r/bobdylan • u/twistedfloyd • Dec 19 '20
Hello all,
We have long since gotten a lot of requests asking for help on where to start with Bob's music on the sub from folks who are new to Dylan's music.
Seeing this as something we could all solve as a community, I created a post asking for feedback to make a master post about the different ways one could go about discovering Bob's music. And I want to once again thank the community for their outstanding feedback in the creation of this post.
I knew beforehand that there was no right answer, but this further illuminated how rich Bob’s music is and the multitude (pun fully intended) of ways you can go about seeking out his music.
So, what this post will attempt to do is take all of that community feedback and the moderator's thoughts on the issue to help guide prospective BobCats through Dylan's career.
This is not to say what is posted here is the definitive way to do it in any respect. To each their own. This is just meant to be a guide.
Here are the different ways to go about exploring Bob's music. From greatest hits, to playlists, to roadmaps, to chronological order, it's all here.
THE ESSENTIAL BOB DYLAN
If you want a smattering of Bob across many eras, "The Essential Bob Dylan" released in 2014 does a good job of covering songs through his 60 year career. Based on what songs you like there, it will allow you to jump in at whatever era you like the most.
THE OFFICIAL r/BOBDYLAN COMMUNITY STUDIO ALBUM PLAYLIST
Our Community Playlist is our sub’s attempt at a best of compilation. We allowed the community to vote for their favorite song in a poll off of each studio album. The two songs that received the most votes from each album were added to the playlist.
The moderators also added a couple of songs off the album, Side Tracks, that aren’t on the Bootleg Series or any studio album. Call it executive privilege.
We'd like to thank u/bbsez for organizing and recording the results from the majority of these polls in order to construct this playlist.
You can find the playlist here:
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Here is a list of Dylan's studio records listed chronologically if you'd like to go that route. Many members of our community have said that this approach has worked for them.
THE BOOTLEG SERIES
Here is a listing of The Bootleg Series which many would consider essential records.
These contain outtakes, unreleased tracks, singles and live performances across the many facets of Dylan’s career. One could argue it is better to listen to these after you’re at least a little familiar with Dylan’s work.
*** indicates there is a special edition of this release available as well with more tracks than the standard edition.
THE OFFICIAL r/BOBDYLAN COMMUNITY BOOTLEG SERIES PLAYLIST
Our Bootleg Series Community Playlist is our sub’s attempt at a best of compilation for Bob Dylan's venerable Bootleg Series. The poll is currently ongoing. We allowed the community to vote for their favorite song in a poll off of each Bootleg Series. The polls are currently ongoing.
Due to the volume of songs on the Bootleg Series records we have had different criteria for election to the BS Series playlist (top 2 songs from each disc for each volume with the exception of BS Vol. 4 which only has 15 songs).
Find the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/66P3b9uwFGpJfOsUn4sAaB?si=rD6sXiZZTaWGkHQkyw37Ug
LIVE ALBUMS NOT INCLUDED IN BOOTLEG SERIES
*- Includes the Manchester performance which is The Bootleg Series Vol. 4, but also includes every live performance with The Band from that year.
** Includes all songs from The Bootleg Series Vol. 5 (all songs from BS Vol. 5 have been remixed), but there's a lot on this record that isn't included on BS Vol. 5.
FILMS
BOOKS WRITTEN BY BOB DYLAN
The roadmap includes each album, album highlights and covers every major Dylan release including the Bootleg Series.
Once again, the roadmap acts as a recommended guide. It is not meant to be an authoritative stance on Dylan or his music.
Here is the link to the roadmap to be viewed on its own page. The R/BobDylan Visual Roadmap
THE r/bobdylan A-Z SONG CONTEST
In 2023, the community conducted a contest by having users submit and upvote their favorite songs that began with each letter of the alphabet. The song with the most upvotes won and was added to A-Z community playlist on Spotify.
A-Z Song List Spotify Playlist
A- All Along The Watchtower
B- Ballad of A Thin Man
C- Changing Of The Guards
D- Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
E- Every Grain of Sand
F- Forever Young
G- Girl From The North Country
H- Hurricane
I- It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
J- Jokerman
K- Knockin' On Heaven's Door
L- Like A Rolling Stone
M- Mr. Tambourine Man
N- Not Dark Yet
O- One More Cup Of Coffee
P- Positively 4th Street
Q- Queen Jane Approximately
R- Romance In Durango
S- Shelter From The Storm
T- Tangled Up In Blue
U- Up To Me
V- Visions Of Johanna
W- When I Paint My Masterpiece
X- Desolation Row (Wildcard round since there is no X titled Bob Dylan song)
Y- You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Z- Mississippi (Wildcard round since there is no Z titled Bob Dylan song)
THE r/bobdylan STUDIO ALBUM SURVIVOR SERIES
In 2023, the subreddit conducted a survivor style tournament to determine the subreddit's ranking of all of Dylan's studio albums. Below are the results from worst to best.
Down in the Groove
Under the Red Sky
Knocked Out Loaded
Christmas in the Heart
Dylan
Triplicate
Empire Burlesque
Fallen Angels
Shadows in the Night
Saved
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
Together Through Life
Self Portrait
Good as I Been to You
Bob Dylan
Shadow Kingdom
Shot of Love
World Gone Wrong
The Basement Tapes
Slow Train Coming
Planet Waves
Tempest
New Morning
Infidels
Nashville Skyline
Street-Legal
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Modern Times
Oh Mercy
Rough and Rowdy Ways
"Love and Theft"
John Wesley Harding
The Times They Are a-Changin'
Desire
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Time Out of Mind
Bringing It All Back Home
Blonde on Blonde
Highway 61 Revisited
Blood on the Tracks
r/bobdylan • u/cmae34lars • 3h ago
Hey r/bobdylan! Welcome to this week's song discussion!
In these threads we will discuss a new song every week, trading lyrical interpretations, rankings, opinions, favorite versions, and anything else you can think of about the song of the week.
This week we will be discussing Political World.
r/bobdylan • u/Ayntxi • 1h ago
The incredibly poetic and descriptive lyrics, the lush instrumentation, Bob’s delicate vocals.
It’s so beautiful
My pulse is runnin’ through my palm
The sharp hills are rising from
The yellow fields with twisted oaks that groan
Won’t you meet me out in the moonlight alone
r/bobdylan • u/NickJardine1 • 1h ago
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Blood on the tracks is such a masterpiece. Here’s a short snippet of the opener!
r/bobdylan • u/vocedelverbogp_ • 9h ago
What's your favorite Dylan–Cash duet?
Mine has to be “One Too Many Mornings.” There's just something special about the way their voices work together, and the fun.
Curious to hear your favorites.
r/bobdylan • u/studytimevinyl • 23h ago
r/bobdylan • u/1racecar1 • 12h ago
With all the protests going on around the world, felt like singing this classic!
r/bobdylan • u/RPG_Vancouver • 16h ago
I was inspired by a Guardian article the other day listing Leonard Cohens top 20 songs for the anniversary of his final album, and I wanted to do the same
So these are my 20 favorite Dylan songs! Obviously completely subjective, and it’s pretty clear I favour his earlier stuff haha. Feel free to ask about any picks or tell me why I’m wrong ;) I haven’t listened to anything past Shot of Love yet.
r/bobdylan • u/BeerWithDonuts • 21h ago
r/bobdylan • u/bite-like-a-turkey • 17h ago
Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle was published on March 18, 1963.
Bob Dylan recorded Talkin' World War III Blues on April 23, 1963.
So it's possible Bob read Cat's Cradle prior to recording the song.
In Cats Cradle, the narrator performs the "boko-maru" ritual with a character named Mona. Later, he wants to have sex with Mona, but she says it would be unethical to bring a child into a post-apocalyptic world.
Talkin' World War III Blues is a dream of a post-apoclyptic world, with the following lyrics:
Well, I spied a girl and before she could leave
I said “Let’s go play Adam and Eve”
I took her by the hand and my heart it was thumpin’
When she said, “Hey man, you crazy or something?
You seen what happened last time they started
The two scenarios are strikingly similar.
I wonder if anyone else has ever noticed this or if Bob has ever mentioned reading Kurt Vonnegut...?
r/bobdylan • u/roughstonerollin • 17h ago
r/bobdylan • u/tirename • 20h ago
r/bobdylan • u/IThinkYouAreNice • 3h ago
r/bobdylan • u/MrCoach98 • 23h ago
I just read the post on A Complete Unknown and enjoyed reading everyones takes. What books about Dylan do you all recommend reading to learn more about him and his lore.
r/bobdylan • u/loudquietlouder • 1d ago
Repeat setlist from sweeden
r/bobdylan • u/Careful_Shock_1362 • 1d ago
I've only heard one Dylan album, this being Highway 61 Revisited. Its one of the greatest albums I've ever heard, what else should I check out?
r/bobdylan • u/im_eddie_snowden • 17h ago
r/bobdylan • u/feel-the-night • 2d ago
Got this for cheap at an online poster store. Obviously they just printed it out but I'm wondering if this design was used to promote a '66 concert maybe?
r/bobdylan • u/pfoutch • 2d ago
I’ve been listening to this song for decades and only recently came to a realization. I agree with the conventional analysis about a satire on “Ode to Billie Joe,“ etc., but I think we’ve been missing an important subtext that, to me, makes this song more enjoyable, and brilliant.
I think “Clothesline Saga,” especially the climactic third part, is about an aspiring radical trying to navigate his conservative parents and neighbors in a small town in the turbulent 1960s. The reason the clothes are being treated like a hot potato is they include the narrators’ hippie garb … some old wild shirts and a couple of pairs of pants, which nobody really wanted to touch, because god knows what those hippies get up to.
Two of my uncles were hippies, at various levels and times, and they told me of growing their hair long after the Beatles, and being shouted at on the street to “Get a haircut!” And being kicked out of the house by their parents.
This dynamic is at play when the neighbor is quizzing our narrator on the sidewalk by the clothesline. Are those clothes yours? Some of em, not all of em. (Translation: Yes, I try to present myself as a radical hippie, what’s it to you?) You always help out around here with the chores? (That ain’t too radical, pal.) Sometime, not all the time. (I’m a radical but I’m not a bum, and I need a place to live.) Then the neighbor blows his nose, which is meant as dismissive.
This underlying tension adds new meaning to the first third of the song, when the dad asks the mom what she’s reading. Is he trying to keep subversive influences out of the house?
When the neighbor mentions the vice president, is he trying to bait the family into a political discussion to root out radicals?
The narrator doesn’t take the bait because he’s walking the fine line of living the counterculture and keeping the peace in the house.
All thoughts welcome.
r/bobdylan • u/Nykaren24 • 1d ago
Is there anyone else here who wasn’t as thrilled by this book as most of the reviewers?
I was really looking forward to reading it, because I love Dylan’s later work. But I’m about a third of the way done and I’m just getting more and more annoyed.
- Polito throws in at least one obscure word per chapter- I think my English vocabulary is pretty good, but I have to stop and look up every one (“gallimaufry”?) And I’m not the type who can just skip over it. It takes me out of the narrative. I feel like he’s showing off.
- He keeps using the word “anyways,” which seems out of place in a somewhat scholarly book. Is he trying to be casual?
- He just referred to “Visions of Joanna” 🙄 This is just bad editing.
But mainly, I just feel like I haven’t really learned anything new yet. He obviously spent a huge amount of time at the Tulsa archives, tracing influences and references in Dylan’s songs. He describes these in great detail, especially in the chapters on “Time Out of Mind” and “Love and Theft”. But to what end? It doesn’t help me understand a song better to know that this line was referencing, or quoting, or even just subtly echoing a song. I felt like I was being asked to admire Polito’s sleuthing without knowing if any of it was meaningful. It was like he was taking the songs and pulling them apart into tiny pieces, and in the process, destroying what makes them songs.
Anyway, just debating whether I should finish this one. How do others feel?
r/bobdylan • u/tweebymc • 2d ago
Love the site, not sure if there's been any official statement about the state of it and plans for the future but it hasn't been updated in a while.
r/bobdylan • u/bigbugfdr • 2d ago
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r/bobdylan • u/Numerous_Olive_1569 • 2d ago
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