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Picking Up A Dylan

post #1 of 18
8/10/07 at 10:56am
Thread Starter 
This has some back story to it, so bear with me:

I was born and grew up in Texas. My dad = moderate to conservative. My mom = mostly moderate. I lived in a household of Elvis and Neil Diamond, with the occasional Beatles, and whatever showed up on 70s rock radio. In 1977-78, my dad turned hardcore country. George Jones, Cash, the Nashville stuff... and I grinned and bore it on the drive to school in the morning. Meanwhile, my mom was and is still an Elvis/Diamond fan.

I grew up in a Dylanless household. My parents couldn't stand the guy. "Hippie crap," said my dad. "He can't hold a tune," said my mom. And, as I developed my own musical tastes as I grew older, Dylan just wasn't on the menu. Now, I've listened to tons of artists influenced by him, easily. But even now, as I get older, my immediate family still doesn't care for him.

Most of the music I enjoy is fairly hooky stuff. My musical palette isn't nearly as expanded as I would like. And, now, at last, I'm ready. I'm ready to get into Dylan. I've heard many of the classic songs, of course, but I'm looking for complete works, albums.

So... please make recommendations - BUT... don't just give me the greats right off the bat. Give me the album for the Dylan neophyte. I'd prefer not to have a hits CD given to me, but a complete album to get started. I dl'd a track off NASHVILLE SKYLINE yesterday and loved it very much (the Dylan/Cash duet). I'm going today to pick something up. And if I get obsessed, I'm in real trouble, because the man's got a huge catalog. But that's a risk I'm willing to take.
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post #2 of 18
8/10/07 at 11:20am
Hmm. I love Nashville Skyline, but it's a little different. Blood on the Tracks is a great bet for some "middle Dylan," and it's probably the one I'd recommend the most. And yeah, you're going to be in trouble, even without including Biograph, the Bootleg Series, bootlegs, obsessively-located single tracks downloaded on the internet, &c.
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post #3 of 18
8/10/07 at 11:26am
I'd say Highway 61 Revisited is the place to start. I'm not sure it's the best, but I think that pound for pound (or track for track) it's the most solid and most fun to listen to. It would probably be the one album I'd hold onto if I had to give up my Dylan collection.

But you really can't go wrong with Bringing It All Back Home, Blonde on Blonde, or Blood on the Tracks, either.
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post #4 of 18
8/10/07 at 11:37am
That's a great one, too. He's right- there really are several that won't miss. Dylan's style kind of shifted in interesting ways over the years, so it's entirely possible that (e.g.) you may not like Bringing It All Back Home that much, but fall in love with Desire or Time Out of Mind.

Definitely go after some of his live stuff eventually. He's great at flipping his own songs around so they become something as good or better, but completely different. There's a few good examples of this on the "Rolling Thunder Revue" album.
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post #5 of 18
8/10/07 at 11:44am
I still maintain that Blood on the Tracks is his most accessable. Maybe that's because that's the album that got me into Dylan and maybe it's because I consider that to be the greatest album of all time. It's definitely one of the more melodic and "hook-y," and it features Dylan doing his best singing and some of his best songwriting.
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post #6 of 18
8/10/07 at 11:55am
I love Blood on the Tracks, but Blonde on Blonde is still my personal all-time favorite . . . A double album chockful of variety and experimentation, along with the occasional well-crafted pop song ("Just Like A Woman"). He even parodies "Norwegian Wood" on "4th Time Around".

It might not be a best first Dylan album, but it's an amazing sampler of the different styles that he was playing with during his most influential period.
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post #7 of 18
8/10/07 at 11:59am
For his older stuff start with Blonde on Blonde. Yeah, it's got the over played Rainy Day Women and Stuck in Memphis* on it but it also has Temporary Like Achilles and Absolutely Sweet Marie.

For his newer stuff Time Out Of Mind is his best recent album, in my mind.

*Not that these are bad songs just overplayed.
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post #8 of 18
8/10/07 at 12:02pm
Thread Starter 
I'm actually kinda leaning towards THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN as a starter CD. I don't have too much cash today so I'm probably going to only buy two, if that many.
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post #9 of 18
8/10/07 at 12:04pm
I grew up without Dylan too and didn't get into it until I was about 19. The album that turned me on was ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN. It's early folky Dylan, but he is clearly out of his political period and he is heavily influenced by Rimbaud and beat poets - lyrically it's a big precursor to mid-late 60's psych-rock. This album is often overlooked because it's in between the early protest music and the controversial electric stuff, but it's a great album and it does work on an introductory level - MY BACK PAGES is one of the greatest songs he's ever written.
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post #10 of 18
8/10/07 at 12:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan "Nordling" Cerny
I'm actually kinda leaning towards THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN as a starter CD. I don't have too much cash today so I'm probably going to only buy two, if that many.
Freewheelin's good. I'd recommend Hwy 61 or Blonde on Blonde as your other purchase (or if you buy one, you should probably go for one of those over Freewheelin'). This will give you a nice spread, since Freewheelin' is probably the best of the folk phase, and Hwy 61 and Blonde and Blonde are the albums where his early rock style really flourished. I listened to Bringing it All Back Home again yesterday, and it's great, but it sounds very transitional, as if he doesn't quite know what to do with some of the extra electric instruments on some tracks, although he does on others. He solves this problem on Highway 61 and further refines it on Blonde on Blonde.

I think I may agree that Blood on the Tracks may be his best (of the albums I've heard), but I think the early, classic stuff might be a better starting point for a neophyte. Blood on the Tracks is definitely an album you should check out eventually, though.

You also may want to watch Scorsese's No Direction Home - I could see that selling even Dylan haters on Dylan.
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post #11 of 18
8/10/07 at 1:26pm
You definitely want to watch No Direction Home. It's a fantastic film and it will give you very helpful context for what you're listening to.

For starter Dylan, I'd stay pre-motorcycle accident (Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Another Side of Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, or Blonde on Blonde. Of those, I would suggest Freewheelin' and anything after it.

I got into him in college, coming from a similar-sounding musical/family background. I bought a Greatest Hits tape and quickly required more. So, at the advice of a well-meaning but not-so-musically-astute friend, I bought Blood on the Tracks. Not a good move for a new Dylan fan who's a sucker for pop. Undeterred, I decided to ignore said friend and picked up Bringin' It All Back Home and Blonde on Blonde. That did the trick.
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post #12 of 18
8/10/07 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
Grabbed FREEWHEELIN' and HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. Diving in now.
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post #13 of 18
8/10/07 at 5:54pm
You are, of course, required to report back.
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post #14 of 18
8/10/07 at 6:06pm
Yeah, those are great choices. Let us know what you think.
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post #15 of 18
8/10/07 at 6:29pm
Speaking as someone who used to work in a record store and had a college roommate who was a Dylan fanatic, I can say that Blood on the Tracks is not only the best Dylan album, but one of the greatest albums of all time.

Oh, and make sure you get the new, remastered copies of the albums. They sound fantastic!
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post #16 of 18
8/10/07 at 7:01pm
I would go with Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It's excellent and when you further explore his career, it'll be a good reference point to where he started and how he evolved his sound. Plus, it's excellent. Also, it's excellent. But I'm biased, cuz I'm not a big fan of his more rock n' roll stuff, but VERY into his folk stuff.
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post #17 of 18
8/10/07 at 10:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tieman
Speaking as someone who used to work in a record store and had a college roommate who was a Dylan fanatic, I can say that Blood on the Tracks is not only the best Dylan album, but one of the greatest albums of all time.
Speaking as someone who shares a telepathic link to Bob Dylan's accountant's ex-nanny's adopted brother's lover's puppy, I can say that the man, himself, thinks Hwy 61 is his best. But he's never been the best judge of his own work, and the dog's insider connections and grasp on Dylan's discography is admittedly tenuous. Fluffy once reported to me via our link that Bob also thought he really captured that Sonic Youth vibe on Love and Theft, and anyone who's heard it knows that it's far less Sonic Youth, a lot more Dinosaur Jr. Fluffy's owner once did work in a record shop, though, so his opinion must count for something.
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post #18 of 18
8/13/07 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
Well, listened to both over the weekend. I liked HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED more than FREEWHEELIN', but...

look, Dylan's an amazing songwriter. Lyrically, musically, he's without peer. But, and I'm sure you know where I'm going with this... it's that voice. If it were more melodic in tone, I'm certain I'd enjoy these more than I did. It's just grating to me, but I can hear the amazing songcraft inside. I guess I'm the guy who enjoys the covers more than the originals, at least when it comes to Dylan. I'll delve more into his catalog, for sure, but his voice isn't growing on me. It makes me more frustrated the more I listen to it.
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