Dylan’s “bad” albums: worth getting?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by beatlesfan9091, Jun 14, 2019.

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  1. I'm surprised that Self Portrait is not listed.
     
  2. beatlesfan9091

    beatlesfan9091 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Seattle
    The list was basically all of the non-live, non-archival Dylan albums I don’t own. I put “bad” (in quotations) in the title because my impression is that none of the albums I listed are typically found on “best Dylan albums” lists. I already have albums like Self Portrait and Christmas in the Heart so I didn’t list those.
     
  3. beatlesfan9091

    beatlesfan9091 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Seattle
    Continuing my goal of listening to these on Apple Music before buying a physical copy...

    Dylan - Wow. How does this have the reputation of being Dylan's worst album? This is great. No, it's nothing groundbreaking like Blood on the Tracks or the electric trilogy, but the songs are all great. This makes me want to revisit Self Portrait and see what I missed, seeing as I love this and Another Self Portrait. Hearing how happy Dylan was with his family in the late 60s makes Blood On The Tracks all the more heartbreaking, as well.
     
  4. warewolf95

    warewolf95 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greenville, SC
    Woah, OP, who ever said World Gone Wrong was one of his bad albums?! :bigeek:
     
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  5. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    Shot Of Love
    Empire Burlesque
    and
    World Gone Wrong...

    ...are by no means, "bad". In fact, they're quite good in their own right.

    I've even come to appreciate this over the years for what it is...

    [​IMG]

    Also, "Down In The Groove" contains one of Dylan's best 80's songs, "Silvio".
     
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  6. SoundDoctor

    SoundDoctor Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Do you "wiggle wiggle wiggle like a bowl of soup" every time you listen to it?:D
     
  7. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    [​IMG]

    This is a nice album (and Dylan's singing on it is heartfelt and wonderful)
    Yes, it's "Sinatra" covers, but Bob makes them his own. "Fallen Angels" is more of the same but the content is a bit more "upbeat".
    The 'definitive' Sinatra statement is the lovely and expansive "Triplicate", which I played a lot at night over a drink when it came out.
     
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  8. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    I actually laugh remembering when Bob played that song at Massey Hall in 1992; I couldn't believe it! (it rocked!):laugh:
     
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  9. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    My take:

    Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Yes
    Dylan (1973) No, unless you're hardcore
    Saved Yes
    Shot of Love Yes
    Empire Burlesque Ye-es, it has good songs but the production makes it less fun to listen to
    Knocked Out Loaded Not unless you're really hardcore, but get Brownsville Girl somehow in your head a few times
    Down in the Groove Probably not but Sylvio is great
    Under the Red Sky No
    World Gone Wrong Yes, who told you this is bad?!
    Shadows in the Night No
    Fallen Angels No
     
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  10. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    Yes!
    "Things Have Changed" is one of the great Dylan songs of the 2000's!
     
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  11. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    If you took the best tracks from "Under the Red Sky" and Bob's tracks from "The Traveling Wilburys Vol 3" and sequenced them properly (and unified the sound), you'd have a damn good album!
     
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  12. dylankicks

    dylankicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oshkosh, WI
    At the risk of repeating what others may have said, but I've heard them all many times.

    Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid -- underrated acoustic-based gem.
    Dylan (1973) -- love "Lily of the West," the rest is so-so.
    Saved -- all of these songs have more passion in live performance. Better to pick up the BS that focuses on this period.
    Shot of Love -- pretty solid as is but could have been killer with better song choices and a little more care.
    Empire Burlesque -- production sucks but there are some great songs here.
    Knocked Out Loaded -- one of his weakest, but does have "Brownsville Girl" and "Got My Mind Made Up."
    Down in the Groove -- Side 2 is pretty nice
    Under the Red Sky -- Like about half of it
    World Gone Wrong -- add me to the list of those who love it. Sounds great on vinyl!
    Shadows in the Night -- can be very enjoyable to the open-minded listener, especially late at night.
    Fallen Angels -- see the above
     
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  13. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Just finished listening to a few of these albums that I wasn't as familiar with. None of them are bad albums. It might not be your thing, but they are all good. Listening to Dylan 1973 now. How did this one escape me? I think it sounds great.
     
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  14. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    It's such a good start to the album. You're immediately set back on your heels because the lyrics seem ridiculous, but it's upbeat and driving, and Bob sounds like he's having fun.
     
  15. moonshiner

    moonshiner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
    Dylan (1973)
    Saved
    Shot of Love
    Empire Burlesque
    World Gone Wrong
    Shadows in the Night
     
  16. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    Dylan has no bad albums in my opinion.
     
  17. SonicBob

    SonicBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    Bumping this thread and just wanted to mention both Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove have been in rotation for the last few days and while I certainly understand the disdain and general lower-tier stance most fans have of these releases, I've done a revisit of both of these albums and obviously there are some true diamonds in the rough such as "Brownsville Girl" and "Silvio", other tunes do have a decent groove or feel to them such as "You Wanna Ramble", "Had a Dream About You, Baby", "Got My Mind Made Up" and "Let's Stick Together".

    So my question to some is, have you found yourself revisiting these albums and do you have a different view of them with the passing of time? Compared to what was in between these, to a lesser degree, Empire Burlesque, but specifically, Infidels and Oh Mercy, there is no doubt as to how these are poor efforts in comparison, but still, Dylan's scheme behind the multiple players and different styles of songs cut as well as the philosophy of seemingly throwing a tracklist together that might not always jive made for a head scratching moment for fans. Still, I find some merit in these albums even if they're not favorably looked upon...
     
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  18. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    The one album that leaves me completely baffled is Under the Red Sky. I don't know if it's bad, but I never got anything out of it...

    EDIT: I guess I posted further up the page, I forgot...also I don't remember what my post means, anyway
     
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  19. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    "Mary Ann" from Dylan is one of my favorite Dylan songs ever. I do not know why.
     
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  20. SonicBob

    SonicBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Virginia
    Ah, all good. I think Under the Red Sky is a bit underrated, but I do think it is roped in with the aforementioned mid-late 80's albums I just mentioned. I think the idea of "throwing stuff together" as if it were in a pot of stew or soup is an interesting concept but hit and miss is essentially hit and miss and these albums represent that, but I love rediscovering these titles to justify my original impressions on them. Some songs I give a little more slack to than others like "Ugliest Girl in the World" and "They Killed Him"(with this one the kid chorus feature is what baffles the most), but others like "Ninety Miles an Hour(Down a Dead End Street)" and "Driftin Too Far From Shore" are cutting room floor discards. I can't get over the drum sound(and arrangement/performance) captured from Anton Fig on "Shore", it's a complete disservice to his talents as a drummer and percussionist. I still don't understand why that was considered acceptable for release. But, I'm not Bob, so there ya go....
     
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  21. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    "They Killed Him" is one I've never been able to abide. I don't remember the drum sound except not liking it on any of those tracks! But a lot of that stuff is listenable on some level.

    It's not like UTRS strikes me as totally terrible, just confusingly hard to grasp...I'm not sure what's happening on it! It doesn't seem like anything intelligible...
     
  22. i learned a long time ago that even his bad albums have interesting moments, some more than others, all of which depends on your taste. I don't regret owning them, and enjoy pulling them out from time to time.

    and i think the gospel stuff is absolutely brilliant, but hey - i only discovered Dylan in about 1986.
     
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  23. bzfgt

    bzfgt The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler

    Yeah I love the gospel stuff, I think every one of those albums I like
     
  24. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    I appreciate all the albums on the list, except maybe Knocked Out Loaded. Easily his weirdest, most lazy album. But it does include "Brownsville Girl" which is worth hearing. I recently listened to the Saved CD after only owning it on LP and liked it a lot more than I remembered.
     
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  25. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    Every album has at least one song that makes it worth owning, and "Brownsville Girl" is why we have Knocked out Loaded.
     
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