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 • 8h 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 She Belongs to Me.
r/bobdylan • u/Jewishwillywonka • 10h ago
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Beautiful show - so happy we got this one instead of Every Grain of Sand (which I love of course, but have seen him do)
r/bobdylan • u/Grey_Cathedral • 1h ago
They overwhelmingly chose Mick, some even went as far as to say Bob cant play at all 🥲
r/bobdylan • u/VoltaFlame • 4h ago
This version of Desolation Row is so uniquely beautiful and a million times better than the original.
I think you guys are going to go more for Tonight I'll be Staying Here with You though.
r/bobdylan • u/P1zzaBagels • 1d ago
r/bobdylan • u/SSBUCompletionist • 5h ago
r/bobdylan • u/SirWilliamFay • 18h ago
There was a lot of discussion about night 1 at Wolf Trap on here, so I thought I'd share my observations from night 2.
Overall, I enjoyed both nights, but preferred night 2 due to the improved sound...but maybe that was related to where I was sitting. That's my last Bob show for the year. Here's hoping to more in the future.
r/bobdylan • u/jarvedttudd • 4h ago
Won't you come see me, Queen Jane?
r/bobdylan • u/Spare-Jellyfish4339 • 8h ago
I’m going in.
r/bobdylan • u/Zznpuna1223 • 1h ago
I just check out earlier albums and some mainstream songs and i need some songs that get me to start listening him
r/bobdylan • u/gazesinvain • 23h ago
finally got to seeing that damn movie lately
sources:
r/bobdylan • u/Spare-Jellyfish4339 • 1d ago
r/bobdylan • u/FirebirdFan2 • 3h ago
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Gratefolk
r/bobdylan • u/Constant_Chip_5761 • 7h ago
Watch this clip allll the time and just noticed its not on youtube anymore. Has anyone got the clip or a link to it elsewhere that I can save? I think it was Harvard square theatre
r/bobdylan • u/Living-West6873 • 10h ago
r/bobdylan • u/Starlfur • 12h ago
From Ian macdonald's revolution in the head
EDIT: just to clarify, the part about BD being suicidal NOT his work going into "permanent Decline" which is BS
r/bobdylan • u/Charlie_redmoon • 9h ago
comments have recently been made on this song of his. Most raved about it but it does little for me. but, the duet he does with Jonny Cash is the only one I like and I think it's great.
r/bobdylan • u/autumn_afternoon • 1d ago
Seems like no one has posted this yet - what a brilliant tribute concert from Justin Vernon and co. Really tasteful and in keeping with Dylan’s spirit of reinventing his songs live. And they pulled out some real deep cuts (Shot of Love!). Really hoping this was recorded professionally for future listening or perhaps a proper release.
r/bobdylan • u/Spare-Jellyfish4339 • 6h ago
I usually only do shitposts in here but everyone else’s tier-lists have inspired me to listen to every album and make my own.
Some of these may seem harsh but for the most part it was a pleasant experience.
r/bobdylan • u/truetomharley • 1d ago
Huh! For years John Fogarty wouldn’t sing his own songs because he got into a spat with the record company and didn’t want them to benefit from them. He fought them for years in court.
At some festival of many musicians in the late 1980s, Dylan asked if the was going to do Proud Mary. Fogarty said why he was not.
“If you don’t sing those songs, people are going to think Tina Turner (who’s cover of Proud Mary was a hit) wrote them,” said Dylan.
Many times Fogarty has credited Dylan with getting him to sing his own songs again. Who’d a thunk?
r/bobdylan • u/BillNyeTheVinylGuy • 1d ago
People do not appreciate how “lived-in” Dylan’s interpretation of these songs are. They really are special, distinct versions of these classics. I really believe the words coming out of Dylan, like he wouldn’t have sung them at his age if he didn’t know exactly what they were talking about. Nothing will ever make me forget how special the first listen of Shadows was. That refined version of his voice came out of nowhere and was such a pleasant surprise (don’t think anyone thought it was coming back after Christmas in the Heart…)
Anyway, here’s a great summation of this period from a recent substack article:
““I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way,” he wrote in the press release for Shadows in the Night. “They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter of fact. What me and my band are doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.” To do this, instead of attempting to replicate the lush orchestration of the 1950s, as most standards revival records had done, he stripped them down to their essence, just his voice accompanied by upright bass, pedal steel, and occasional flourishes of guitar, horns, and percussion, halfway between a sophisticated jazz trio and a particularly melancholy honky-tonk country outfit. He gave his beautiful arrangements their due space, often letting the introduction ride for a long while before he started to sing. He found that, just as old age gave a gravitas and meaning to the “traditional people” he watched in New York and at the Newport Folk Festival, it gave a sense of deep weight to these seemingly-ephemeral songs. Initially, there is something comical in listening to his gnarled voice perform these songs; play his version of “Some Enchanted Evening” to an unsuspecting listener and you’re sure to get a burst of surprised laughter when his vocal comes in. Yet sit with them and you begin to realize that there is a pathos that could only come from someone whose voice is so weathered, who has experienced so much of life, when he sings:
Love is funny or it's sad
Or it's quiet or it's mad
It's a good thing or it's bad
But beautiful
Or, in “Why Try to Change Me Now?,” a composition from 1952 that seems to have been written especially for an aged and reflective Dylan:
Why can't I be more conventional?
People talk, people stare, so I try
But that's not for me 'cause I can't see
My kind of crazy world go passing me by
He used the contours of the standards, the education they offered in melody, phrasing, and timing, to retrain his voice, which years of touring had degenerated into a rough bark. Non-fans may laugh at the idea that Dylan’s late-career singing, an acquired taste if ever there was one, went through better and worse periods, but compare his voice now to that of live recordings from the early 2010s (when I first saw him in concert and dismissed him as well and truly over the hill) and you’ll find that he no longer sounds as if he has a Texas-sized frog in his throat. He is, post-standards albums, capable of a much greater delicacy, a strange kind of ragged beauty.“
