Red Mosquito

1. Blonde On Blonde
2. Highway 61 Revisited
3. Desire
4. Blood On The Tracks
5. Time Out Of Mind
6. Bringing It All Back Home
7. John Wesley Harding
8. The Times They Are A Changin'
9. Infidels
10. Another Side Of
11. The FreeWheelin' Bob Dylan
12. Nashville Skyline
13. Oh Mercy
14. New Morning
15. Street Legal
16. Planet Waves
17. (Love and Theft)
18. Slow Train Coming
19. Modern Times
20. Self Portrait
21. Bob Dylan
22. Together Through Life
23. Under The Red Sky
24. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
25. World Gone Wrong
26. Knocked Out Loaded
27. Empire Burlesque
28. Good As I Been To You
29. Shot Of Love
30. Down In The Groove
31. Saved
32. Dylan
33. Christmas in the Heart

Tempest - Can't rate it as only heard 4 tracks. Basement Tapes not included.

Phew

I could probably do a top 8-10 pretty reliably -- after that things get murkier, albums jockeying for position depending on the day, on which era of voice the mood calls for. I can tell you that I rate "World Gone Wrong" higher than many of the classics...

I'm pretty confident that Bob Dylan is an alien. I don't think a human can write songs that well.

The top ten seems pretty good today too though I do have a soft spot for Street Legal and I feel that could be higher.

Everything under #24 hasn't had intense listening so there could be changes there.

KD - WGW hasn't got much play over the last 20 years. Might have to remedy that.

You have Love and Theft way too low.

cutuphalfdead wrote:You have Love and Theft way too low.

I liked it for a while but it hasn't aged well for me. The start of the derivative churn of post 2000 Dylan.

LetMeSleep wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:You have Love and Theft way too low.

I liked it for a while but it hasn't aged well for me. The start of the derivative churn of post 2000 Dylan.

It's probably in my top 3. Definitely top 5.

cutuphalfdead wrote:

LetMeSleep wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:You have Love and Theft way too low.

I liked it for a while but it hasn't aged well for me. The start of the derivative churn of post 2000 Dylan.

It's probably in my top 3. Definitely top 5.

It's probably due a listen.

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues might be my favorite Bob Dylan song.

cutuphalfdead wrote:Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues might be my favorite Bob Dylan song.

It's great, just great. And Neil's version at the 30th Columbia Records bash is fanfuckintastic too.

And my top 3 albums are probably High 61 Revisited, Blood on the Tracks, and Love and Theft.

I can't express just how much I love Mississippi.

cutuphalfdead wrote:I can't express just how much I love Mississippi.

And is the L&T version your favourite?

LetMeSleep wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:I can't express just how much I love Mississippi.

And is the L&T version your favourite?

Absolutely.

"Love and Theft" is my #2 -- and only because the relationship I have with "Blood on the Tracks" is so deep it will likely never be surpassed by any record ever. But "L&T" gets played way more.

You're a good man.

The best I can come up with for rankings would be something like this:

1. Blood on the Tracks
2. Love and Theft
3. Highway 61 Revisited
4. John Wesley Harding
5. World Gone Wrong
6. Blonde on Blonde
7. Bringing it All Back Home

After that we get into tiers, the order within each one fluid depending on the day:

The Times, They Are a-Changin'
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline
New Morning
Desire
Good As I Been To You
Time Out of Mind
Modern Times

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Self Portrait
Planet Waves
Street Legal
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love
Infidels
Oh Mercy
Under the Red Sky
Together Through Life
Christmas in the Heart
Tempest

Bob Dylan
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Empire Burlesque
Knocked Out Loaded
Down in the Groove

Even in the bottom tier there is stuff that compels me -- moments where Dylan sounds locked in vocally, pieces of historical curiosity, the odd flat-out masterpiece ("Dark Eyes," "Brownsville Girl"). It all means something to me, especially when you factor in the bootleg stuff -- official and unofficial -- that sheds light on the main canon. And whatever assortment of "Basement Tapes" you celebrate -- that goes in the uppermost echelon as well.

Live albums:
Live 1966
Hard Rain
Live 1975
Live 1964
At Budokan
MTV Unplugged
Real Live
Before the Flood
Dylan and the Dead

Kevin Davis wrote: Even in the bottom tier there is stuff that compels me -- moments where Dylan sounds locked in vocally, pieces of historical curiosity, the odd flat-out masterpiece ("Dark Eyes," "Brownsville Girl"). It all means something to me, especially when you factor in the bootleg stuff -- official and unofficial -- that sheds light on the main canon. And whatever assortment of "Basement Tapes" you celebrate -- that goes in the uppermost echelon as well.

Live albums:
Live 1966
Hard Rain
Live 1975
Live 1964
At Budokan
MTV Unplugged
Real Live
Before the Flood
Dylan and the Dead

Spot on with the Live albums. And absolutely correct regarding tracks like Brownsville Girl.

Dylan albums were the only must purchase music for my parents when money was tight when I was a little child. And then they were pretty much all played to death on car trips. Apparently I used to sing along with Desire and BOTT, sing the different lyrics on Hard Rain etc when I was 3 or 4. Street Legal will hold a special place for me for that reason. But all that changed when Slow Train was released. The christian trilogy was bought but rarely played. Infidels kicked it all back into gear.

Sidenote - My parents have been seperated for nearly 20 years and Dylan shows and grandkids b'days (well 1) are the only times they have seen each other.

Have you ever listened to any of the concerts from the gospel era, LMS? There are a great many Dylan enthusiasts whose opinions I hold in very high regard who believe 1980-81 represent the absolute zenith of his vocal powers, a view I largely share. In fact, a couple months ago I had my first crack at compiling and editing a live compilation, with the crossfades and EQ's and all that, and it was Dylan stuff from 1981 (both gospel material and otherwise). I will post it here when I get my laptop hooked up to some wifi -- all we have at the house right now is mobile internet.

Kevin Davis wrote:Have you ever listened to any of the concerts from the gospel era, LMS? There are a great many Dylan enthusiasts whose opinions I hold in very high regard who believe 1980-81 represent the absolute zenith of his vocal powers, a view I largely share. In fact, a couple months ago I had my first crack at compiling and editing a live compilation, with the crossfades and EQ's and all that, and it was Dylan stuff from 1981 (both gospel material and otherwise). I will post it here when I get my laptop hooked up to some wifi -- all we have at the house right now is mobile internet.

Yeah I have. There were a string of shows that were stunning. The commitment to the song was breathtakingI think it's the end of year 1981. Paul Williams writes about a 3 or 5 night stand that he rates as Dylan's best. I can't say that it's a time that I've concentrated on but the shows I've heard have been very strong.

Absolutely, I'd be keen to hear that. I have hopes for Bootleg Series CD or DVD from that era.

edit: Paul Williams Performance Artist books are top notch for the anoraks. Looks like the whole book here 1986-1990 -

Spoiler: show

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lR ... ws&f=false