All right, this list will be for the total Dylanologists.
The following will be a list of an all time per track 20 song Dylan double album. I will take what will be in my opinion to be my two favorite (NOT what are the most important, best, etc..) track ones, twos, threes, etc from Dylan’s catalog (CD’s! – Album track listings are different) up to ten with one caveat, there can’t be more than one song off of any record. This is important because one record might have the all time favorite track one and five in my opinion but I will have to choose one or the other. I will be working from all original studio albums and the Bootleg Series Volume 1,2, and 3 and Tell Tale Signs (excluding alternate versions of previously released songs). I will exclude live recordings, compilations, greatest hits.
I did not include Together Through Life. Not enough time to soak it in yet.
This should end up being (for me) a definitive Bob Mix CD 2-fer.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 1
Track 1. Jokerman
Yeah I know, looks a little crazy to me too, but the “only one song from an album” caveat is a real challenge. This should not, however, under sell how great this lead off track from 1983’s Infidels is. Mark Knopflified, a little bit of a Reggae groove, and a song out there many believe refers to the man himself, but in his ever elusive way we’re just not sure. It also kicked off the third part of the best live show I have ever been to:
Bob Dylan in Biloxi Mississippi on the 95’ Tour.
After my list was assembled I attempted to arrange the songs in a certain way that gives each disc it's own pace etc.. (Reference John Cusack in High Fidelity about mix tapes here). I like kicking it off with Jokerman.
Infidels is now off the board (slow tear falls for License to Kill).
Yeah I know, looks a little crazy to me too, but the “only one song from an album” caveat is a real challenge. This should not, however, under sell how great this lead off track from 1983’s Infidels is. Mark Knopflified, a little bit of a Reggae groove, and a song out there many believe refers to the man himself, but in his ever elusive way we’re just not sure. It also kicked off the third part of the best live show I have ever been to:
Bob Dylan in Biloxi Mississippi on the 95’ Tour.
After my list was assembled I attempted to arrange the songs in a certain way that gives each disc it's own pace etc.. (Reference John Cusack in High Fidelity about mix tapes here). I like kicking it off with Jokerman.
Infidels is now off the board (slow tear falls for License to Kill).
Monday, June 8, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 2
Track 2. Day of the Locusts
In my head there are two different worlds (sort of simplified I know) of Bob Dylan songs there is world (A), the Desolation Row, It’s Allright Ma, Ain’t Talking world and then there is world (B), the When I Paint My Masterpiece, Silvio, Day of the Locusts world. I first got into Bob Dylan via Greatest Hits #1 which is ALL (with the exception of Rainy Day Women) world A.
Day of the Locusts is the first world B song I remember loving. Supposedly this is about the day Dylan received an honorary degree from Princeton. Unwanted formality in the way of the outlying, omni-present muse. There is something in it that just makes me giddy. Disc 1 is starting out pretty funky.
New Morning is now off the board (slow tear falls for Sign on the Window and Winterlude).
In my head there are two different worlds (sort of simplified I know) of Bob Dylan songs there is world (A), the Desolation Row, It’s Allright Ma, Ain’t Talking world and then there is world (B), the When I Paint My Masterpiece, Silvio, Day of the Locusts world. I first got into Bob Dylan via Greatest Hits #1 which is ALL (with the exception of Rainy Day Women) world A.
Day of the Locusts is the first world B song I remember loving. Supposedly this is about the day Dylan received an honorary degree from Princeton. Unwanted formality in the way of the outlying, omni-present muse. There is something in it that just makes me giddy. Disc 1 is starting out pretty funky.
New Morning is now off the board (slow tear falls for Sign on the Window and Winterlude).
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 3
Track 3. Visions of Johanna
Is this the part where I am supposed to try to actually attempt to comment on Visions of Johanna? A Dylan pillar, a “this is what I hope they dig up 10,000 years from now and judge our artistic culture on.” song, a masterpiece, a just shake your head in disbelief if you’re a songwriter tour de force.
I remember bringing home Time Out of Mind and just thinking to myself (34 at the time of this entry) that I was able to get a new Dylan record with the same potency of stuff like Visions of Johanna.
What it must have been like to bring home Blonde on Blonde and have this one come at you.
Blonde on Blonde is now off the board (slow tear falls for Obviously 5 Believers, Just Like a Woman, Absolutely Sweet Marie, Most Likely You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine, I Want You).
Is this the part where I am supposed to try to actually attempt to comment on Visions of Johanna? A Dylan pillar, a “this is what I hope they dig up 10,000 years from now and judge our artistic culture on.” song, a masterpiece, a just shake your head in disbelief if you’re a songwriter tour de force.
I remember bringing home Time Out of Mind and just thinking to myself (34 at the time of this entry) that I was able to get a new Dylan record with the same potency of stuff like Visions of Johanna.
What it must have been like to bring home Blonde on Blonde and have this one come at you.
Blonde on Blonde is now off the board (slow tear falls for Obviously 5 Believers, Just Like a Woman, Absolutely Sweet Marie, Most Likely You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine, I Want You).
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 4
Track 4. Blood In My Eyes
The most influential songwriter living and I am going to put a cover on a super compilation mix-cd. You’re damn right I am and I should.
Myself, my older brother Brian and our friend Rhett put together a best albums of the 90’s top ten list. This was serious shit and we’re gearing up for the aughts. Rhett had World Gone Wrong at #1, what a choice! Having seen the work that followed, all that mining and exploration by Dylan of the original influential stuff it is obvious (NOW) that World Gone Wrong is an extremely pivotal and important record in the pantheon of Dylan’s catalog. Rhett was able to see the future from the power of this record full of songs from the past.
Freewheelin set the tone for folk master hard-rain calling young prodigy stage.
Bringing It All Back Home set the tone for game changer, rock/country/pop music will never sound the same again stage.
John Wesley Harding set the introspective surviving the failed revolution stage.
Slow Train coming set the tone for the “Born Again” stage.
Infidels set the stage for the wandering through the 80’s and looking phase up until it was found with Oh Mercy.
World Gone Wrong set the conduit to a bygone sound and time excavator of that Old Weird America phase.
Here is what Bob had to say about Blood In My Eyes in the liner notes for World Gone Wrong:
"BLOOD IN MY EYES is one of two songs done by the Mississippi Sheiks, a little known de facto group whom in their former glory must've been something to behold. rebellion against routine seems to be their strong theme. all their songs are raw to the bone & are faultlessly made for these modern times (the New Dark Ages) nothing effete about the Mississippi Sheiks."
World Gone Wrong is off the board (slow tear falls for Delia, Two Soldiers, and Lone Pilgrim)
The most influential songwriter living and I am going to put a cover on a super compilation mix-cd. You’re damn right I am and I should.
Myself, my older brother Brian and our friend Rhett put together a best albums of the 90’s top ten list. This was serious shit and we’re gearing up for the aughts. Rhett had World Gone Wrong at #1, what a choice! Having seen the work that followed, all that mining and exploration by Dylan of the original influential stuff it is obvious (NOW) that World Gone Wrong is an extremely pivotal and important record in the pantheon of Dylan’s catalog. Rhett was able to see the future from the power of this record full of songs from the past.
Freewheelin set the tone for folk master hard-rain calling young prodigy stage.
Bringing It All Back Home set the tone for game changer, rock/country/pop music will never sound the same again stage.
John Wesley Harding set the introspective surviving the failed revolution stage.
Slow Train coming set the tone for the “Born Again” stage.
Infidels set the stage for the wandering through the 80’s and looking phase up until it was found with Oh Mercy.
World Gone Wrong set the conduit to a bygone sound and time excavator of that Old Weird America phase.
Here is what Bob had to say about Blood In My Eyes in the liner notes for World Gone Wrong:
"BLOOD IN MY EYES is one of two songs done by the Mississippi Sheiks, a little known de facto group whom in their former glory must've been something to behold. rebellion against routine seems to be their strong theme. all their songs are raw to the bone & are faultlessly made for these modern times (the New Dark Ages) nothing effete about the Mississippi Sheiks."
World Gone Wrong is off the board (slow tear falls for Delia, Two Soldiers, and Lone Pilgrim)
Friday, June 5, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 5
Track 5. Red River Shore
Red River Shore is now the front-runner for best Dylan song that did not make the initial cut. See my earlier blog entry The Red River Shaman, that about sums it up. This was a first listen masterpiece, dwarfing my expectations of Tell Tale Signs (which were pretty darn high).
Further hyperbole:
http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/archives/1719
Tell Tale Signs is off the board (slow tear falls for Red River Shore, wait nevermind).
Red River Shore is now the front-runner for best Dylan song that did not make the initial cut. See my earlier blog entry The Red River Shaman, that about sums it up. This was a first listen masterpiece, dwarfing my expectations of Tell Tale Signs (which were pretty darn high).
Further hyperbole:
http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/archives/1719
Tell Tale Signs is off the board (slow tear falls for Red River Shore, wait nevermind).
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 6
Track 6. A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall
When you hear this song you can understand why the hardliners in the folk community wanted so desperately to keep Bob Dylan. As Hard Rain poured out it seemed as if he were some answer to a promise, an exponential Woody Guthrie. If you came from a place where you believed that folk songs could change the world outside the individual, the political landscape, and social hierarchy, then this song and this Bob Dylan would certainly have been exhibit “A” proof.
That infamous tag he has spent a lifetime dodging, “The Voice of a Generation” is understandable when you listen to A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall. In an interview with 60 minutes Bob seemed at a loss himself as to where songs like Hard Rain came from. He was asked if he could write songs like it anymore. “No” was his answer, that comes once and you’re lucky if you receive it at all.
This is the Wiki entry:
Dylan was only 21 years old when he wrote one of his most complex songs, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", often referred to as "Hard Rain". Dylan is said to have premiered "Hard Rain" at the Gaslight Cafe, where Village performer Peter Blankfield was in attendance. "He put out these pieces of loose-leaf paper ripped out of a spiral notebook. And he starts singing ['Hard Rain']...He finished singing it, and no one could say anything. The length of it, the episodic sense of it. Every line kept building and bursting".
Dylan performed "Hard Rain" days later at Carnegie Hall on September 22, 1962, as part of a concert organized by Pete Seeger. Seeger was so impressed by "Hard Rain", he covered it himself in his own set.
Many critics interpreted the lyric 'hard rain' as a reference to nuclear fallout, but Dylan resisted the specificity of this interpretation. In a radio interview with Studs Terkel in 1963, Dylan said,
"No, it's not atomic rain, it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen... In the last verse, when I say, 'the pellets of poison are flooding the waters', that means all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers."
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is off the board (slow tear falls for Girl From the North Country, Bob Dylan’s Dream, Masters of War, Talkin’ World War III Blues, Blowing in the Wind).
When you hear this song you can understand why the hardliners in the folk community wanted so desperately to keep Bob Dylan. As Hard Rain poured out it seemed as if he were some answer to a promise, an exponential Woody Guthrie. If you came from a place where you believed that folk songs could change the world outside the individual, the political landscape, and social hierarchy, then this song and this Bob Dylan would certainly have been exhibit “A” proof.
That infamous tag he has spent a lifetime dodging, “The Voice of a Generation” is understandable when you listen to A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall. In an interview with 60 minutes Bob seemed at a loss himself as to where songs like Hard Rain came from. He was asked if he could write songs like it anymore. “No” was his answer, that comes once and you’re lucky if you receive it at all.
This is the Wiki entry:
Dylan was only 21 years old when he wrote one of his most complex songs, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", often referred to as "Hard Rain". Dylan is said to have premiered "Hard Rain" at the Gaslight Cafe, where Village performer Peter Blankfield was in attendance. "He put out these pieces of loose-leaf paper ripped out of a spiral notebook. And he starts singing ['Hard Rain']...He finished singing it, and no one could say anything. The length of it, the episodic sense of it. Every line kept building and bursting".
Dylan performed "Hard Rain" days later at Carnegie Hall on September 22, 1962, as part of a concert organized by Pete Seeger. Seeger was so impressed by "Hard Rain", he covered it himself in his own set.
Many critics interpreted the lyric 'hard rain' as a reference to nuclear fallout, but Dylan resisted the specificity of this interpretation. In a radio interview with Studs Terkel in 1963, Dylan said,
"No, it's not atomic rain, it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen... In the last verse, when I say, 'the pellets of poison are flooding the waters', that means all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers."
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is off the board (slow tear falls for Girl From the North Country, Bob Dylan’s Dream, Masters of War, Talkin’ World War III Blues, Blowing in the Wind).
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 7
Track 7. True Love Tends To Forget
I have an unabashed fetish for Street Legal. If you check my all time top ten albums list from an earlier blog you will see Street Legal sitting pretty at number 6. This track embodies that whole record. It is funky, the soul singing back up is there. Bob’s vocal is really forceful and yanks your arm. It is wrapped up in a curious mysticism that underpins Street Legal:
“I was lyin' down in the reeds without any oxygen
I saw you in the wilderness among the men.
Saw you drift into infinity and come back again
All you got to do is wait and I'll tell you when.”
For me you couldn’t create a larger hole in Dylan’s catalog then if you removed Street Legal. I just have never heard anything like it. I love that through the process of elimination this song made the cut. It fits perfectly.
Street Legal is off the board (slow tear falls for all of the above).
I have an unabashed fetish for Street Legal. If you check my all time top ten albums list from an earlier blog you will see Street Legal sitting pretty at number 6. This track embodies that whole record. It is funky, the soul singing back up is there. Bob’s vocal is really forceful and yanks your arm. It is wrapped up in a curious mysticism that underpins Street Legal:
“I was lyin' down in the reeds without any oxygen
I saw you in the wilderness among the men.
Saw you drift into infinity and come back again
All you got to do is wait and I'll tell you when.”
For me you couldn’t create a larger hole in Dylan’s catalog then if you removed Street Legal. I just have never heard anything like it. I love that through the process of elimination this song made the cut. It fits perfectly.
Street Legal is off the board (slow tear falls for all of the above).
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 8
Track 8. Mr. Tambourine Man
In reviewing Bob’s discography I notice that this is the side two for the vinyl Bringing It All Back Home:
Side two
1. "Mr. Tambourine Man" – 5:30
2. "Gates of Eden" – 5:40
3. "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" – 7:29
4. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" – 4:12
I am of the era of Compact Discs so this is the first time I had that fact register in my brain. My God, is this the greatest side in vinyl history? For you vinyl folks out there give me some competition.
That is a stunning thing to look at really. So heavy the ship starts sinking and the rats start climbing the mastheads.
If my memory serves me well, this is the first Dylan song I loved. It falls right in line with the imaginations of a young man and is determinedly some of the most beautiful lyrics Bob Dylan ever pinned. It’s a difficult song to come back to after you have taken the time to let the breadthof it sink in. I listened to it a thousand times, probably in a row in an obsessed fashion as a kid. I go back but rarely, it kind of haunts me in a way – weird.
Bringing It All Back Home is off the board (slow tear falls for Gates of Eden, It’s Allright Ma, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero No Limit, She Belongs To Me).
In reviewing Bob’s discography I notice that this is the side two for the vinyl Bringing It All Back Home:
Side two
1. "Mr. Tambourine Man" – 5:30
2. "Gates of Eden" – 5:40
3. "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" – 7:29
4. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" – 4:12
I am of the era of Compact Discs so this is the first time I had that fact register in my brain. My God, is this the greatest side in vinyl history? For you vinyl folks out there give me some competition.
That is a stunning thing to look at really. So heavy the ship starts sinking and the rats start climbing the mastheads.
If my memory serves me well, this is the first Dylan song I loved. It falls right in line with the imaginations of a young man and is determinedly some of the most beautiful lyrics Bob Dylan ever pinned. It’s a difficult song to come back to after you have taken the time to let the breadthof it sink in. I listened to it a thousand times, probably in a row in an obsessed fashion as a kid. I go back but rarely, it kind of haunts me in a way – weird.
Bringing It All Back Home is off the board (slow tear falls for Gates of Eden, It’s Allright Ma, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero No Limit, She Belongs To Me).
Monday, June 1, 2009
Blood On My Tracks Disc 1 Song 9
Track 9. Desolation Row
Track ten on disc one better be ridiculous if it actually follows Desolation Row. I had a real real hard time with what song to use off of Highway 61 Revisited. From my earlier favorite ten albums of all time blog you will find Highway 61 at numero uno. This album is the big cheese, the trifecta of where the sound met the songwriting met the meteoric Dylan. It came down to Like A Rolling Stone, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues and Desolation Row. In the mixing and matching with the one per album rule Desolation Row came out of the wash.
I have over the last year been waste deep in learning the ins and outs of playing guitar. So being a Dylan fan it lead me (of course) to the incredible dylanchords site run by Eyolf Østrem. To my surprise this most epic song is only three simple chords, so I started strumming and singing the song entertaining myself and then, abruptly, I stopped.
I laughed all by myself, who the hell did I think I was to play Desolation Row? This has always been for me the most mind-boggling song of them all. In the song I Walk the Line Revisited, Rodney Crowell sings about hearing, for the first time, I Walk the Line and he says:
“Sounded like the whole thing came right down from outer space.”
I know exactly how he feels. I mean seriously, some guy mixed the final of Desolation Row and then a group of guys listened to the final cut before releasing it for the record.
Record Producer: “I think that’s a keeper Bob.”
Bob: “I’m happy with it.”
Record Producer: “Let’s go get some Chinese take out.”
Bob: “I’m gonna head back to the hotel for a swim.”
Me: “Pbbbbbbbbbbbbffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!”
The accenting guitar that Charlie McCoy plays throughout absolutely sets Desolation Row. Desolation Row, arguably Bob Dylan’s greatest song on what is my all time favorite album. Yikes!!! Should I just stop here?
Track ten on disc one better be ridiculous if it actually follows Desolation Row. I had a real real hard time with what song to use off of Highway 61 Revisited. From my earlier favorite ten albums of all time blog you will find Highway 61 at numero uno. This album is the big cheese, the trifecta of where the sound met the songwriting met the meteoric Dylan. It came down to Like A Rolling Stone, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues and Desolation Row. In the mixing and matching with the one per album rule Desolation Row came out of the wash.
I have over the last year been waste deep in learning the ins and outs of playing guitar. So being a Dylan fan it lead me (of course) to the incredible dylanchords site run by Eyolf Østrem. To my surprise this most epic song is only three simple chords, so I started strumming and singing the song entertaining myself and then, abruptly, I stopped.
I laughed all by myself, who the hell did I think I was to play Desolation Row? This has always been for me the most mind-boggling song of them all. In the song I Walk the Line Revisited, Rodney Crowell sings about hearing, for the first time, I Walk the Line and he says:
“Sounded like the whole thing came right down from outer space.”
I know exactly how he feels. I mean seriously, some guy mixed the final of Desolation Row and then a group of guys listened to the final cut before releasing it for the record.
Record Producer: “I think that’s a keeper Bob.”
Bob: “I’m happy with it.”
Record Producer: “Let’s go get some Chinese take out.”
Bob: “I’m gonna head back to the hotel for a swim.”
Me: “Pbbbbbbbbbbbbffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!”
The accenting guitar that Charlie McCoy plays throughout absolutely sets Desolation Row. Desolation Row, arguably Bob Dylan’s greatest song on what is my all time favorite album. Yikes!!! Should I just stop here?
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