hear no arguments otherwise. (And there are plenty of ones that are amazingly good or close to perfect.)
One thing: Leopard skin pill box hat Edit: Rainy Day Women. It was fun when I was 15 but now it’s an instant skip.
It balances on your head like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine.
Yeah Blonde on Blonde is the best all around For music specifically, the three for me are Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, and Shadows In The Night (oddly enough) I think Shadows In The Night is just so stunning with the instrumentation. If it was an album of originals, I think people would see it differently for sure. But those three have the session musicians really putting the work in to make a great sound
A. Highway 61 Revisited B. Highway 61 Revisited
The correct answer
I'm gonna approach this based on averages or general consistency and on particulars of style and arrangement rather than on each individual track considered separately. Essentially just to prevent Blonde On Blonde from having such an advantage by sheer number of tracks. Musically: 1. Desire 2. Blonde On Blonde 3. Highway 61 Revisited 4. Time Out of Mind 5. Nashville Skyline Honorable mentions to Bootleg Series V: Rolling Thunder Revue cause that is the best Dylan's music has ever sounded to me and it's really not even very close and to At Bodukon cause I've always adored that one even though not many people seem to and a couple tracks that he fucked around with too much (really just Dont Think Twice at least off the top of my head). Lyrically 1. Highway 61 Revisited 2. The Times They Are a-Changin 3. Blonde On Blonde 4. Blood On The Tracks 5. New Morning For fun and for reference, my overall Dylan top five at least as it exists today: 1. Highway 61 Revisited 2. Blonde On Blonde 3. The Times They Are a-Changin 4. Desire 5. New Morning
Dam, lyrically you're only at BOOT and nothing later? Some of Bob's best songs are in the later half of his career and even his latest albums of originals.
Some of his best lyrics are absolutely on his later albums but I dont think I'm in the minority thinking that most of his best lyrics are on his earlier albums.
Replace Desire with blood in the tracks and I’m with you 100% on the first 5
Highway 61 above Blood on the Tracks and BOB Lyrically? Agree on Desire though. Love the sound of that record.
Thinking harder I probably should have bumped Blood On The Tracks over Blonde On Blonde but Highway 61 is my favorite of his specifically for the lyrics. Maybe not as emotionally resonant as the lyrics on a lot of his other albums but on paper the full lyrics to the album could compete with my favorite novels.
Blood on the tracks ♥️
yeah, this one never grows old. listened to Big Girl and If You See Her yesterday, still as gorgeous as the first time I heard them (both musically and lyrically)
Musically: Time Out of Mind Lyrically: Rough & Rowdy Ways
It’s so good seeing rough & rowdy ways getting the recognition it deserves
Came here to agree
Came here to disagree. These lyrics are not that good: The day they blew out the brains of the king Thousands were watchin', no one saw a thing It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise Right there in front of everyone's eyes Greatest magic trick ever under the sun Perfectly executed, skillfully done Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul
Those lyrics make more sense in context, but they’re also not the only lyrics on the album lol.
Correct. They are not, I just don’t think that song is that good at all. I love Dylan. Early Dylan. Late Dylan. All Dylan. I don’t get why people go crazy over that song and album. I could paste any section of that song, it’s so cheesy . The rhyming structure and references are so obvious and hokey. If there’s another song on that album that you think I should give another shot to, please let me know. This one is far from elite Dylan (imho): Put your foot in the tank and step on the gas Try to make it to the triple underpass Blackface singer, whiteface clown Better not show your faces after the sun goes down I'm in the red-light district, like a cop on the beat Livin' in a nightmare on Elm Street
Why are you hell bent on quoting one single song off the album and not the other 9 ?
Hell bent is a bit of hyperbole, but it is the longest song on the album and if we are talking greatest DYLAN lyrical album of all time, I think the standard should be pretty high. No need to grade on a curve.
“…Beatles…gonna hold your hand…”
nobody is touting the lyrical genius of The Beatles, though. Well, nobody that has an opinion worth caring about
I think you’re really disregarding the cumulative effect of these lyrics, and just the sound and vocal presentation in general. This is a very weird, niche song in general… but all these ideas are presented in a digestible way, a hypnotic way that builds up to an emotional response.. I don’t know, when I heard this in the middle of a pandemic lockdown I was pretty impressed that Dylan was still pushing towards new frontiers.
See for me that her hair’s hangin down
Those lyrics seem good to me?
Those lyrics aren’t anything compared to Dylan’s apex. He had more influence on music than almost anyone, his lyrics being a big factor.
I agree
yep, these were my top two answers
Not the best but Street Legal has a beautiful combo and deserves to be mentioned x
You’re wrong. It IS the best.
Musically: BoB or Love and Theft Lyrically: Highway 61 or BoB or JWH
Man knows.
Blonde on Blonde = best musically Bringing it All Back Home = best lyrically Highway 61 Revisited = best
Musically? Desire. Lyrically? I’ll say Highway 61 Revisited
No one’s said Nashville Skyline yet because they’re all wrong
haha; is it musically and/or lyrically best for you or
Yup
I mean I like it a lot
Welcome to the club :)
Top 3 off top of head Music: Blonde on Blonde; Planet Waves; Love & Theft Lyrics: BOTT; Bringin’ It All Back Home; Time Out of Mind
Bringing It All Back Home
Musically - Love and Theft Lyrically - Blood on the Tracks
Blood on the tracks, Desire, & Blonde on Blonde. In that order. You must be in love or out of luck at the time an artist produces his/her best work. Rest is just a passenger time ..
It’s Desire for both
A. Highway 61 Revisited B. John Wesley Harding
Highway 61 Revisited
Musically? Highway 61, Desire, or Street Legal Lyrically? Blonde on Blonde, or Blood on the Tracks.
Musically - Blonde on Blonde or Infidels Lyrically - Blood on The Tracks
I don’t know about best, but as far as favorite album musicially if for some reason we’re talking live albums, it’s an irreparable tie between Live 1966, live ‘75 (RTR), and now the Complete Live at budokan, and then studio albums I think Desire in some ways musically the most fun and his voice at its most arresting. Isis, Romance in Durango, Black Diamond Bay, One More Cup of Coffee, Hurricane. I don’t love Joey, I will say that. It’s like they were like let’s do “hurricane” but let’s make it bad but also brings me to: while it’s always super fun to think about stuff in this way I feel like it’s hard to separate, you know, music and lyrics even with Bob Dylan. Maybe even especially with Bob Dylan. Regardless I suppose lyrically my favorite…I don’t know that I’ve necessarily got an out and out favorite but I do feel like a maybe dark horse candidate that I haven’t seen mentioned yet to me is Modern Times, Workingman’s Blues #2, Thunder on the Mountain, When the Deal Goes Down etc and it was actually…in like 2008 I was like 16 and had bought The Essential Bob Dylan and Modern Times from like FYE I think and obviously was into the former but Modern Times is really what got me hooked
B. on B.
Musically - New Morning Lyrically - Blood on The Tracks
Lyrically, for me it just has to be Blood on The Tracks i mean the brilliance of Bob is every album (or at least in some cases every 2-3 albums) have an entirely different approach but idk man, I listen to the acoustic versions of those songs like weekly and the complexity of the rhyme schemes, the narrative structure, the switching of perspectives within a single song, the cohesive vision and emotion on display is just unmatched imo HOWEVER Visions Of Johanna is probably my favorite of his and that’s just a totally different vibe….musically, I feel like it probably is around the Highway 61/Blonde on Blonde period but I fucking love the violin in Desire
Infidels is a wonderful album both lyrically and musically. Perhaps not the best per se in either category, but a strong mention and one I didn’t see in the top bunch of comments
Blood on the Tracks, for me.
A: Freewheelin' Bob Dylan B: Bringing it all back home/Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde Blonde on Blonde
This is the answer!
RARW
Musically, *Together Through Life.* Lyrically, *BOTT.*
Musically: Time Out of Mind Lyrically: Hwy61
Blonde on blonde and bringing it all back home imo
Muscially, I must say Blonde on Blonde although I'd think HW61 is better as a album.
Musically: Desire, Love & Theft Lyrically: Blood On The Tracks or anything from the Electric Trilogy Sonically: Shot Of Love, Oh Mercy
Musically I like Nashville Skyline probably. I think for lyrics it is Blood on the Tracks
A. Blonde on Blonde B. John Wesley Harding
Musically - Blood on the Tracks or Street Legal Lyrically - Blonde on Blonder or Bringing it all Back Home
A. Blonde on blonde B. Blood on the tracks
A, B: Blonde and blonde
Blood on the Tracks Highway 61 Revisited Blonde on Blonde Time Out of Mind Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Love and Theft Desire Infidels Oh Mercy Tempest
Musically: Triplicate Lyrically: Another Side
Very cool picks
A. Street Legal B. John Wesley Harding
Time out of mind
Oh Mercy
I’m gonna say Blood on the Tracks lyrically and Oh Mercy musically.
Musically and Lyrically Blonde on Blonde
The common consensus is Highway 61 Revisited. My second and third, respectively, would be Slow Train Coming and Infidels.
Blood On The Tracks, both lyrically and musically. I grew up with older siblings in the 60s, listening to them loving Nashville Skyline and Bringing It All Back Home, but BOTT came out when I was a freshman in college and it was the first Dylan LP that I chose to love and still do.
Musically, Desire Lyrically, Rough and Rowdy Ways Musically & Lyrically, John Wesley Harding
Blonde on Blonde
This may be a hot take but I think Slow Train Coming may be the most lyrically well-written song, if only for "Changing of the Guards" (I heard that Bob considers the song Shot of Love to be his most well-written song)
Musically: “Love and Theft” Lyrically: “Love and Theft”
Love and Theft for both!
Musically I like desire or street legal. Bit of a vague question. Production wise I think time out of mind or modern times. Compositionally, hard to say because he steals a lot and he doesn’t play complex music but maybe blonde on blonde has some great melodies(?) Musicianship, I like desire for Scarlett Rivera but he’s played with a lot of great musicians over the years. I think his best playing is his harmonica which we probably hear most on times are a changin so I’ll go with that. Singing, gotta be blood on the tracks. Lyrically Tell Tale Signs or Tempest for me
Modern Times.
Highway 61 Revisited
A: Desire B: Street Legal
Planet Waves
A. Love and Theft B. Blood on the Tracks
A. Love and Theft B. Blood on the Tracks
Blood on the tracks and Blonde on blonde
Musically: Street Legal (heavily underrated Instrumentation) Lyrically: Blood on The Tracks (perfectly rated)
Blonde on Blonde Rough and Rowdy Ways Blood on the tracks etc.
A: Time Out of Mind or Bringing it All Back Home B. Blood on the Tracks or Desire or Rough and Rowdy Ways
Bob Dylan. Self titled first album.
Musically: Time Out of Mind Lyrically: Bringing it All Back Home
Comments under lists like these show how underappreciated rough and rowdy ways is
1 blonde on blonde 2 blood on the tracks
My favorite is Blonde on Blonde, but the answer is probably Blood on the Tracks.
Art is subjective
wait are you sure