Who here doesn't think that "Blood On The Tracks" is the best Bob Dylan release?

I put it 2nd behind Hwy 61.

If I was forced to have one album side of Dylan then I would have go side 2 of Bringing It All Back Home which I rank #3.

The thing with BOTT is that the Biograph and Blood on the Tapes sessions which I love as much or more that the official release have blended into this whole or sum greater than its parts thing. Maybe if I could separate it I might rank it lower, hard to say but I doubt it.

 

Nice to see this thread has been resurrected. I guess my assumption that BOTT was known as his best release was wrong. Like the discussion and I'm glad that I can listen to all of the albums referenced since I own them all!!

 

To be honest, the reason why it got my attention is that it was the perfect album for the mood I was in when I put it on last night (I'd never heard it before). If it'd rocked harder, I probably would have stopped it. In time, I will be digging for the albums made prior to it.

 

I'd say BOTT is the best intro to Bob Dylan. If a person totally hates this album, why bother with the rest? Or, if someone just wants a representation of Dylan in their collection, then BOTT is the way to go.

But, what Dylan fan can ONLY like Blood On The Tracks? ..... none. That being said, after BOTT, New Morning gets lots of love, from me.

 

'Blonde On Blonde' certainly the #1 for me. Probably from 'Bringing It All Back Home' (the second side of that record is magnificent) then 'Highway 61'.

As has been said - I have played the out-takes from 'Blood On The Tracks' far more than the official version for the last twenty odd years.

 

Love BOTT but prefer BOB and JWH.

 

his best was Highway 61 revisited and that's the fact jack!

 

If you've never listened to Highway 61 before, I think you'll surprised at how many songs are familiar, how many lyrical passages you've heard quoted. The only reservation is if you aren't partial to a blues sound with a sneer. Otherwise, enjoy.

 

It is without doubt a brilliant album but i prefer Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61.

 

I have one (1) Dylan album.
This is it.

 

That's the best way to put it.

My best/favorite Dylan album per decade.........
60s - Bringing It All Back Home
70s - Blood On TheTracks
80s - Oh Mercy
90s - Time Out Of a Mind
00s - Love & Theft
10s - Tempest

 

Oh I'm fully versed in all his albums up to Blonde On Blonde. It's everything he did after that I had never heard before which is why Blood On The Tracks was a refreshing listening experience.

 

Without BOTT, Dylan's impact would have been considerably less over the long term. It showed he still had brilliance, long after the 60s, and it summed up the comedown after the big wave of creative output that was that decade.

And yeah, the outtakes are brilliant too. As is "Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts", which is a mini-album all by itself, especially the New York solo version.

 

I think that Blood on the Tracks is a more mature record and reflects Dylan's evolution. For example in Idiot Wind he starts out with seething and loathing for his ex and then over the course of the song the 'you' becomes 'we' and Dylan reconciles himself to their mutual destruction of their relationship. In You're A Big Girl Now, one of my all time favorite love songs, Dylan sings in such a heartfelt way about understanding the role he has played in the love he has lost.

I prefer Highway 61 because the snark and the wit and some of the word play makes me laugh. There's a younger, cheekier, sharper edge on display. Blood on the Tracks is a softer older, but also wiser album in some ways at least that's how they strike me.

I love them both. These and a number of his albums are what makes Bob a well that never runs dry. There is always a song, for every time of your life, that will speak to you just so.

 

Blonde On Blonde spells "Bob".

It could refer to a relationship between two fair-haired persons.

The sleeve is kinda blondish (bit of a stretch) so when you fold over the double LP jacket it is "blonde on blonde".

Any more?

Tim

 

Like the following two better:
DESIRE & STREET LEGAL

 

Personally I like Nashville Skyline the best because it's the only one I can stand his voice on.

 

1. Blonde on Blonde
2. Bringing It All Back Home
3. Highway 61 Revisited
4. Blood on the Tracks

This is the final, canonical sequence.

 

Blood On The Tracks falls into a slightly bland kind of sensitive singer-songwriter emoting. It's a great record by anyone else's standards but nothing like as powerful as Dylan's mid 60s work.

 

I appreciate your view on this, but this easily applies to all singer songwriters who produced amazing work in the 60's. You can't compare what Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul Simon recorded in 1965 with what they recorded in 1975. They were all different people by then, the Music Business and Recording Industry were different and they weren't driven by the same fire and passion that they possessed by younger selves.

Dylan was a different person then and this is reflected in the songs and their interpretations on Blood On The Tracks. I love his 60's output and this one allowed to see that he still had beautiful songs to offer 10 years later.

 

I love BOTT, but, am too indecissive to choose a "best" Dylan album... I hate to exclude so many other great albums. It does make me sad when I listen to it, so I have to be in a certain mood.

 

It's a great album, obviously, but his backing band is pretty ordinary. We really need a detailed Bootleg Series release.

 

I realize this is an old post, but I think what you say is true. Blood on the Tracks wasn't universally loved by me and my college pals at the time, but we listened to it a lot and the album definitely put him back on the map with people who were a bit too young for many of his earlier genius moves.

Regarding the OP's question, I don't think it's Dylan's best album. My personal favorite will always be John Wesley Harding, but Bringing it All Back Home, Hwy 61 Revisited, Blonde On Blonde, Basement Tapes, Infidels, World Gone Wrong, Time Out of Mind and several others rank above BotT in my universe. Which isn't to say I don't rate the album's accomplishments very highly. It just doesn't deliver everything I love about Bob Dylan... it doesn't get too many cool points, for one.

 

I love the album, but I don't consider it his best. Certainly his best work of the '70's and to me, easily his best between John Wesley Harding and Time Out Of Mind. I rate it somewhere like this...

1. Blonde On Blonde
2. Highway 61 Revisited
3. Bringing It All Back Home
4. Time Out Of Mind
5. Blood On The Tracks
6. "Love And Theft"
7. John Wesley Harding
8. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
9. Another Side Of Bob Dylan
10. Modern Times

I would certainly rate the recently released Basement Tapes - Complete, higher too...but that's not really a proper album is it?

 

Freewheelin and Bringing It All Back Home are my two favourites. Blood is his best post 60s era album.