Favorite Dylan?


I'm loving Slow Train Coming on vinyl.  It's always been one of my favorites.  Mark Knopfler's guitar work is a treat, and the songs are great.  I know for some it was a turn off because of the born again phase, but if you can put that aside you cannot deny the brilliance of this record.

Runner up is Time Out Of Mind.  Magical....

128x128snackeyp

I too loved it at the time of it’s release (I still have my original LP). I found the reaction to the lyrical content amusing. I guess the counter-culture didn’t listen to the lyrics of the John Wesley Harding album, which was released at the height of the hippie era (as was The Band’s Music From Big Pink, which was also very against-the-tide). It was chock full of biblical references.

Of his "newer" albums, I really like "Love And Theft".

Slow Train excellent.  Mine was always Blood on the Tracks until Time Out of Mind.  That one is a treat from start to finish.  
Desire is my #1
I would probably say either Slow Train or Blood on the Tracks
are tied for #2
So many to choose from! Sonically, I think Oh Mercy on LP is hands-down the best and the music is haunting. But Desire, Highway 61, Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde are all great albums ...
song for song highway 61 may be his best, but blonde on blonde is, to me, the best sounding, best sung record he's done. i'm not as big a big fan of his post-john wesley harding stuff (and always thought blood on the tracks was a tad overrated), but do like time out of mind
Planet Waves is cool, recorded live in the studio with The Band in late 1973, released in January ’74. He and they then embarked on his first tour since 1965-6 (also backed by them on that tour, they then known as The Hawks.). The double album of live recordings from that tour is fantastic.
Oh Mercy is a favourite of mine but it is hard to have a favourite for long as so much of Bob Dylan’s work is pure genius.
So very much of Dylan's work got by me as a youth when it first came out and I never quite got him, now with the reissues of those older albums and my need for vinyl I find that it is uncanny in the way his music speaks to me and just can't get enough.
Highway 61, Modern Times, Tempest, Time Out Of Mind, Infidels, Traveling  Wilburys.  
Freewheelin’, Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Basement Tapes
I love this post and the answers, but I can't choose.  I have many favorites.  Happy to see that others do too.  I urge all who haven't yet had the pleasure to listen to Red River Shore (or maybe its titled the Girl From The Red River Shore) on one of the Sony bootlegs.  Oh my, what a transcendent song.  
With just about every album Dylan ever did my favorite is usually the one I listen to at any given time.
rpeluso nailed it on Red River Shore. Close your eyes and listen; a poignant palette of story and sound. Reaching for it now. Gotta go.
My favorites tend to change depending on my mood. Usually, it's "Bringing It All Back Home", since many of those songs just make me feel good, not usually what you listen to Dylan for.

In a more somber mood, I'll go for JWH or Blonde on Blonde. But in small doses.

Dylan can depress you if you get too much.
I just bought Triplicate and all I can say is, Wow!  
I have never been a Sinatra fan but after hearing this collection I want to explore his works.  
As a side note, I am from Minnesota.  In Minnesota Prince is worshipped and adored more than any other Minnesota artist.  While I appreciate Prince, I really don't think he holds a candle to Bob Dylan's catalog of work.  Both men are genius, but Bob is the true Minnesota music legend.  Not that there needs to be only one, but I think a lot of people here overlook his brilliance because he has never achieved mainstream pop status (not that he has ever strived for this).  I'm sorry to say that most people won't realize this until after he is dead. Reading the comments on this thread makes me happy.  Thanks for sharing your faves!
Westerberg is pretty legendary, too. Not as good a guitar player as Prince, but a hell of a song writer.

I am really enjoying BD Bootleg series of material. I own most of them , some in standard sets, others in Super deluxe sets.

It is going to be interesting to see which drops next in 2018?

Happy Listening!

Oh Mercy has always been on the top of my list but Under the Red Sky is an excellent album filled with a long list of who's who guest artists.
Highway 61 my long time favorite. Love and Theft more recent from
a few years back. I got totally hooked on A Simple Twist Of Fate while late night youtube listening,many versions...Sarah Jarosz  live,Jerry Garcia.
      even some albums that I didn't dig at first ....New Morning.
Love and Theft has a crazed swing to it and to me plays like one
continuous story. (2001....more than a few years back,yikes).

qdrone-

I will second ,Oh Mercy, a nice way for Dylan to close out the 80's.

Happy Listening!
Right, @offnon57?! I think of "Love And Theft" as one of Bob's (it's okay, we're on a first name basis ;-) "recent" albums. That's being old. I too dig the swing in that album, and I don't know who to credit for it---him, his band on the album? It don't matter, I love it. 
He has sooooo much OUTSTANDING music out there. Not sure there can be a wrong answer. My wife got real sick of listening to him when we were going out. Now after all these years, She still doesn't like him but tolerates me nonetheless.  
I saw Dylan at Music Hall in Cincinnati in 1981 shortly after the Slow Train release. I believe he only played four cuts from the album. That was easily one of the best shows I’d ever seen. Canned Heat, CS&Y and Dead shows are some others. As for his records, I like ’Another Side of Bob Dylan’ and ’Blood on the Tracks’ the most.
bdp24

has the Bootleg Series  Vol. 14 information been revealed?
Which material is your prediction?

I do own most of these sets from single disc, 2-discs and super deluxe CD/DVD sets.
Happy Listening!
Not yet jafant. Speculation is either the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour recordings (with Jim McGuinn, T Bone Burnett, Sam Shepard, Joan Baez), or the complete Blood On The Tracks recordings (he recorded that album's songs more than once, with different musicians in different studios). Dylan's becoming expensive to be a completest on!
Much Thanks! bdp24

I wanted to make certain that the information for Vol. 14 did not fly under my radar.
Happy Listening!
@bdp24 - I would love to hear the complete New York version of Blood on the Tracks done by Phil Ramone. 
Of the early Dylan, it's probably Blonde on Blonde.
Rolling Thunder-I briefly had the Classic Records issue brought over and left for me to listen to by Rob Stoner. 
Mick Ronson was in the band for a leg of the tour. One of my favorite guitarists, not sure how that worked with Dylan, but....

Yep, me too @whart! The released Blood On The Tracks has never rung my bells, for whatever reason, and from what I've read about the Phil Ramone recordings I might find them more to my liking.

Mick Ronson being part of The Rolling Thunder Revue has always mystified me, Bill. Ronson was not an Americana kind of musician, he was a Glam Rock/British kinda guy---he had a shag hairdo and dressed effeminately, and his tone was that of the thick, very-distorted, lots of sustain Les Paul into a Marshall stack---with playing style to match, not the Fender sound that Dylan has always preferred. A "Rock Star" type, not a musicians musician, which Dylan usually surrounds himself with. But then, Dylan was wearing make-up on the Tour, wasn't he ;-).

bdp24

Dylan always had an eye for talent. One of my faves from the 80's is Charlie Sexton- he has been a fixture in Dylan's touring band since 1999.
This is relevant now due to BD last (3) albums of Sinatra material.

Happy Listening!

Yes indeed, jafant. He started going to Nashville in ’65, to get the studio musicians he wanted on his recordings: Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, Fred Carter, Pete Drake, Bob Wilson, Charlie Daniels, lots of others (most of them playing on Ringo’s 1970 Beaucoups Of Blues album). While the hippest new groups were just starting to get into Country (The Beatles, The Byrds---though bassist Chris Hillman had already played in a Bluegrass band), Dylan already had the Masters in the genre on his records. And that was when being a Southerner wasn’t considered too cool. Until John Sebastian wrote "Nashville Cats" for The Lovin' Spoonful, that is.

I love Dylan’s albums with the pure Southern feel and sound: John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, New Morning, Planet Waves (with The Band), the three Christian albums, even Self Portrait.

The last time I saw him live, he had Larry Campbell in his band, a great musician who later played in Levon Helm’s Ramble house band. He has always had a great drummer, including one of my favorites, David Kemper, who also worked with T Bone Burnett. Just as they say you can judge a man by his friends, you can judge a singer and/or songwriter by his or her band. Lucinda Williams and Iris Dement also have great, great taste in musicians.

Thanks! for the recommendations - bdp24


I will have to check out Ringo's 1970 release. Maybe we will get the news of Vol. 14 soon.


Happy Listening!

bdp24

are you a John Prine fan? I wonder if JP is a Dylan fan? I find a few similarities in their repertoire.
Hope you are playing good music this Spring day.

Happy Listening!
"Highway 61 Revisited" (Mono), I used to listen to Desolation Row on reel-to reel tape at the school library (10th grade).

bdp24

(new) Charles Lloyd and Lucinda Williams soon to be released.

Happy Listening!

Charles Lloyd, ay jafant? He's been a crossover-musician (Jazz to Rock) for a long time, working with The Beach Boys in the early 70's. He with Lucinda is reminiscent of Joni Mitchell going in a decidedly Jazz direction in the late 70's, though Charles will come towards Lucinda, I predict. I've been completely obsessed with Lucinda for a few months now, listening to her almost exclusively. Right now her West album is playing.
With Dylan My "favorite" changes regularly.Just picked up Mofi 45rpm "Desire" this afternoon. I will clean it in a few minutes and give it a spin. I remember walking into a record store in 1975 when it first came out. It  was playing on the store sound system. I walked out with it with a smile on my face. The smile is still there whenever I listen to it.
Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde, Oh Mercy. Desire is close except a bit marred by Hurricane and Joey (too topical and not his best lyrics)--otherwise right up there.

bdp24


I will post here when I pick up the Charles Lloyd disc.

Happy Listening!

jafant, I just saw that also playing on the album are Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz, two of my favorite guitarists.
outstanding! bdp24Bill Frisell does not slow down in the least. He has quite a catalog especially recent releases w/ other musicians! 
bdp24still awaiting the official press release on Dylan's Bootleg Series Vol. 14 ?I suspect it will be a Fall release in time for the holiday season as well.
Happy Listening!
My absolute favorite is probably Blood on the Tracks. But my second favorite is all of them, except for maybe some of the 80's ones I haven't spent much time with. Including Slow Train Coming (70's). I like the mid to late 60's stuff maybe best, early 60's stuff second best, then 70's, then 90's. There is so much material, and very little of it I don't like, and have heard probably 90% of it.
Does anyone else just love New Morning?
Ever since "The Man In Me" was featured in The Big Lebowski I fell in love with this record.
It has a certain mood to it that is irresistible.
snackeyp
I will check out 'New Morning'.  In the meantime, several indicators point to "Blood on the Tracks" material for the next Bootleg (Vol. 14) release.It is going to be interesting and a fun ride w/ the BD camp.
Happy Listening!
Favorite is hard to say, probably Blood on the Tracks and Desire. But the one I love that gets no attention is Street Legal. Señor, Changing of the Guards and especially Where are you Tonight? 
The newest information regarding Bootleg Vol. 14 is slated to reveal in September. Early sources predict it will link w/ Blood on the Tracks (BOTT).
Happy Listening!
Yep, the latest Bootleg Series Vol 14 from Bob Dylan will feature (BOTT)material. Stay tuned.
Confirmed: Bob Dylan Bootleg Vol. 14 - More Blood More Tracks in November.