Best Bob Dylan Album?

[leonaozaki]

Sorry, no room for Knocked Out Loaded!

[Brian Cronin]

Upon much deliberation, I have now changed my usual pick of Blonde on Blonde to Highway 61 Revisited.

LARS and Desolation Row are just an unbeatable duo.

-Brian

[Adam Crocker]

Sorry, no room for Knocked Out Loaded!

Oooooooooo... What about Under the Red Sky then? :(

[leonaozaki]

Oooooooooo... What about Under the Red Sky then? :(

I don't think Under the Red Sky is actually all that bad. Sure, it begins with an unfortunate song and a bad title, "Wiggle Wiggle" (the 1991 live version of that song did kick, though) but the rest of the album holds up surprisingly well, I think. I like the title track, and "Born in Time" a lot.

rob

[Brian Cronin]

I do not think the rest of the album holds up well at all, to be honest.

Born in Time and Under the Red Sky are fine songs (the former more than the latter), but basically, it was a lot of Dylan just half-assing songs in the same STYLE as Oh Mercy, without half the depth.

-Brian

[DennyK]

Highway 61 Revisited, for it has the work of one Michael Bloomfield on it.

[Ilash]

I went with the Blood on the Tracks but i could have just as easily have voted for any of the albums before it (except Basement Tapes) on the poll. Unlike most of my favourite artists, I can't actually choose which Dylan album I like most so I just went with the one that I like most today.By the way, where's Freewheeling, an album that definitely ranks among his best ever.

[leonaozaki]

I went with the Blood on the Tracks but i could have just as easily have voted for any of the albums before it (except Basement Tapes) on the poll. Unlike most of my favourite artists, I can't actually choose which Dylan album I like most so I just went with the one that I like most today.By the way, where's Freewheeling, an album that definitely ranks among his best ever.

Well the poll only has ten slots and those are my ten favorite Bob records! Seriously, though, I could only justify giving one slot to his pre-electric work and I've always liked ANOTHER SIDE OF more than FREEWHEELIN'. Just a personal preference really: ANOTHER was the first Bob record I listened to other than GREATEST HITS and it's where my obsession began. I do think it's a great record though and for some reason never gets good press.

Also "I Shall Be Free No.10" is way funnier than "I Shall Be Free."

rob

[Grant]

When I'm in a good mood Blonde on Blonde when I'm in a bad mood Blood on the Tracks.

[d00m]

My favorite Dylan CD ever is actually a live album: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live 1966: The Royal Albert Hall Concert.

It's the one with the famous recording where the man in the audience yells "Judas!" and you can hear Dylan tell his band to "play f*cking loud!" Gives me shivers everytime I hear it.

I like the album a lot because you can see how much his music effects people. Disc 1 is all accoustic guitar and harmonica, the audience is very proper... Silent during songs, claps loudly afterwards. Then he brings out the band on Disc 2 and the audience falls apart. Half the audience turns against him for playing "devil music". Things start getting rowdy, the proper crowd turns rambunctions and rude, and the famous judas event occurs.

If you havent heard this CD, it really is worth checking out.

[david r]

I feel "Blonde on Blonde" is Dylan's ultimate masterpiece. All those lyrics--how did Bob ever memorize all of them?

The songs on here are just utterly amazing. Even the song TITLES will blow your mind. And he would never sound like this again, after this album he went country-rock.

But I agree about "The Freewheelin'". I LOVE that one, it's my favorite of his folk records.

[Eric D.]

for me it's:

Bringing It All Back Home

• Subterranean Homesick Blues
• She Belongs To Me
• Maggie's Farm
• Mr. Tambourine Man
• It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (one of his masterpieces)
• It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

not discounting the other songs on this album, - but name me another Dylan album with as many classic-Dylan tunes. album was released when he was 23 years old.

[berk]

I'd vote Blonde on Blonde. Other contenders for me would be Desire and Blood on the Tracks.

The rest of Dylan's output, I tend to like individual tracks rather than the album as a whole - even when the entire album consists of individual songs I like.

[jesse_custer]

Love and Theft is great.

for me it's:

Bringing It All Back Home

• Subterranean Homesick Blues
• She Belongs To Me
• Maggie's Farm
• Mr. Tambourine Man
• It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (one of his masterpieces)
• It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

not discounting the other songs on this album, - but name me another Dylan album with as many classic-Dylan tunes. album was released when he was 23 years old.

Everything on Highway 61 Revisited is a classic.

[The Confessor]

I find it largely impossible to pick a favourite between Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde. But since I can only vote for one in this poll, I'm gonna go with Bringing It All Back Home. It's chock full of great songs and I really like the way that the four acoustic tracks on Side 2 (every one of them a classic) hang together. They really flow well from song to song I think.