The Top 10 Bob Dylan Albums
As Chosen by Skylar Hamilton Burris
Desire
This album contains Dylan's great long ballads "Hurricane" and
"Joey." This album also contains one of my favorite songs:
"Sara." It is a very moving piece. As Sam Shepherd once said of this
song, "When a man can rhyme help with kelp and make your heart lurch, that's
poetry."
John Wesley
Harding
Someone once described this album as the Book of Isaiah set to music. It is
rife with biblical allusions and phrasing. Although not musically
complex, the lyrics are often meaningful and moving: "I Am A Lonesome Hobo,"
"I Pity the Poor Immigrant," and "Dear Landlord," for instance.
The album has "All Along the Watchtower," which was immortalized by Jimmy
Hendrix (Dylan himself said it was Jimmy's song), although I like Dylan's version better.
"I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" is a classic, but my favorite song on this
album, and one of my overall favorite Dylan songs, is "I Dreamed I Saw St.
Augustine." It is a strangely moving, personal, religiously intense ballad.
Blood on
The Tracks
Dylan claimed this album was not about his wife, and got rather upset when
people suggested it was. At any rate, it is certainly about a broken relationship, and it
seems to be intensely emotional. When Dylan heard people "liked" the
album, he said he could not understand why people would "like that kind of
pain." Well, I'm not sure why I like it either, except that it is some of
Dylan's best music. This has a few of my favorites: "Tangled Up in Blue,"
"Simple Twist of Fate," "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You
Go," "If You See Her, Say Hello," and "Shelter from the
Storm."
Street
Legal
Critics referred to this album as "weird." It was not
thought to be typical Dylan--but then, what is? I think the music is intense and
very powerful, almost haunting. I like every single song on it, but my particular
favorite is "We Better Talk This Over," a sort of toe-tapping tune with an
upbeat sound that contradicts its sad theme.
Slow Train
Coming
I think this may have been the first time Dylan won a Grammy. His fans may
have booed him when he became a Christian, but at least some critics noticed how much his
music had improved. Most Christian music is smarmy--if you say "Jesus"
five times, it's enough to please a Christian audience. But Dylan demonstrates everything
that Christian music at its best is capable of communicating. In my opinion, there
is no popular music more powerful than Christian Dylan. "Gotta Serve
Somebody" is a classic with a great gospel refrain; "Slow Train" and
"When You Gonna Wake Up" are powerful social commentaries delivered in a
prophetic tone. "When He Returns" is probably my second favorite Bob Dylan
song (my favorite is "Every Grain of Sand" from Shot of Love).
The depth in Dylan's voice as he sings this number is stirring, and it would take a heart
of stone indeed to resist being moved when he issues these lines: "Surrender your
crown on this blood stained ground / Take off your mask." The only
song I don't love on this album is "Man Gave Names to All the Animals." It
seems a bit silly to me.
Saved
A rocking, gospel album, Saved will enable a listener to feel the
strength and the power of the Gospel with songs like "Saved," "Solid
Rock," and "Pressing On." But slower, sensitive songs like "In
the Garden" and "What Can I Do For You?" are also present.
Infidels
Dylan begins to recapture his Jewish roots with this album, and his
prophetic voice is stronger than ever. The meditative "I and I" has almost
a psalm-like quality to it, while "License to Kill" and "Union
Sundown" demonstrate a return to social commentary. The enigmatic "Jokerman" and the double-meaning "Sweetheart Like
You" both communicate religious messages in a subtle way. "Man of
Peace" issues a crucial warning. My favorite number on this album is
"Neighborhood Bully," a pure rock and roll song with a strong political
pro-Israel message. And in the midst of all this lies a very touching love
song, "Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight."
Oh Mercy
One of Dylan's more musically subtle albums, Oh Mercy is also one
of my very favorites. "Political World" and "Everything is
Broken" are superb rock numbers, but Dylan slows things down with the rest of the
songs. "Most of the Time" takes a place among my favorite Dylan songs;
his voice is so full of emotion in this one, and the subtlety of the message--he is saying
he has forgotten when his voice proves he has not--is effective. Other favorites
from this album: "Shooting Star" and "Ring them Bells."
Bootleg
Volume 3
What Dylan leaves off his albums is better
than what most people leave on theirs. This is my favorite of the three bootleg
albums. It has a lot of great Christians songs that just didn't make it onto the other
albums: "Ye Shall Be Changed," "You Changed My Life," "Need A
Woman," "Lord Protect My Child" (a great blues piano number), and
"Foot of Pride" (a powerful, hard, lengthy song full of cleverly worded lines
and profound commentary). One of my favorites on here is "Blind Willie
McTell." Even while Dylan sings that "no one can sing the blues like Blind
Willie McTell," he proves that someone--namely Bob Dylan himself--can.
Bob Dylan at Budokan
About the only live Bob Dylan album I like, Budokan was panned by
some critics because it was supposedly too "Las Vegasy." But I love the
music on this one, and I think Dylan has some of the best versions of his famous songs on
here: "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Love Minus Zero," "Ballad of a Thin
Man," "All Along the Watchtower," "It's Alright, Ma," "All I
Really Want to Do," and "Forever Young." All of these songs are
better on this live version than in their original form. The other alternate
versions (there are 22 songs total on this double album CD) are also very good; I just
happen to prefer the originals.
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