I Never Thought I Would Become A Bob Dylan Fan.

I really dig the Pure Dylan compilation. Great mix of older songs and new ones. Side one is phenomenal! Trouble In Mind. Wow!

 

That one is next on my list. Reappreciating Dylan with a vengeance.

 

I left one essential album off that list
Time Out Of Mind

 

Is there a similar set that reappraises his mid 80’s output?

 

Very fine list... However, you have left off some must haves.

Time Out Of Mind
Oh Mercy
Another Self Portrait
Love And Theft
I could easily go on...

 

I did add Time Out Of Mind ... I really like those others, they're great albums, but not necessarily essential, for me at least

 

Hard Rain is essential for me. Bootleg series 5 is great and all, but Hard Rain has IMO the definitive Idiot Wind, one of my favorite of his compositions.

 

It's fantastic. I guess most folks I know find it too raw, so I didn't include it ... That Rawness and Ronson make it pretty great though

 

You may think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for - it’s your Nobel Prize for writing Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat.

 

Well... Congratulations to you.
That is half the secret right there.. can't really imagine those who don't have the opportunity to hear the genius of Bob Dylan.
Always a fan since hearing ''LARS'' on the radio, among The Beatles, et al.
Those small transistor radios in the mid 60's growing up were magical.

A huge Beatles fanatic, I was aware of Dylan and liked him a lot.
But the super connection came on very strong years later in the late 80's.
Dylan is right there with The Beatles and King Crimson, my top three.
I have seen an unknown number of his shows, probably 65 realistically.
I love his voice, and writing ability, he just has a sound that comes from somewhere else.. I've since become a serious collector of his rare records- acetates, test pressings, promos, and personal owned and used discs.
The fact that we live in a time when he tours actively is amazing, I sat directly in front of him 10 feet away the last tour.. absolutely devastating!

Oh yeah, don't forget ''World Gone Wrong'' and ''New Morning''.

 

Can't beat 'Shelter From the Storm' on Hard Rain.
'Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it MINE!!!'

 

I like that one, though in that case I prefer the softer approach as in Blood on the Tracks. I didn't like the electric version much at all at first, but it definitely grew on me (humming the electric guitar riff in my head as I type this...)

I don't use the 'hide under the chair' thingy, but I also like the 'reggae' version from Budokan (and Don't Think Twice, while I'm at it.) I love the way he revisits his catalog and isn't afraid to drastically switch it up.

It reminds me of this interview, Garcia is talking about when he sat in with Dylan in 1980:

David Gans: He didn’t do any of your old favorites?

Jerry Garcia: One or two, but not many of them, and his versions are so different from my versions of his tunes –

David Gans: That pissed me off about him.

Jerry Garcia: What do you mean?

David Gans: I walked out on his show one night. It seemed like he’d just randomly rearranged his tunes–

Jerry Garcia: He’s got a perfect right to do that, don’t you think?

David Gans: Yeah! But I’ve got a perfect right to get pissed and leave, don’t I?

Jerry Garcia: Yeah, I suppose you do, if you’re gonna be that way about it.

 

I've never been a big Dylan fan (and I'm barely even a moderate fan), though I've always liked Oh Mercy (and "Series of Dreams", which really should have been on the album). But I never really 'got' how and why Dylan was really great until I briefly owned the very first Bootleg Series Vol 1-3 box back when it first came out -- a promo I got for free at the radio station I worked at in on-air while I was in college and shortly after (a commercial adult-contemporary/top-40 hybrid station, in a TINY market town of barely 30,000 people).

I don't think I kept the Bootleg Box 1-3 set for more than a couple years, because it clearly wasn't something I was really 'into'. But I sure as hell got why and how Dylan was so important and clearly amazing back in the day. His creative use of form (and violating form), and his elasticity in delivery, but with such sincerity, seemed to rival all the best quality I like (and liked) best about my beloved Jimi Hendrix (who I think is an incredibly underrated vocalist).

Dylan's greatest talent seems to be as a lyricist (which I hold pretty secondary in all music, to the actual music/composition/arrangement/soloing components). But if I was more into the 'words' of music, I probably would be more into Dylan.

That Bootleg Box 1-3 isn't something I really want to go back out and buy again (I've got twice as many CD's as I really have room for as it is) -- but it is something I'd probably enjoy listening to maybe once every 3-4 years.

 

Although I started collecting only a few years after Bob Dylan came on to the music scene and am therefore quite familiar with his more popular output, he never really captured my attention beyond that. At that time I was heavily into the British Invasion bands and Soul/R&B. Then around 2005 Bob was playing at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and I decided to get tickets. I did so because he was(is) a legend and that this would perhaps be the last opportunity for me to see him. While the concert as a whole didn't excite me all that much, I did hear some stuff I enjoyed, so I was glad I went. Shortly after that I asked a good friend with a major love for Bob's work to select some albums for me to explore. He recommended several and loaned me some. I bought Blood On The Tracks, Highway 61 Revisited , John Wesley Harding, MTV Unplugged plus his Greatest Hits right after that. I've since bought Shadows In The Night. I know I'm missing some essentials, but I'll get around to that.

So, am I now a big Bob Dylan fan? Not really, but I do enjoy some of his music almost 45 years later.

 

WE HAD KNOWN A LION, GUITARS KISSING AND THE CONTEMPORARY FIX, and BOB DYLAN IN CONCERT (1963 in New York) won me over many years ago.

 

I am a much bigger Dylan fan now than I was when I was younger. I really appreciate his first album, and listen to that the most, followed by BOTT and BOB. I like Jokerman from Infidels and some of the other 80s stuff, and every once in a while I stumble across something I've never heard before that grabs me.

 

BS Vol 8: TTS adds to and well sums up a solid, well-regarded period in Bob's career. The period it covers is not one that has been thought to need a "reappraisal" the way the Self Portrait era (see BS Vol 10), the Gospel Years (see BS Vol 13), or the period in between the last of "gospel Bob" (Shot of Love) and Oh Mercy did or still do. This being said, the closest thing we have for pre-Oh Mercy, 80s-era outtakes, alternate takes, and such is disc three of the first Bootleg Series release (Vols 1-3).

 

I started with Biograph....a great overview of his career up until the 80's...great songs and hits from every era.

 

This is a good start

 

I'm not really a big fan, but I absolutely love Another Side, The Times They Are A-Changin', Bringing It All Back Home, John Wesley Harding and Desire. Will check out more of his stuff!

I had the same experience as the OP with Kate Bush. I hated Running Up That Hill since I was a little child, never bothering to check her out. Then, I heard that track again at age 17, bought Hounds of Love and that was it - loved Kate's work ever since.

 

When I was younger I just didn't get what was so special about Bob's music . It just didn't resonate with me .
Some 40 odd years later after listening to a friends copy of Time Out Of Mind , it all changed. Now I'm caught , hook line and sinker.

 

If I remember correctly I discovered Uncle Bob on the release of Desire. Still my fav album of his. Wasnt that fussed on him before Desire but it took off for me after this release. So basically I thought he was crap and then completely changed my mind.

 

I’ve tried to enjoy his music but he has an irritating nasally voice. I can’t get past that.

 

I always thought Bob Dylan sounded disingenuous, like he was playing a part. It felt like listening to someone putting on a character and telling a story. And then I came to enjoy those stories.

 

A love song