The Official Bob Dylan Thread

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I searched through the forum to see if this was created, and I came up with nothing. I've seen several comments about Dylan throughout in different threads, but I think the man deserves his own.

I thought us Dylan fans can converse and talk about why he is the best musician ever.

[Jeshopk 8]

I thought us Dylan fans can converse and talk about why he is the best musician ever.

I believe that honour is already taken by the esteemed Tom Petty

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,674]

This is a joke right?

[Carnifex 5]

Only piece of information we need to know is that he almost ruined the Gods & Generals soundtrack with his nasal approach.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I think Gods & Generals was ruined the second it finished production.

[Joni Wiljami 1,215]

Sorry , I'm very young and don't know very much Polka music. Is this Dylen very famous?

[Koray Savas 2,255]

Polka music?

Bob Dylan is well-known in the older generation, but there are some of the younger generation who listen to his music.

Have you heard of Rolling Stone Magazine? Well that was named after the Dylan song Like A Rolling Stone, which they consider to be the best song ever written, as do I.

[artyjeffrey 20]

My wife has always been an extreme Bob Dylan fan (taking me to two concerts over the years, each time under the pretense that this one just might be his last tour), but for me the only Dylan album I ever appreciated was Blood on The Tracks.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

That seems to be a favorite of a lot of people.

[QMM 4]

On the front page alone koraysavas90 has started 10 threads

I don't know what I should think

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Polka music?

Bob Dylan is well-known in the older generation, but there are some of the younger generation who listen to his music.

Have you heard of Rolling Stone Magazine? Well that was named after the Dylan song Like A Rolling Stone, which they consider to be the best song ever written, as do I.

I always mix up the band and the mag...

[Romão 2,362]

Not a fan, sorry. Good lyrics though.

[SomeNewGuy 0]

Dylan is horribly overrated and Rubin Carter was guilty.

[pixie_twinkle 60]

Dylan is horribly overrated

That is impossible. The man is a God. Listen to Blonde on Blonde. Then listen to John Wesley Harding. THEN listen to Time Out Of Mind. THEN you might change your mind about him being overrated.

Or Blood On the Tracks.

Or Desire...

Or The Basement Tapes......

Or Highway 61 Revisited...........

[Koray Savas 2,255]

Dylan is horribly overrated.

How is he overrated if he's considered the best musician ever, if he's had 3 movies made about him, and if he's made hundreds of songs that people love?

On the front page alone koraysavas90 has started 10 threads

I don't know what I should think

There's actually 9 threads

What can I say? I love to discuss music and film.

[pixie_twinkle 60]

Dylan is horribly overrated.

How is he overrated if he's considered the best musician ever, if he's had 3 movies made about him,

That's precisely why SomeNewGuy thinks he's overrated.

He's wrong though.

[Taikomochi 1,319]

<I think this is the right forum>

So, I wanted to create a mix CD for my mom as a present, and, here being somewhat of a folk fan, and Bob Dylan being the only artist she likes I approve of, I wanted to put Bob Dylan on the CD. The problem is, I don't listen to Bob Dylan, so I wouldn't know what his best songs are. Now, I assume someone is going to attack me saying that only I or my mom can truly know the best songs for the CD. I don't care! I would like suggestions, please.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

So many choices...

Like a Rolling Stone

Hurricane

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Thats a start for you.

An album discussion would be a lot more interesting.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

O.K. I'm the perfect guy for this. Let me create a playlist and I'll post it here later.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Koray I didnt know you were a huge Dylan fan.

I don't think any artist will ever match his output.

[Taikomochi 1,319]

O.K. I'm the perfect guy for this. Let me create a playlist and I'll post it here later.

I figured. You're the reason I assumed there was a strong enough Bob Dylan fanbase here.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I just kinda went through all of the songs I have of his and dragged some of the ones I really like into a playlist. I tried to vary it a bit so it can span his whole career.

Here's what I came up with:

I Want You

Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again

Obviously 5 Believers

Tangled Up In Blue

Meet Me In The Morning

In My Time Of Dyin'

House Of The Risin' Sun

Mr. Tambourine Man

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Hurricane

Isis

Blowin' In The Wind

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Like A Rolling Stone

Tombstone Blues

Ballad Of A Thin Man

Highway 61 Revisited

I'm Not There

All Along The Watchtower

Brownsville Girl

Saved

Changing Of The Guards

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

Thunder On The Mountain

The Man In Me

Political World

Wigwam

Love Sick

Not Dark Yet

The Times They Are-A Changin'

World Gone Wrong

[Bryant Burnette 716]

Man, oh man . . .

Dylan has one thing in common with JW, and that's this: being like unto a God, and having quite a long discography that is mostly outstanding.

I don't know how casual a Dylan fan your mom is, but she might not have heard some of these songs, as they were never on any of his original albums; they might make excellent presents:

These are all to be found on the box set The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3 (which is not actually a bootleg), and they are all from the pre-electric phase of Dylan's career (which, if your mom is a folk fan, might be the kind of stuff she's into):

House Carpenter

Let Me Die In My Footsteps

Mama, You Been on My Mind

Paths of Victory

Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues

Walls of Red Wing

I don't know off the top of my head how easy these are to find for download; probably not all that tough, though, would be my guess.

By the way, I encourage any and all to develop a healthy obsession with Bob Dylan; no harm can come of it. Unless you die from the awesomeness. There are no reports of this, but be on your guard, just in case.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

Dylan has one thing in common with JW, and that's this: being like unto a God, and having quite a long discography that is mostly outstanding.

A huge Dylan and JW fan, my friend I welcome you to the boards.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

Dylan has one thing in common with JW, and that's this: being like unto a God, and having quite a long discography that is mostly outstanding.

A huge Dylan and JW fan, my friend I welcome you to the boards.

Good to have company!

[Koray Savas 2,255]

Don't forget me

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I remember this thread

Here are the Dylan albums I own:

Bob Dylan

Live At The Gaslight 1962

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

The Times They Are-A Changin'

Highway 61 Revisited

Blonde On Blonde

Greatest Hits Vol. 1

John Wesley Harding

Nashville Skyline

Self Portrait

New Morning

Greatest Hits Vol. 2

Planet Waves

Blood On The Tracks

The Basement Tapes

Desire

Street Legal

Saved

Infidels

Down In The Groove

Oh Mercy

The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3

World Gone Wrong

Greatest Hits Vol. 3

Wonder Boys

Love And Theft

The Bootleg Series Vol. 5

Masked & Anonymous

The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 (No Direction Home: The Soundtrack)

Modern Times

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I thought us Dylan fans can converse and talk about why he is the best musician ever.

The more I listen to him the more I realize how true this statement is. How many albums does he have anyway?

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I thought us Dylan fans can converse and talk about why he is the best musician ever.

The more I listen to him the more I realize how true this statement is. How many albums does he have anyway?

His official site has 52 listed. But there are definitely more. Live At The Gaslight 1962 is not listed there, I think that might have been a Starbucks Exclusive release. That's where I got the CD. The release Dylan is also not listed there, and I don't think it's commercially available in the U.S., but it surfaced on iTunes in their Bob Dylan: The Collection release. I know it's mostly cover songs and outtakes and that Columbia Records released it shortly after he left them for Asylum Records in the 70's. It was seen as a revenge move.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

Dylan is a genius, and that is all there is to it. But let's talk about it anyways!

He's the sort of singer who's hard for a lot of people to take because of his voice. However, if you settle in to actually listen his music (as opposed to merely hearing it), I think it's an inescapable conclusion that his voice fits his songs perfectly. You notice that most of the covers of his songs have to come at the music in a totally different manner. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. And of course, with a guy who's been as prolific as Dylan has been, not every single song is going to be good. But the vast majority of them are; and an impressive number of them are great, all-time classics.

Whether he's the greatest musician of all time is certainly debatable, but he's a great musician one way or the other.

And Gods and Generals was a terrible movie. Dylan's song for it was actually quite good, though I can't remember its title off the top of my head.

I saw him live once. I was sorta dreading it, becuase I'd heard that Dylan live was hit or miss, but he rocked. I mean, he tore the place up.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I too saw him live only once. It was at The Norva in Norfolk, Virginia four years ago. It was an amazing performance, I don't know where you heard that he is either a hit or miss, but he definitely was a hit in '04. I stood in line for around 5 hours I think, and got to stand in the front row.

Here are the songs that he played:

Cold Irons Bound

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Lonesome Day Blues

This Wheel's On Fire

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

Ring Them Bells

Highway 61 Revisited

Masters Of War

Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine

Under The Red Sky

Honest With Me

It Ain't Me Babe

Summer Days

Like A Rolling Stone

All Along The Watchtower

Before the concert started, we were all just waiting around. I got a glimpse of an Oscar up on stage near his keyboard. I wasn't sure whether it was his real one he got for Things Have Changed, I recall it not holding a sword but rather a reef, so I think it was fake.

I tried catching him after the show. We found a limo waiting about a block away, and we asked the driver if it was his, but he told us it was a decoy and he escaped out back in an SUV.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

I think that "hit or miss" thing was an urban legend, in all honesty. Just something I'd heard, so I was fearing the worst; it made for a pleasant surprise, if nothing else.

Thanks to this most excellent website:

http://www.bjorner.com/Still.htm

I was able to track down the srtlist from when I saw him.

1. Hey, Good Lookin' (Hank Williams)

2. Subterranean Homesick Blues

3. My Back Pages

4. Joey

5. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

6. Ballad Of A Thin Man

7. You're A Big Girl Now

8. She Belongs To Me

9. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

10. Mr. Tambourine Man

11. Two Soldiers (trad.)

12. T.V. Talkin' Song

13. Positively 4th Street

14. Wiggle Wiggle

15. Under The Red Sky

16. All Along The Watchtower

17. In The Garden

18. Like A Rolling Stone

19. Blowin' In The Wind

20. Maggie's Farm

I didn't know his songs even vaguely as well then as I do now, but I still had a blast. Sounds like you saw a good one, too; I'd have been especially thrilled to hear "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine," which is one of my (many) faves. Not to mention "This Wheel's on Fire" and "It Ain't Me Babe"!

Good thread. Maybe we should start a Nick Cave one, too...

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I think I would've enjoyed your concert more! That seemed like an amazing one, Ballad Of A Thin Man is one of my favorites. Back when I saw it I was also just starting to get into his music, I wish I knew more about him like I do now, I probably would have enjoyed it much more.

I think I missed 1 song from my concert. You can find pretty much anything about him on his official site:

http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/live/sprg04setlist.html

Here is the full list of what he sang:

1. Cold Irons Bound

2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

3. Lonesome Day Blues

4. This Wheel's On Fire

5. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

6. Ring Them Bells

7. Highway 61 Revisited

8. Masters of War

9. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine

10. Under the Red Sky

11. I Believe In You

12. Honest With Me

13. It Ain't Me Babe

14. Summer Days

(encore)

15. Cat's In the Well

16. Like a Rolling Stone

17. All Along the Watchtower

As for Nick Cave, I'm not too familiar with his work as a rock artist, but I love his scores to The Proposition and The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I've had Ballad Of A Thin Man stuck in my head all day.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

Amazing song.

Highway 61 Revisited is my favorite album...ever.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I listened to that album twice at work today. The second time my coworker said, "Can we get something upbeat going."

[Bryant Burnette 716]

I listened to that album twice at work today. The second time my coworker said, "Can we get something upbeat going."

To which I'd have said, "Nope, suck it, co-worker." And then played "Desolation Row" three times consecutively.

I guess my personal favorite Dylan album is "Desire," but really, there are quite a few that are just the cream of the crop album-wise. Hard for me to pick amongst them.

I think I would've enjoyed your concert more! That seemed like an amazing one, Ballad Of A Thin Man is one of my favorites. Back when I saw it I was also just starting to get into his music, I wish I knew more about him like I do now, I probably would have enjoyed it much more.

I think I missed 1 song from my concert. You can find pretty much anything about him on his official site:

http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/live/sprg04setlist.html

Here is the full list of what he sang:

1. Cold Irons Bound

2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

3. Lonesome Day Blues

4. This Wheel's On Fire

5. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

6. Ring Them Bells

7. Highway 61 Revisited

8. Masters of War

9. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine

10. Under the Red Sky

11. I Believe In You

12. Honest With Me

13. It Ain't Me Babe

14. Summer Days

(encore)

15. Cat's In the Well

16. Like a Rolling Stone

17. All Along the Watchtower

As for Nick Cave, I'm not too familiar with his work as a rock artist, but I love his scores to The Proposition and The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

Cave is quite the musical stud. Some of his recent work is a bit on the uneven side (I'm excepting his most most recent, which I've not heard yet), but he's pretty great. He's got an entire album of songs about (and many of the songs from the perspective of) serial killers and other types of murderers. That album is called, naturally enough, Murder Ballads. His next album veered close to being gospel at several points, though with Cave the gospel is always a troubled, dark gospel.

Dylan, Cave, and Leonard Cohen form a sort of Holy Trinity of Awesome Music.

More on this later.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I listened to that album twice at work today. The second time my coworker said, "Can we get something upbeat going."

To which I'd have said, "Nope, suck it, co-worker." And then played "Desolation Row" three times consecutively.

Haha, I'll do that tomorrow.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

I guess my personal favorite Dylan album is "Desire," but really, there are quite a few that are just the cream of the crop album-wise. Hard for me to pick amongst them.

I don't really have a formal list, but my really really favorites are:

Highway 61 Revisited

Blood On The Tracks

Desire

Blonde On Blonde

I guess The Times They Are-A Changin' and Time Out Of Mind are up after those 4, other than those I mostly just like individual songs.

Series Of Dreams and The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar are amazing songs, but I have no idea which albums they originate from. The Greatest Hits Vol. 3 is one helluva great compilation.

I want to own all of his albums eventually, I'm actually not that far off, so hopefully it'll be accomplished soon.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

"The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" is from Shot of Love, and "Series of Dreams" is a song recorded for, but left off of, Oh Mercy. Those are both great songs. Recently, "Series of Dreams" was used very memorably in the final episode of John From Cincinnati (which was liked by approximately two people other than myself).

What do you think of Dylan's "gospel" period? It gets overlooked a lot, but I think he wrote some awesome songs during those years. A few lousy ones, too, but Dylan has always been at his best when he was passionate, and he was certainly passionate during those four or five albums. "Slow Train" and "Gotta Serve Somebody" are classics, and "What Can I Do For You" and "Covenant Woman" are among his better love songs.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

"Saved" and "Solid Rock" are also very good.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

Thanks to this most excellent website:

http://www.bjorner.com/Still.htm

I was able to track down the srtlist from when I saw him.

1. Hey, Good Lookin' (Hank Williams)

2. Subterranean Homesick Blues

3. My Back Pages

4. Joey

5. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

6. Ballad Of A Thin Man

7. You're A Big Girl Now

8. She Belongs To Me

9. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

10. Mr. Tambourine Man

11. Two Soldiers (trad.)

12. T.V. Talkin' Song

13. Positively 4th Street

14. Wiggle Wiggle

15. Under The Red Sky

16. All Along The Watchtower

17. In The Garden

18. Like A Rolling Stone

19. Blowin' In The Wind

20. Maggie's Farm

I was getting ready to write a post about Dylan for this thread, and got to thinking about this post . . . and I realized that I could not possibly have been at this concert, which was in 1990. I wasn't a Dylan fan until '93!

Instead, I saw him in '97, and even found a page of reviews:

http://expectingrain.com/dok/set/97/10/971031a.html

They are mostly VERY uncomplimentary. I don't remember the show well, but I do remember that I (and a friend I went with) thought that he rocked.

All right, let's talk about how we became Bob Dylan fans. It's always interesting (to me, at least) to find out where and how such things happen.

For me, it was thanks to a movie: Dazed and Confused, which apart from being a great movie just in general, features a terrific use of the song "Hurricane." I'd never heard it, and was blown away. Talking to a co-worker about it, he told me that if I liked that song, I'd probably like the whole album it was on. So on a break between classes one day, I walked down to a music store right off campus and bought Desire.

Now, obviously, I'd heard of Bob Dylan. I'd never had any interest in him, though, none whatsoever. In fact, I'd avoided him; I just could not stand the guy's voice.

And I did not immediately jump into his whole catalog. I bought a few of the biggies -- Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde and Freewheelin' and the various greatest hits compilations -- but that was the extent of my Dylan collecting for a while. I did buy Time Out of Mind when it came out, and began considering getting some of the albums I didn't have; hearing "The Man in Me" in The Big Lebowski furthered that desire.

But for some reason, I never followed through on it. However, when he released Love and Theft and it got such terrific reviews, I got on Amazon and bought that one and the entire rest of the Dylan catalog in one fell, expensive, swoop. That was one of my happiest purchasing moments: getting that huge box of awesomeness in the mail, and gleefully not even knowing where to start listening, was a fine kid-at-Christmas moment. (Love and Theft, incidentally, was released on 9/11, so like us all, I needed something to cheer me up; that big box of Dylan fit the bill pretty well, when I got it the next week.)

[Koray Savas 2,255]

Great story, Bryant.

For me, it started with that concert in 2004. My brother was a starting Dylan fan, and him and his friend were going down to Norfolk for the live performance. I tagged along since my Dad couldn't go, and that pretty much sucked me into his music.

Like you, The Big Lebowski helped me get interested, as well as the use of Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum in Bandits.

My brother had bought a box set of all his greatest hits work, and I listened to those a lot and became a fan. In addition to those 3 Volumes of Hits, he also got a box set that included Time Out Of Mind, Love & Theft, and Oh Mercy.

Those 6 albums really got me into his work. We both buy an album every now and then to expand the collection. I can imagine the happiness of receiving that box of everything by him. I would be sprawled out on the floor rolling in all the CD's

[Bryant Burnette 716]

Great story, Bryant.

For me, it started with that concert in 2004. My brother was a starting Dylan fan, and him and his friend were going down to Norfolk for the live performance. I tagged along since my Dad couldn't go, and that pretty much sucked me into his music.

Like you, The Big Lebowski helped me get interested, as well as the use of Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum in Bandits.

My brother had bought a box set of all his greatest hits work, and I listened to those a lot and became a fan. In addition to those 3 Volumes of Hits, he also got a box set that included Time Out Of Mind, Love & Theft, and Oh Mercy.

Those 6 albums really got me into his work. We both buy an album every now and then to expand the collection. I can imagine the happiness of receiving that box of everything by him. I would be sprawled out on the floor rolling in all the CD's

A few points of interest:

First of all, if I'm not mistaken, "The Man in Me" was one of Dylan's most obscure songs prior to its appearance in The Big Lebowski. And yet I'm guessing that for a lot of people, it's one of the ones that leaps immediately to mind. It's interesting how the great use of a song in a movie can give it a second life (or in this case, possibly, a first life). Quite a few of my favorite musicians have become my favorite musicians through the use of their songs in movies: Dylan ("Hurricane" in Dazed and Confused, as previously mentioned); Nick Cave ("Red Right Hand" in an episode of The X-Files; Moby ("God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" in Heat; Leonard Cohen ("Waiting for the Miracle" in Natural Born Killers); Patti Smith ("Dancing Barefoot" and "Land" in episodes of Millennium. About the only people left on my list of favorite pop musicians are Bruce Springsteen and U2, who won me over without any help from the movies. Oh, and Tori Amos, I guess; you can blame that one on a ladyfriend.

Back to Dylan. It's cool to me that you seem to have found him as much through some of his newer music as you did through the classics. I think that's to your credit, for sure. That box set of Oh Mercy, Time Out of Mind, and "Love and Theft" (the quotation marks are part of the title, apparently) contains some music that's really just about as good as the best of his '60s stuff, but so many people find it impossible to listen to because of the nasalness of Bob's voice. But it works so well for the music; every time I hear "What Was It You Wanted," it occurs to me that there aren't more than two or three singers alive who could even hope to sing that song with the emotion Dylan puts into it. Cohen's bass rumble would be up to it, and Tom Waits could turn it into something different, scarier, but maybe close to being as effective. But hand it to a regular old singer . . . give it to one of the jokers from American Idol, for instance, and watch the song crumple due to misinterpretation. Dylan's actual performance skills frequently get belittled, especially as he gets older, but eventually people are going to start realizing that his songwriting skills are so vast that he simply writes the songs to suit his voice. And once he manages that, they're his, forever. (The only time I think a cover has actively improved on Dylan's original is the Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower," which is just ferociously awesome.)

And I should mention that there is a sort of a sad end to the story of me receiving the huge box of Dylan CDs. A few years ago, I developed -- thanks to the same ladyfriend mentioned above, and thanks also to my own irresponsbility -- some serious financial problems. In order to help alleviate them, I sold off vast chunks of my CD collection. All the Bob went out the door; all the Bruce and Leonard, all the Nick and U2 too; no more Patti or Tori. I forgot to mention The Beatles and Miles Davis earlier, but they went down the river, as well, in addition to hundreds more by people I cared about a bit less vehemently. I haven't yet gotten close to rebuilding that collection, which was pretty frickin' sweet and may never get built back up any way but digitally, although I've at least gotten a start on a few of them.

The one that didn't get sacrificed was John Williams. I've never sold a single one of his CDs, and I never will. Not that I necessarily love his music more than Dylan or U2 or Nick Cave; I don't, but I'd put them all at roughly equal. I just figured that whereas Bob Dylan and U2 were never ever going out of print and could always be reacquired, it's probably be a lot less easy with John Williams.

That was a good decision.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

However, when he released Love and Theft and it got such terrific reviews, I got on Amazon and bought that one and the entire rest of the Dylan catalog in one fell, expensive, swoop. That was one of my happiest purchasing moments: getting that huge box of awesomeness in the mail, and gleefully not even knowing where to start listening, was a fine kid-at-Christmas moment.

Oh how I would love to do that.

[Koray Savas 2,255]

Yeah, I especially love Love Sick (no pun intended). Although, I don't know the difference between the Remix and the original. I'm pretty sure the original is on Time Out Of Mind, but the Remix on his Victoria's Secret CD sounds exactly the same.

[Vaderbait1 1]

I never liked Dylan. Nasally, non-rhythmic singing applied to temp tracks he randomly pulls out of a box with no consideration to how the lyrics and music fit together.

I do a pretty awesome impersonation of how terrible Dylan sounds.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

I never liked Dylan. Nasally, non-rhythmic singing applied to temp tracks he randomly pulls out of a box with no consideration to how the lyrics and music fit together.

I do a pretty awesome impersonation of how terrible Dylan sounds.

Good for you, richard.

[Red 75]

I see what you did there.

[Bryant Burnette 716]

I see what you did there.

Heh.

A lot of people don't like Dylan, though; I understand. Me, if I don't like something, I just stay out of threads devoted to it.