So I've finished my year-long project listening chronologically to all of Dylan's 38 studio albums, and blogging about them (links below). Inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's ranking system for his own books, I've created a report card below.
Things I learned:
– I used to think Dylan's "born again" period in the late 70s / early 80s was his recording low, but in fact his late 80s work should get that prize – 1988's Down In The Groove is Dylan's worst album (excepting 1973's Dylan, over which he had no artistic control)
– Albums that went up in my estimation: New Morning, World Gone Wrong, Saved
– Dylan had a habit from the 70s onwards of leaving some of his best work off his studio albums, which has created a gold mine for record executives to exploit with an endless stream of bootlegs
– Dylan's creative output manifests itself in trilogies of albums, from the Cutting Edge trio of 1965-66 (Bringing It All Back Home, H61, BoB) to the Americana trilogy (JWH, Nashville Skyline, New Morning), Christian trilogy (Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot of Love), Great Late trilogy (Time Out of Mind, "Love and Theft" and Modern Times) and most recently the Sinatra trilogy
– No other songwriter has produced such consistently strong work over such an extensive period of time. Dylan rightly deserves his Nobel Prize in Literature
There are only 22 Dylan albums I'd recommend. Anything that ranks below a B minus in this list is for the Dylan tragics.
A+
Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
Blood On The Tracks (1975)
John Wesley Harding (1967)
Blonde on Blonde (1966)
A
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
Time Out of Mind (1997)
Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
The Basement Tapes (1975)
A-
Modern Times (2006)
"Love and Theft" (2001)
Desire (1976)
B+
The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)
New Morning (1970)
Bob Dylan (1962)
B
Oh Mercy (1989)
Tempest (2012)
Nashville Skyline (1969)
World Gone Wrong (1993)
B-
Saved (1980)
Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
Street-Legal (1978)
Planet Waves (1974)
C+
Together Through Life (2008)
Self Portrait (1970)
Under The Red Sky (1990)
Good As I Been To You (1992)
Infidels (1983)
C
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)
Christmas In The Heart (2009)
Slow Train Coming (1979)
Fallen Angels (2016)
C-
Empire Burlesque (1985)
Shadows In The Night (2015)
Triplicate (2017)
D+
Shot of Love (1981)
D
Knocked Out Loaded (1986)
D-
Down In The Groove (1988)
E+
Dylan (1973)
Things I learned:
– I used to think Dylan's "born again" period in the late 70s / early 80s was his recording low, but in fact his late 80s work should get that prize – 1988's Down In The Groove is Dylan's worst album (excepting 1973's Dylan, over which he had no artistic control)
– Albums that went up in my estimation: New Morning, World Gone Wrong, Saved
– Dylan had a habit from the 70s onwards of leaving some of his best work off his studio albums, which has created a gold mine for record executives to exploit with an endless stream of bootlegs
– Dylan's creative output manifests itself in trilogies of albums, from the Cutting Edge trio of 1965-66 (Bringing It All Back Home, H61, BoB) to the Americana trilogy (JWH, Nashville Skyline, New Morning), Christian trilogy (Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot of Love), Great Late trilogy (Time Out of Mind, "Love and Theft" and Modern Times) and most recently the Sinatra trilogy
– No other songwriter has produced such consistently strong work over such an extensive period of time. Dylan rightly deserves his Nobel Prize in Literature
There are only 22 Dylan albums I'd recommend. Anything that ranks below a B minus in this list is for the Dylan tragics.
A+
Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
Blood On The Tracks (1975)
John Wesley Harding (1967)
Blonde on Blonde (1966)
A
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
Time Out of Mind (1997)
Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
The Basement Tapes (1975)
A-
Modern Times (2006)
"Love and Theft" (2001)
Desire (1976)
B+
The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)
New Morning (1970)
Bob Dylan (1962)
B
Oh Mercy (1989)
Tempest (2012)
Nashville Skyline (1969)
World Gone Wrong (1993)
B-
Saved (1980)
Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
Street-Legal (1978)
Planet Waves (1974)
C+
Together Through Life (2008)
Self Portrait (1970)
Under The Red Sky (1990)
Good As I Been To You (1992)
Infidels (1983)
C
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)
Christmas In The Heart (2009)
Slow Train Coming (1979)
Fallen Angels (2016)
C-
Empire Burlesque (1985)
Shadows In The Night (2015)
Triplicate (2017)
D+
Shot of Love (1981)
D
Knocked Out Loaded (1986)
D-
Down In The Groove (1988)
E+
Dylan (1973)
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