Visions of Johanna is my fav Dylan song too...he just sucks you into his surreal world. Psychedelic country of a sort, with that stellar bass/drum groove. And, Nashville Skyline, so so good! One of my first "Nice Price" cassette buys. Blew me away.
Recently visited the Johnny Cash museum in Nashville. There s an entire half wall dedicated to Nashville Skyline. Tons of pics and memorabilia from these sessions. Cash championing Dylan at a critical time in his career is not discussed enough. Highly recommended if you are in Nashville. Great vid. Just subbed.
Happy New Year Tom! Thanks for all the wonderful videos you put together in 2024. Looking forward to enjoying your great commentary in 2025. About your Dylan 60s rankings I'm with you all the way up to your last two. I consider Blond on Blond to be Bob's greatest masterpiece and it would be my number one with Highway 66 number two. I hope you do a ranking of Bob's albums through the rest of the decades as well. Another good topic would be what five albums would you take to that desert island? Here are my picks: Blond on Blond, Electric Ladyland, White Album, Kind of Blue and Getz/Gilberto. Peace Brother!
@@brentbeck9880 Nice list! I love the Getz/Gilberto album. An all time fave. I’m glad you like the channel. Much appreciated. Have a great 2025 and stay tuned for more content. 😉
You pretty much nailed it there, that's exactly how l rate Bobs 60's albums. Many people go for BoB but I've always rated HW61 as not only his best album but the best album of all time. Happy New Year and here's to more videos in 25
It's almost impossible to rank them... I could pick a top three or four and the best one would be the one I was playing at the time. Tom, I’ve really enjoyed your channel this year. I even like all the thumbnail graphics you select. Many thanks and best wishes for a great 2025!
I was introduced to Dylan's music - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Another Side of Bob Dylan - at a meeting of the London Federation of Anarchists in 1965 by a beatnik who had just returned from North Africa. He also introduced the group to the pleasures of hashish he'd smuggled from Morocco in a chocolate box. The combination of youth, Anarchist politics, hash and Dylan that evening was one of the defining moments of my life - I didn't look back. He defined the counterculture and was at its centre. Interestingly at the time, Dylan was considered among the hip bohemian cognoscenti the authentic voice of white '"folk blues" and the music companion to Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Ginsberg, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Steinbeck, Guthrie. and Bakunin. Contrary to the received wisdom, I and most of my contemporaries at the time thought Dylan when he went electric was a revelation - a kind of French Symbolist poet A.Rimbaud inspired hipster Anarchist with an electric guitar. We regarded his critics as reactionary folk purists and 'Old Left' cultural Stalinists -take a bow Ewan MacColl. We were beatniks, proto-hippies, Modernists, New Leftists, steeped in the music of The Stones, Yardbirds, Pretty Things, The Who, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bert jansch, Davy Graham, Baez, Collins, Brel, Coltrane, Mingus, Woody Guthrie. So we welcomed Dylan's break from his folk roots as he took us along for the ride into new territory which effectively changed the consciousness of a generation. After New Morning which was a pleasant if average album, and the brief renaissance of Blood on the Tracks I lost interest, with the exception of a few tracks from Desire. For me - and I know many will disagree - Dylan will always be tied inextricably to the turbulence and paradigm shift of the 60's. I know he has written many great songs after Blood on the Tracks, but for me he is a man out of time, out of his social and cultural context. Never the less I regard Dylan at one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century not just for the revolution he engendered in music, but for the profound changes he wrought in the prevailing culture of the time, which still resonates down to the present day. Albums in order of preference... Highway 61 Revisited Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert" Bringing It All Back Home Another Side of Bob Dylan The Times They Are a-Changin' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Forty Red White and Blue Shoe Strings and a Thousand Telephones that don't Ring - (A boot i bought in Portobello Road Market at Indian Dog a hippie music emporium in 1970) Little White Wonder - (Ditto above) John Wesley Harding Tracks in order of preference........ Visions of Johanna To Ramona Love Minus Zero/No Limit Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands Positively 4th Street Queen Jane Approximately - I always thought he wrote it for me She Belongs to Me The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll Only a Pawn in Their Game Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again Mr. Tambourine Man - played this on my first trip Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues One Too Many Mornings One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? All Along the Watchtower The Wicked Messenger Desolation Row Chimes of Freedom Mama you've been on my mind To use a well worn cliché remember him this way. I mean who but Dylan could write a line like "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face?.
Wow! Even before I finished reading your fascinating account I got the sudden notion of a long lost spiritual twin😊 following the trails of Rimbaud & Baudelaire, Kerouac & Ginsberg, Bert Jansch, Davy Graham & John Coltrane❤ Great writing!
1. Highway 61 2. Blonde on Blond 3. Live 1966 (fantastic quality Bootleg from 1970) 4. Great white Wonder/ Basement Tapes (Boot,1969) 5. Freewheeling 6. Bringing it all back Home 7. Another Side Favourite Songs: 1. Visions of Johanna 2. Desolation Row 3. Memphis Blues again 4. Murder most foul 5. Queen Jane
@@daubreyjaneweirdsley Loved your story and thoughts. I’m with you regarding Visions Of Johanna. The live 1966 version from the Biograph box set is pure magic.
...about that "shift". The old man in me identifies with the last four albums, as "The dignity of the individual is sacrosanct.", but a little raw from travel.
One of my favourite Dylan live albums is Brandeis University 1963. His interaction with the crowd really shows what a stellar performer was developing at this very early career stage. Talking about remembering lyrics, I am amazed how I ever learnt Desolation Row by heart now when I forget why I've entered a room!
Hi Tom: I agree album by album with your ranking! Every time I think of Dylan's 60's output "Desolation Row" immediately springs to mind. That song could go on forever as far as I'm concerned! "Blonde on Blonde" also has "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and "Visions of Johanna," two of my absolute favorite Dylan tracks! "Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat" is also great! I have very few oddities in my collection, but the only way I've ever heard "John Wesley Harding" is in mono. The cover's not so hot nowadays, but the vinyl's still pretty good. Love that album! Great ranking!!
My sixties Dylan top three are that classic trio of Bringing It, All Back Home, Highway 61, and Blonde On Blonde. Next - Freewheeling, followed by John Wesley Harding. Great subject Tom. Rock on from Oregon.
Glad to hear that you liked the Dylan movie. I was skeptical about Chalamet in that role. (It took a whole host of actors, from Christian Bale to Cate Blanchett to Heath Ledger to play Dylan in Todd Haynes' phantasmagorical/encyclopedic "I'm Not There" in 2007!) For me, "Blonde On Blonde" has a special resonance. Other albums may have more daring and influential individual songs, but this one (from its out-of-focus cover portrait to the atmospheric murk of the side-long "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" ) is like being transported into another world that I can not only hear but practically feel and smell -- like a vivid dream. I feel like I'm in the room with the musicians. I can't explain it. That's just how it affects me. Happy New Year!
Very impressed to see JWH at No 3. Often overlooked or dismissed - and you can see why in context: that amazing trajectory through the 60s, each succesive album going deeper and further into unknown territory, culminating in the extraordinay phantasmagoria of Blonde on Blonde - and then nothing, 18 months of silence and then with the world exploding in psychedelia Dylan contradicts the zeitgeist with this collection of apparently simple, acoustic songs, nearly all 3 verses of 4 lines each, no chorus. Dylan's sheer audacity was outrageous. But the achievement is stunning - with his poetry and song he creates a mood and sense of America that I believe is one of the most accomplished artistic creations of the 20th century.
Quite topical, with the film out now (and everyone should see it - it's great - and then read the reviews that say where it's accurate and where they played with the story for "artistic purposes"). I'm missing two of the '60s records you mentioned, and I don't know the CDs. But when the Heaven's Door rep came by with a 3 LP set of out takes and alternate versions, from Nashville Skyline and others, I was "Yoink!" and "Thank you very much. Yes, I will take this!...
The Manchester Free Trade Hall concert features one of the most sublime, STAGGERING moments ever captured on tape. We all know it well, but one more time: "Judas!" "I don't believe you... you're a LIAR! (to Robbie Robertson) Play it fuckin' loud!" Giants really have walked amongst us...
Just got back from the movie...Agree 100%..Fantastic movie..Chalamet did all his own guitar work I believe... Now time to watch your vid....Happy New Year to All!!!
Really enjoyed the movie as well Tom. And to think he’s still producing and performing almost 60 years later!!! As Leonard Cohen said about Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize “It’s like pinning a medal on Mt Everest for being the tallest mountain”.
In Feb, 2012, In conjunction with the Mill Valley Film Festival, the local Pacific Sun asked for submissions: What is Your Favorite Movie? I chose Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales." Why? Although I have lived in Stinson Beach, Ca for forty -five years, I was born, raised then skedaddled, but I am still "From Missouri." What does that mean to me? Being from Missouri, you have to "Show Me." So let me show you what I mean by explaining with my submission to another of the Pacific Sun's question asked eighteen months later: Not only will it provide insights, it will provide relevance to this posting: :What is Your Favorite Album. This is mine.
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 12:33 PM Subject: My Favorite Album My Favorite Album: "Highway Sixty-One Revisited," Bob Dylan, The Village Elliott: 10/13
Once my reckonin’s all said and done, fav’rite album I ever heard spun has great affinity and revisits for me. like Bob Dylan, "Highway Sixty-One…"
On “Blues Highway” ma showed me, her son, first in Sikeston, Mo, March, Fifty-One. Ten years older Bro-Yid from up North later did what no one ever before had done.
Bob, on “Big Muddy's Great River Road,” Revisited each childhoods’ abode, Raised St. Lou, Hibbing, Minn. Like Mark Twain and Huck Finn All skedaddled from home when full-growed.
I’ze a teenager when I first heard Dylan’s music folk fans found absurd. Loved “With God on Our Side,” Still got more satisfied with electric beat, poetic word.
“Like a Rolling Stone” issued Bob's call. From first note message challenged us all. Greatest song of my time both for rhythm and rhyme. Love the title tract, all songs stand tall.
Runner-Up Albums: Who''s, Next; Volunteers, Jefferson Airplane; Leif and Liege, Fairport Convention.
Happy New Year Tom The movie is great Love you ranking and agree 100% with rankings and arguments for it Can you see the beatles on the cover of JWH ? On of rocks great conspiracy theories
@@jessem470 Yes, I've read that too. I've had the cover turned in all different directions and saw nothing. As a last ditch effort to see something, I think I'll try bathing in a tub full of radioluminescent foam, stand on my head in the corner and try viewing the cover through three separate mirrors. Hopefully I'll emit the sort of warm, greenish glow that I suspect may be necessary to possibly see something. I'll be sure to let you know how it works out.
you're more focused than me, tom. i would have talked about actress who played joan baez (monica barbaro) for 15 minutes and used the last 2 plus minutes to discuss the brilliance of the most formidable artist of my lifetime!...just kidding. great video!
I'm glad that you mentioned the Bootleg series. Great stuff. Also shows how archive material should be released, unlike the greedy machinations of Apple.
Hi Tom , I agree with your list except I would have flipped the the top two. Live 66 is the best, but Hard Rain from 76 is pretty rockin'. Thanks you for the vid.
This is not even a fair fight for #1. Hwy 61 is the oldest of my ten favorite albums of all time, so it may well be my all-time number one. I was driving from Cincy to Columbus this spring and decided to give the album a spin for the trip. I was actually moved to tears just before the final (add-on) verse of "Desolation Row", and still not able to comprehend how someone could have written and recorded such a masterpiece from track to track ...
1 Highway 61 2 Blonde on Blonde 3 Bringing it all Back Home 4 John Wesley Harding 5 Freewheelin 6 Times they are a Changin 7 Nashville Skyline 8 Another Side 9 Bob Dylan
Great rundown of vintage Dylan. Personally, I'd rate NASHVILLE lower (too short, too goofy, the lead song's almost a deal-breaker) and might elevate ANOTHER SIDE (amazing song selection recorded in a single session). Otherwise, not much to add other than it was encouraging to see HARDING getting some love... a solid, under-appreciated long player. Hope 2025 is filled with continued creativity and success! Cheers!
Speaking of excellent covers of songs from these nine LPs, I bet many of you have never heard Solomon Burke's recording of "Maggie's Farm". I think it's one of the best Dylan covers I've ever heard. Try it! You of course know the Byrds outstanding version of "The Chimes of Freedom". You may not have heard Barry McGuire's hard-driving version of "Masters of War". I actually bought that single. (I must have been the only purchaser.) In 1965 The Association released a single of "One too many mornings". I don't particularly recommend it, but their new version on the later live album is one of my favorite recordings. Try it. I was very fond of The Turtles' debut folk-rock album, a very underrated recording that I wish more people knew about. Very well chosen material. Well, aside from "It ain't me babe" they also did a version of "Love minus zero". It's not bad, but neither is it memorable, just generic 1965 folk-rock. But listen and judge for yourselves.
Thanks for another terrific, thought-provoking topic. It's not easy, because you have to weigh the negative impact of filler material against the presence of fabulous songs. For example, "John Wesley Harding" has no filler material whatsoever, every song is worth listening too, and the order and balance of them is superb, but, unfortunately, it lacks anything that absolutely blows you away. On the other hand, some of the albums with the mind-blowing classics have too much filler on them. I'm trying to find some balance between these factors. At #1 I ranked "Bringing it all back home", because it has all-time classics and relatively little filler. Side 2 is one of the greatest LP sides ever. I see seven classics here: "It's all over now, Baby Blue", "Maggie's Farm", "Mr. Tamborine Man", "It's alright ma, I'm only bleeding", "Gates of Eden", "Love minus zero", "She belongs to me". Wow, what great songs! After this, except for "John Wesley Harding", they are all marred by filler material. I put "Freewheelin'" at #2, because the good songs overpower the filler material on Side 2. "A hard rain's gonna fall", fabulous. "Don't think twice", "Blowin' in the wind", "Masters of war", classics. #3 and #4 were a tossup for me. You may be surprised I put "The Times they are a-changin'" at #3, but it's because about 10 years ago I suddenly fell in love with "Boots of Spanish leather". "One too many mornings", "The Times", "With God on our side", "Only a pawn" are all fine songs, albeit not quite classics. If Dylan had included a recording of "Percy's song" on it, the album would have been much stronger, as it would have been the best song on the album. Does anyone know why he didn't include "Percy's song", wasn't he happy with his recording of it? Sandy Denny's recording of it gives one chills! #4 "Another side" has four classics but a lot of what I consider filler. "It ain't me babe", "My backpages", "All I really wanna do", "Chimes of freedom", classics. #5 "Highway 61" IMO is loaded with filler and Side 1 especially so. But man do I love "Just like Tom Thumb's blues" and "Desolation Row"! I bet you don't know anyone who has memorized the many many verses of these two songs. Well, now you do: I know the lyrics of both songs by heart, that's how much I loved them. #6 "John Wesley Harding" -- a whole LP of very nice songs, no filler at all, but nothing that really blows you away. #7 "Blonde on blonde" -- I love "Memphis Blues again", but the LP is loaded with filler. #8 "Nashville skyline" -- Take away "Lay lady lay" and there's very little here that's memorable. #9 "Bob Dylan" -- I've heard a 100 debut folksinger LPs from the early 1960s that are as good or better than this one.
Didn't even mention "Like a Rolling Stone"! 😮 My favorites... 9 - Times They Are a-Changing 8 - John Wesley Harding 7 - Bringing It All Black Home 6 - Bob Dylan 5 - Nashville Skyline 4 - Another Side 3 - Freewheelin' 2 - Blonde 1 - Highway 61
Personally for me; 1.hwy 61 rev 2. JWH 3.BIABH 4.Blonde on Blonde 5.The Times they are a changing 6.Freewheelin 7.Another Side 8.Debut 9.Nashville Skyline
I was wondering how or even if I should post a comment on your video. I have given into my less noble self. I was a Bob Dylan fanatic from 1969 to 1976. I tried to look like him (not that hard for me back then... I was a curly-haired Jew like B.D), play guitar like him, write songs like him, etc. etc. etc. I actually ran away from home to New York (I'm from Philadelphia) after reading the Scaduto biography to try to "make it" like he did. I found out speedily that Greenwich Village in the 1970s was not the same place it was in the early 1960's. The weird thing about my idolatry was that all the stuff that really spoke to me was recorded by Mr. Z in the beginning of his career; from 1963 to 1965. The stuff he put out, starting with 'John Wesley Harding' up until 'Street Legal' did not mean as much to me as his previous output. I would listen to his "new" albums, then get quickly disenchanted with them... even his "comeback 'Blood On The Tracks. When he put out 'Slow Train Coming', that was the final straw; I didn't even pick up a copy. Since then, while I still listen to all of my early musical heroes like Elvis Presley and The Beatles, I find my once-worshipping of Dylan has totally vanished; his voice, his inept harmonica-playing, his ripped-off songs, etc. I don't even bother to play the stuff I once actually held in such high regard!? That said, whenever I try to bring back the past, I would rather do it with 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan', 'Highway 61 Revisited' or 'The Basement Tapes' (which were recorded in the sixties, though published in the seventies) 'Blonde on Blonde'... one of the most over-rated albums in rock history. Never should been a two-fer. I tried to make a personal 1-disc version but even that doesn't cut it.
@@Slotnikoff I like the honesty. It’s fascinating how particular artists we cherished at a certain time in our lives lose their importance and others last forever and will always be a part of our DNA. 😉
From the subline to the ridiculous, do you like The Monkees at all? I know they're controversial for not playing on the first two (and most successful) albums, save Nesmith)? If so, how would you rank their albums?
@@drewgeraci8434 I do like the Monkees. They were one of the first bands I listened to as a child. I don’t think they ever put out a solid 5 star record, but if you compiled the best tracks from those first 4 albums it would be stellar. They had great writers like Goffin & King, Neil Diamond. Always thought Dolenz had a cool unique voice and Nesmith was a fine musician and writer. Love his guitar lick on Pleasant Valley Sunday. I would put Pisces Aquarius at the top followed by Headquarters and Head.
All Dylan's sixties albums were great. You can't put all of them in an order of ranking. Maybe John Wesley Harding was not quite as good. Maybe Freewheelin' and Blonde On Blonde were just about the two best. But his first album could have done with a bit of extra time, and it could have marked the beginning of the album era, although it would still have taken a few years to flourish. But it still sounded very different for early 1962 when we were still into this pre-Beatles' High School Pop era with the likes of Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka ETC. I think his most interesting archive release was The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 which includes early demos of songs from his Freewheelin' album.
My single Greatest Concert Moment was sittin' in the front row balcony Behind the Stage peaking on LSD while listening to Bob Dylan perform this update of "With God on Our Side," at Neil Young's Bridge School Benifit, the only time it was held at the Oakland Indoor Coliseum. Incredably, it is available on You Tube. ruclips.net/video/jxWOVyuOiBo/видео.htmlsi=pxmmOeHnOuJsMlAC
"With God On Our Side," Bob Dylan Tradition has it that Judas Iscariot, realizing the enormity of his folly and betrayal, hung himself at the same time that Jesus Christ died on the Cross. If true, then today is also the anniversary of Judas' death. I reckon no matter what you have decided about Judas' "Divine Mission," we can all pert-near agree that he is a historical person linked forever with Jesus. As such, I think he deserves mention. Here are a few poems I wrote about Judas: What I've Decided For Judas, et al The Village Elliott: 4/6/19 While some call me "Village Elliott" Other folks call me an idiot Since I say "It's a sin That Mark Twain, for 'Huck Finn' Got 'Bad Rapped' like J. Iscariot... "Ever since I was just called 'Elliott' I've sympathy for J. Iscariot, Just like Truman for Japs Think they both got bad raps, Reckon that's why I'm called 'idiot.'" The Chosen One The Village Elliott: 3/31/09 The Chosen One The Village Elliott: 3/31/09 Read new-found text: "Disciple sold His Master when by Him he's told, 'Sell Child born in Nativity I'll die nailed crossed on Calvary, Once Rome had washed its hands and cried, "Damned locals want Him crucified!" Been told Judas Iscariot Was not of Proletariat, One who's Chosen for damnation Leading to mankind's salvation, When Master's nailed to Roman Tree. He'll hang himself in infamy. If Master's sold for Temple’s gold When His Disciple did as told, And Rome complied because the crowd Demanded all Rome's law allowed, Should Judas be the only one To take the fall for what they've done? Read Good Book state, "By Him he's told, 'Go! Leave the Garden, get your gold! For you 'tis better never born, To Fate that earns Eternal Scorn For selling the Messiah out'" If true, He knew, I have no doubt. In new text read, "He told but one Disciple what God willed be done: "They know not Truth of Thy Good News, Instead they'll spin to blame the Jews, But once I'm back come Judgment Day, Your sins are first I'll wash away." All Gospels I've read testify, That He, The Master, cast own die, So if these Words I've read are fact, And He told Judas how to act At Last Supper in the Garden, Shouldn’t Disciple deserve pardon?
Did Bob ever write a song about the political assassinations of the 60's in the 60's. If not, I wonder why. Murder most foul, indeed. 50 years too late Bob.
PS. How about a ranking (or something) about the other Greenwich Village folkies of the 60s? I've been getting into Mimi & Richard Fariña and Dave van Ronk lately. Neither Bob Dylan nor the later folk-rock scene happened in a vacuum.
Visions of Johanna is my fav Dylan song too...he just sucks you into his surreal world. Psychedelic country of a sort, with that stellar bass/drum groove. And, Nashville Skyline, so so good! One of my first "Nice Price" cassette buys. Blew me away.
Recently visited the Johnny Cash museum in Nashville. There s an entire half wall dedicated to Nashville Skyline. Tons of pics and memorabilia from these sessions. Cash championing Dylan at a critical time in his career is not discussed enough. Highly recommended if you are in Nashville. Great vid. Just subbed.
@@peterock4210 Thank you. I need to get to Nashville at some point. It’s on the bucket list. 😉
Happy New Year Tom! Thanks for all the wonderful videos you put together in 2024. Looking forward to enjoying your great commentary in 2025. About your Dylan 60s rankings I'm with you all the way up to your last two. I consider Blond on Blond to be Bob's greatest masterpiece and it would be my number one with Highway 66 number two. I hope you do a ranking of Bob's albums through the rest of the decades as well. Another good topic would be what five albums would you take to that desert island? Here are my picks: Blond on Blond, Electric Ladyland, White Album, Kind of Blue and Getz/Gilberto. Peace Brother!
@@brentbeck9880 Nice list! I love the Getz/Gilberto album. An all time fave. I’m glad you like the channel. Much appreciated. Have a great 2025 and stay tuned for more content. 😉
You pretty much nailed it there, that's exactly how l rate Bobs 60's albums. Many people go for BoB but I've always rated HW61 as not only his best album but the best album of all time. Happy New Year and here's to more videos in 25
@@RogerGriffiths-nj3ro Happy 2025 and more videos on the way! 😉
Just got back from seeing the movie, so it was cool to hear you talking about these classic albums.
It's almost impossible to rank them... I could pick a top three or four and the best one would be the one I was playing at the time.
Tom, I’ve really enjoyed your channel this year. I even like all the thumbnail graphics you select. Many thanks and best wishes for a great 2025!
@@John-n9m7r Thanks John! Have a great 2025 😊
I was introduced to Dylan's music - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Another Side of Bob Dylan - at a meeting of the London Federation of Anarchists in 1965 by a beatnik who had just returned from North Africa. He also introduced the group to the pleasures of hashish he'd smuggled from Morocco in a chocolate box.
The combination of youth, Anarchist politics, hash and Dylan that evening was one of the defining moments of my life - I didn't look back. He defined the counterculture and was at its centre. Interestingly at the time, Dylan was considered among the hip bohemian cognoscenti the authentic voice of white '"folk blues" and the music companion to Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Ginsberg, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Steinbeck, Guthrie. and Bakunin.
Contrary to the received wisdom, I and most of my contemporaries at the time thought Dylan when he went electric was a revelation - a kind of French Symbolist poet A.Rimbaud inspired hipster Anarchist with an electric guitar. We regarded his critics as reactionary folk purists and 'Old Left' cultural Stalinists -take a bow Ewan MacColl. We were beatniks, proto-hippies, Modernists, New Leftists, steeped in the music of The Stones, Yardbirds, Pretty Things, The Who, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bert jansch, Davy Graham, Baez, Collins, Brel, Coltrane, Mingus, Woody Guthrie. So we welcomed Dylan's break from his folk roots as he took us along for the ride into new territory which effectively changed the consciousness of a generation.
After New Morning which was a pleasant if average album, and the brief renaissance of Blood on the Tracks I lost interest, with the exception of a few tracks from Desire. For me - and I know many will disagree - Dylan will always be tied inextricably to the turbulence and paradigm shift of the 60's. I know he has written many great songs after Blood on the Tracks, but for me he is a man out of time, out of his social and cultural context. Never the less I regard Dylan at one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century not just for the revolution he engendered in music, but for the profound changes he wrought in the prevailing culture of the time, which still resonates down to the present day.
Albums in order of preference...
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"
Bringing It All Back Home
Another Side of Bob Dylan
The Times They Are a-Changin'
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Forty Red White and Blue Shoe Strings
and a Thousand Telephones that don't Ring - (A boot i bought in Portobello Road Market at Indian Dog a hippie music emporium in 1970)
Little White Wonder - (Ditto above)
John Wesley Harding
Tracks in order of preference........
Visions of Johanna
To Ramona
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Positively 4th Street
Queen Jane Approximately - I always thought he wrote it for me
She Belongs to Me
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Mr. Tambourine Man - played this on my first trip
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
One Too Many Mornings
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
All Along the Watchtower
The Wicked Messenger
Desolation Row
Chimes of Freedom
Mama you've been on my mind
To use a well worn cliché remember him this way. I mean who but Dylan could write a line like "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face?.
Are you still involved in anarchist politics?
Wow! Even before I finished reading your fascinating account I got the sudden notion of a long lost spiritual twin😊 following the trails of Rimbaud & Baudelaire, Kerouac & Ginsberg, Bert Jansch, Davy Graham & John Coltrane❤
Great writing!
1. Highway 61
2. Blonde on Blond
3. Live 1966 (fantastic quality Bootleg from 1970)
4. Great white Wonder/ Basement Tapes (Boot,1969)
5. Freewheeling
6. Bringing it all back Home
7. Another Side
Favourite Songs:
1. Visions of Johanna
2. Desolation Row
3. Memphis Blues again
4. Murder most foul
5. Queen Jane
@@daubreyjaneweirdsley Loved your story and thoughts. I’m with you regarding Visions Of Johanna. The live 1966 version from the Biograph box set is pure magic.
...about that "shift". The old man in me identifies with the last four albums, as "The dignity of the individual is sacrosanct.", but a little raw from travel.
One of my favourite Dylan live albums is Brandeis University 1963. His interaction with the crowd really shows what a stellar performer was developing at this very early career stage. Talking about remembering lyrics, I am amazed how I ever learnt Desolation Row by heart now when I forget why I've entered a room!
Happy New Year! I enjoyed watching your videos this year.
Thanks Scott. Happy New Year!
Hi Tom:
I agree album by album with your ranking! Every time I think of Dylan's 60's output "Desolation Row" immediately springs to mind. That song could go on forever as far as I'm concerned! "Blonde on Blonde" also has "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and "Visions of Johanna," two of my absolute favorite Dylan tracks! "Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat" is also great! I have very few oddities in my collection, but the only way I've ever heard "John Wesley Harding" is in mono. The cover's not so hot nowadays, but the vinyl's still pretty good. Love that album! Great ranking!!
@@nathanlaney4577 Thanks Nathan. I’m always amazed at the sheer amount of volume and quality he cranked out between ‘63-‘67. Mind blowing.
My sixties Dylan top three are that classic trio of Bringing It, All Back Home, Highway 61, and Blonde On Blonde. Next - Freewheeling, followed by John Wesley Harding. Great subject Tom. Rock on from Oregon.
@@KyleWessels-c8z Thanks and rock on from So Cal 😉
Glad to hear that you liked the Dylan movie. I was skeptical about Chalamet in that role. (It took a whole host of actors, from Christian Bale to Cate Blanchett to Heath Ledger to play Dylan in Todd Haynes' phantasmagorical/encyclopedic "I'm Not There" in 2007!) For me, "Blonde On Blonde" has a special resonance. Other albums may have more daring and influential individual songs, but this one (from its out-of-focus cover portrait to the atmospheric murk of the side-long "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" ) is like being transported into another world that I can not only hear but practically feel and smell -- like a vivid dream. I feel like I'm in the room with the musicians. I can't explain it. That's just how it affects me. Happy New Year!
@@bacarandii Happy New Year!
Very impressed to see JWH at No 3. Often overlooked or dismissed - and you can see why in context: that amazing trajectory through the 60s, each succesive album going deeper and further into unknown territory, culminating in the extraordinay phantasmagoria of Blonde on Blonde - and then nothing, 18 months of silence and then with the world exploding in psychedelia Dylan contradicts the zeitgeist with this collection of apparently simple, acoustic songs, nearly all 3 verses of 4 lines each, no chorus. Dylan's sheer audacity was outrageous. But the achievement is stunning - with his poetry and song he creates a mood and sense of America that I believe is one of the most accomplished artistic creations of the 20th century.
Quite topical, with the film out now (and everyone should see it - it's great - and then read the reviews that say where it's accurate and where they played with the story for "artistic purposes"). I'm missing two of the '60s records you mentioned, and I don't know the CDs. But when the Heaven's Door rep came by with a 3 LP set of out takes and alternate versions, from Nashville Skyline and others, I was "Yoink!" and "Thank you very much. Yes, I will take this!...
As usual you have the most mature rock reviewed stuff on Utube. #4 is my fave but dat ok.
The Manchester Free Trade Hall concert features one of the most sublime, STAGGERING moments ever captured on tape. We all know it well, but one more time:
"Judas!"
"I don't believe you... you're a LIAR! (to Robbie Robertson) Play it fuckin' loud!"
Giants really have walked amongst us...
@@mattrobbins2268 That’s an iconic moment indeed. 👍
Just got back from the movie...Agree 100%..Fantastic movie..Chalamet did all his own guitar work I believe...
Now time to watch your vid....Happy New Year to All!!!
@@newspapertaxis1 Happy New Year 🥂
@@tomrobinson5776 Thanks Man...Be Safe!!!
Really enjoyed the movie as well Tom. And to think he’s still producing and performing almost 60 years later!!! As Leonard Cohen said about Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize “It’s like pinning a medal on Mt Everest for being the tallest mountain”.
@@casablanca2745 Cohen always had great one liners. 😉
In Feb, 2012, In conjunction with the Mill Valley Film Festival, the local Pacific Sun asked for submissions: What is Your Favorite Movie?
I chose Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales." Why? Although I have lived in Stinson Beach, Ca for forty -five years, I was born, raised then skedaddled, but I am still "From Missouri."
What does that mean to me? Being from Missouri, you have to "Show Me." So let me show you what I mean by explaining with my submission to another of the Pacific Sun's question asked eighteen months later: Not only will it provide insights, it will provide relevance to this posting:
:What is Your Favorite Album. This is mine.
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 12:33 PM
Subject: My Favorite Album
My Favorite Album:
"Highway Sixty-One Revisited," Bob Dylan,
The Village Elliott: 10/13
Once my reckonin’s all said and done,
fav’rite album I ever heard spun
has great affinity
and revisits for me.
like Bob Dylan, "Highway Sixty-One…"
On “Blues Highway” ma showed me, her son,
first in Sikeston, Mo, March, Fifty-One.
Ten years older Bro-Yid
from up North later did
what no one ever before had done.
Bob, on “Big Muddy's Great River Road,”
Revisited each childhoods’ abode,
Raised St. Lou, Hibbing, Minn.
Like Mark Twain and Huck Finn
All skedaddled from home when full-growed.
I’ze a teenager when I first heard
Dylan’s music folk fans found absurd.
Loved “With God on Our Side,”
Still got more satisfied
with electric beat, poetic word.
“Like a Rolling Stone” issued Bob's call.
From first note message challenged us all.
Greatest song of my time
both for rhythm and rhyme.
Love the title tract, all songs stand tall.
Runner-Up Albums: Who''s, Next; Volunteers, Jefferson Airplane; Leif and Liege, Fairport Convention.
Happy New Year Tom
The movie is great
Love you ranking and agree 100% with rankings and arguments for it
Can you see the beatles on the cover of JWH ? On of rocks great conspiracy theories
I know I'm not the one you asked, but I've looked and looked and can't see them. Have you seen them?
@ i have read they are in the tree somewhere
You might have to turn album upside down
@@jessem470 Yes, I've read that too. I've had the cover turned in all different directions and saw nothing. As a last ditch effort to see something, I think I'll try bathing in a tub full of radioluminescent foam, stand on my head in the corner and try viewing the cover through three separate mirrors. Hopefully I'll emit the sort of warm, greenish glow that I suspect may be necessary to possibly see something. I'll be sure to let you know how it works out.
@@nathanlaney4577 it sounds l like a good plan but please do not Stand on you head in the bath !
It wont work out
@@jessem470Well, I can't promise anything, it'll depend on how crazy I feel at the time. It could get downright silly!
you're more focused than me, tom. i would have talked about actress who played joan baez (monica barbaro) for 15 minutes and used the last 2 plus minutes to discuss the brilliance of the most formidable artist of my lifetime!...just kidding. great video!
I'm glad that you mentioned the Bootleg series. Great stuff. Also shows how archive material should be released, unlike the greedy machinations of Apple.
I may check out that new Dylan film. I love any music biographies.
@@kso808 It’s terrific. 😉
I enjoyed the film too! Saw it on Christmas in a packed theater.
Hi Tom , I agree with your list except I would have flipped the the top two. Live 66 is the best, but Hard Rain from 76 is pretty rockin'. Thanks you for the vid.
Movie and performance: excellent!
Happy New Year!
@@johnr3587 Happy New Year 🥂
Bill Kirchen’s cover of Tom Thumb Blues is amazing.
This is not even a fair fight for #1. Hwy 61 is the oldest of my ten favorite albums of all time, so it may well be my all-time number one. I was driving from Cincy to Columbus this spring and decided to give the album a spin for the trip. I was actually moved to tears just before the final (add-on) verse of "Desolation Row", and still not able to comprehend how someone could have written and recorded such a masterpiece from track to track ...
@@jricoc3475 That track is just beyond belief. One of the greatest!
1 Highway 61
2 Blonde on Blonde
3 Bringing it all Back Home
4 John Wesley Harding
5 Freewheelin
6 Times they are a Changin
7 Nashville Skyline
8 Another Side
9 Bob Dylan
Agreed re the film. Exceeded my expectations as well.
Good stuff. You and I share the same top five.
@@barrykrakovsky756 Nice! 😉
Great rundown of vintage Dylan. Personally, I'd rate NASHVILLE lower (too short, too goofy, the lead song's almost a deal-breaker) and might elevate ANOTHER SIDE (amazing song selection recorded in a single session). Otherwise, not much to add other than it was encouraging to see HARDING getting some love... a solid, under-appreciated long player.
Hope 2025 is filled with continued creativity and success! Cheers!
@@DeanJonasson Cheers Dean! Here’s to 2025 🥂
Speaking of excellent covers of songs from these nine LPs, I bet many of you have never heard Solomon Burke's recording of "Maggie's Farm". I think it's one of the best Dylan covers I've ever heard. Try it!
You of course know the Byrds outstanding version of "The Chimes of Freedom". You may not have heard Barry McGuire's hard-driving version of "Masters of War". I actually bought that single. (I must have been the only purchaser.) In 1965 The Association released a single of "One too many mornings". I don't particularly recommend it, but their new version on the later live album is one of my favorite recordings. Try it.
I was very fond of The Turtles' debut folk-rock album, a very underrated recording that I wish more people knew about. Very well chosen material. Well, aside from "It ain't me babe" they also did a version of "Love minus zero". It's not bad, but neither is it memorable, just generic 1965 folk-rock. But listen and judge for yourselves.
@@GeraldM_inNC I’ll have to check out some of these versions. 😉
Why is it going to be a bizarre year?
You should hear the double CD Robyn Hitchcock recorded of all Dylan covers.
@@simonKagree That sounds cool. Gotta hear it.
Thanks for another terrific, thought-provoking topic. It's not easy, because you have to weigh the negative impact of filler material against the presence of fabulous songs. For example, "John Wesley Harding" has no filler material whatsoever, every song is worth listening too, and the order and balance of them is superb, but, unfortunately, it lacks anything that absolutely blows you away. On the other hand, some of the albums with the mind-blowing classics have too much filler on them. I'm trying to find some balance between these factors.
At #1 I ranked "Bringing it all back home", because it has all-time classics and relatively little filler. Side 2 is one of the greatest LP sides ever. I see seven classics here: "It's all over now, Baby Blue", "Maggie's Farm", "Mr. Tamborine Man", "It's alright ma, I'm only bleeding", "Gates of Eden", "Love minus zero", "She belongs to me". Wow, what great songs!
After this, except for "John Wesley Harding", they are all marred by filler material. I put "Freewheelin'" at #2, because the good songs overpower the filler material on Side 2. "A hard rain's gonna fall", fabulous. "Don't think twice", "Blowin' in the wind", "Masters of war", classics.
#3 and #4 were a tossup for me. You may be surprised I put "The Times they are a-changin'" at #3, but it's because about 10 years ago I suddenly fell in love with "Boots of Spanish leather". "One too many mornings", "The Times", "With God on our side", "Only a pawn" are all fine songs, albeit not quite classics. If Dylan had included a recording of "Percy's song" on it, the album would have been much stronger, as it would have been the best song on the album. Does anyone know why he didn't include "Percy's song", wasn't he happy with his recording of it? Sandy Denny's recording of it gives one chills!
#4 "Another side" has four classics but a lot of what I consider filler. "It ain't me babe", "My backpages", "All I really wanna do", "Chimes of freedom", classics.
#5 "Highway 61" IMO is loaded with filler and Side 1 especially so. But man do I love "Just like Tom Thumb's blues" and "Desolation Row"! I bet you don't know anyone who has memorized the many many verses of these two songs. Well, now you do: I know the lyrics of both songs by heart, that's how much I loved them.
#6 "John Wesley Harding" -- a whole LP of very nice songs, no filler at all, but nothing that really blows you away.
#7 "Blonde on blonde" -- I love "Memphis Blues again", but the LP is loaded with filler.
#8 "Nashville skyline" -- Take away "Lay lady lay" and there's very little here that's memorable.
#9 "Bob Dylan" -- I've heard a 100 debut folksinger LPs from the early 1960s that are as good or better than this one.
Didn't even mention "Like a Rolling Stone"! 😮
My favorites...
9 - Times They Are a-Changing
8 - John Wesley Harding
7 - Bringing It All Black Home
6 - Bob Dylan
5 - Nashville Skyline
4 - Another Side
3 - Freewheelin'
2 - Blonde
1 - Highway 61
@@MrJohnBurger-JB How did I overlook that? I’m a space cadet. Have a great 2025!
Roy beat me to it but if Positively 4th Street was on Highway 61 my head would explode!
Don’t forget the great song Positively 4th Street, it’s not on any original 60’s Dylan albums! Happy New Year 🎉
It was on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, released in 1967
@@roygoad2870 Oh yes, amazing track. Happy New Year!
Personally for me;
1.hwy 61 rev
2. JWH
3.BIABH
4.Blonde on Blonde
5.The Times they are a changing
6.Freewheelin
7.Another Side
8.Debut
9.Nashville Skyline
I was wondering how or even if I should post a comment on your video.
I have given into my less noble self.
I was a Bob Dylan fanatic from 1969 to 1976. I tried to look like him (not that hard for me back then... I was a curly-haired Jew like B.D), play guitar like him, write songs like him, etc. etc. etc. I actually ran away from home to New York (I'm from Philadelphia) after reading the Scaduto biography to try to "make it" like he did. I found out speedily that Greenwich Village in the 1970s was not the same place it was in the early 1960's. The weird thing about my idolatry was that all the stuff that really spoke to me was recorded by Mr. Z in the beginning of his career; from 1963 to 1965. The stuff he put out, starting with 'John Wesley Harding' up until 'Street Legal' did not mean as much to me as his previous output. I would listen to his "new" albums, then get quickly disenchanted with them... even his "comeback 'Blood On The Tracks.
When he put out 'Slow Train Coming', that was the final straw; I didn't even pick up a copy.
Since then, while I still listen to all of my early musical heroes like Elvis Presley and The Beatles, I find my once-worshipping of Dylan has totally vanished; his voice, his inept harmonica-playing, his ripped-off songs, etc. I don't even bother to play the stuff I once actually held in such high regard!?
That said, whenever I try to bring back the past, I would rather do it with 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan', 'Highway 61 Revisited' or 'The Basement Tapes' (which were recorded in the sixties, though published in the seventies)
'Blonde on Blonde'... one of the most over-rated albums in rock history. Never should been a two-fer. I tried to make a personal 1-disc version but even that doesn't cut it.
@@Slotnikoff I like the honesty. It’s fascinating how particular artists we cherished at a certain time in our lives lose their importance and others last forever and will always be a part of our DNA. 😉
dylan schmylan (yea I said it)
I just want to say THANKS! Wishing you all the best 🍷🍷🍷
You as well. Happy New Year 🥂
From the subline to the ridiculous, do you like The Monkees at all? I know they're controversial for not playing on the first two (and most successful) albums, save Nesmith)? If so, how would you rank their albums?
@@drewgeraci8434 I do like the Monkees. They were one of the first bands I listened to as a child. I don’t think they ever put out a solid 5 star record, but if you compiled the best tracks from those first 4 albums it would be stellar. They had great writers like Goffin & King, Neil Diamond. Always thought Dolenz had a cool unique voice and Nesmith was a fine musician and writer. Love his guitar lick on Pleasant Valley Sunday. I would put Pisces Aquarius at the top followed by Headquarters and Head.
@@tomrobinson5776 I agree wholeheartedly. Aquarius is essentially a Nesmith album. Country, Pop, Psychedelia and even a Torch Song!
I think we are forgetting the original DYLAN biopic Todd Haynes IM NOT THERE! Dylan cannot have an accurate biopic! He is always Masked and Anonymous!
@@davidkornblatt851 You have a point there 😉
All Dylan's sixties albums were great. You can't put all of them in an order of ranking. Maybe John Wesley Harding was not quite as good. Maybe Freewheelin' and Blonde On Blonde were just about the two best. But his first album could have done with a bit of extra time, and it could have marked the beginning of the album era, although it would still have taken a few years to flourish. But it still sounded very different for early 1962 when we were still into this pre-Beatles' High School Pop era with the likes of Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka ETC.
I think his most interesting archive release was The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 which includes early demos of songs from his Freewheelin' album.
@@paulgoldstein2569 Yes, that’s a cool release.
My single Greatest Concert Moment was sittin' in the front row balcony Behind the Stage peaking on LSD while listening to Bob Dylan perform this update of "With God on Our Side," at Neil Young's Bridge School Benifit, the only time it was held at the Oakland Indoor Coliseum. Incredably, it is available on You Tube. ruclips.net/video/jxWOVyuOiBo/видео.htmlsi=pxmmOeHnOuJsMlAC
"With God On Our Side," Bob Dylan
Tradition has it that Judas Iscariot, realizing the enormity of his folly and betrayal, hung himself at the same time that Jesus Christ died on the Cross. If true, then today is also the anniversary of Judas' death. I reckon no matter what you have decided about Judas' "Divine Mission," we can all pert-near agree that he is a historical person linked forever with Jesus. As such, I think he deserves mention.
Here are a few poems I wrote about Judas:
What I've Decided
For Judas, et al
The Village Elliott: 4/6/19
While some call me "Village Elliott"
Other folks call me an idiot
Since I say "It's a sin
That Mark Twain, for 'Huck Finn'
Got 'Bad Rapped' like J. Iscariot...
"Ever since I was just called 'Elliott'
I've sympathy for J. Iscariot,
Just like Truman for Japs
Think they both got bad raps,
Reckon that's why I'm called 'idiot.'"
The Chosen One
The Village Elliott: 3/31/09
The Chosen One
The Village Elliott: 3/31/09
Read new-found text: "Disciple sold
His Master when by Him he's told,
'Sell Child born in Nativity
I'll die nailed crossed on Calvary,
Once Rome had washed its hands and cried,
"Damned locals want Him crucified!"
Been told Judas Iscariot
Was not of Proletariat,
One who's Chosen for damnation
Leading to mankind's salvation,
When Master's nailed to Roman Tree.
He'll hang himself in infamy.
If Master's sold for Temple’s gold
When His Disciple did as told,
And Rome complied because the crowd
Demanded all Rome's law allowed,
Should Judas be the only one
To take the fall for what they've done?
Read Good Book state, "By Him he's told,
'Go! Leave the Garden, get your gold!
For you 'tis better never born,
To Fate that earns Eternal Scorn
For selling the Messiah out'"
If true, He knew, I have no doubt.
In new text read, "He told but one
Disciple what God willed be done:
"They know not Truth of Thy Good News,
Instead they'll spin to blame the Jews,
But once I'm back come Judgment Day,
Your sins are first I'll wash away."
All Gospels I've read testify,
That He, The Master, cast own die,
So if these Words I've read are fact,
And He told Judas how to act
At Last Supper in the Garden,
Shouldn’t Disciple deserve pardon?
@@elliottkolker4321 Very cool! He sounds really good in this clip. 👍
Did Bob ever write a song about the political assassinations of the 60's in the 60's. If not, I wonder why. Murder most foul, indeed. 50 years too late Bob.
PS. How about a ranking (or something) about the other Greenwich Village folkies of the 60s? I've been getting into Mimi & Richard Fariña and Dave van Ronk lately. Neither Bob Dylan nor the later folk-rock scene happened in a vacuum.
GREETINGS FROM OSLO! I WISH YOU, YOUR FAMILY AND ALL MY FELLOW SUBSCRIBERS A VERY GROOVY NEW YEAR!
@@oddespenjenssen2236 Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
@@drewgeraci8434 Happy 2025!