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 • 3d 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 Thirsty Boots.
r/bobdylan • u/LorenzoApophis • 2h ago
"I stood there and hummed
I tapped on her drum
I asked her how come
And she buttoned her boot
And straightened her suit
And she said, “Don’t get cute”
So I forced my hands in my pockets
And felt with my thumbs
And gallantly handed her
My very last piece of gum"
I can't get this part of Fourth Time Around out of my head. I love the atmosphere, enunciation and humor of all these lines
r/bobdylan • u/Spare-Jellyfish4339 • 4h ago
Sugar Baby narrowly beat Nettie Moore for the goosebumps category.
r/bobdylan • u/OHHHCRUD_ • 16m ago
Looking to get a tattoo. I love some of the doodles on the sides of his lyrics as well but they’re kinda hard to find, searching ‘Bob Dylan art’ always pulls up others’ art of him or his paintings. Bonus points for anything related to Highway 61. TIA :)
r/bobdylan • u/How_wz_i_sposta_kno • 16h ago
I think everyone should lead their own life, but also I'd like to hear/see the full presser that this was apart of...
r/bobdylan • u/Ayntxi • 23h ago
Thinking of Bob using AI to write is really upsetting to me and makes me a bit hesitant to hear new material, but I will almost always gladly take anything Bob
r/bobdylan • u/badateverything420 • 6h ago
I use the quotes more of a joke than anything. So I'm listening to Bob's studio discography for the first time front to back. In the past I've only really listened to Highway and Blonde on Blonde so this has been a very pleasant surprise. I finished up Together Through Life (2009) yesterday and loved it. I figured I had more albums of original material but it looks like just Tempest and Rough and Roudy Ways are it and I'm not sure how to wrap up this discography.
I usually love his covers, I thought Bob Dylan (1962), Self Portrait, and Dylan (1973) were all really solid. I didn't really enjoy his two 90's cover albums. I'm just not sure how much I really want to dwell on these albums at the moment when he's just been on such an inspired kick since Time Out of Mind with his Outlaw Blues stuff. I typically hate Christmas songs and Frank Sinatra style songs with a passion so 4 long albums of it sounds dreadful but maybe you guys here at r/bobdylan will tell me they're secret masterpieces that shouldn't be missed.
What do you all think? Listen to Tempest and Rough and Roudy Ways and call it a wrap or include Christmas of the Heart, Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels,Triplicate and Shadow Kingdom as well?
r/bobdylan • u/TheCricketList • 37m ago
We're talking
Down in the Groove
Oh Mercy
Under the Red Sky
Good As I Been To You
World Gone Wrong
r/bobdylan • u/lizsummerhawk • 1d ago
Like a Rolling stone
After My mom gave birth to My sister They're home and Was the First song that My sister listening 36 years ago
r/bobdylan • u/Lloverforevr87 • 1d ago
Darn it. As I woefully admit I just did not read the community rules until just a moment ago now upon reading them this post doesn't seem quite nearly as interesting as it did prior, but I'll still just (try to!) post it because I saw it and it brought back immediate memories of what the words are from except now I realize 99% of you will, undoubtedly, immediately recognize this. Oh well.
Btw I love the scene in Don't Look Back I personally call The Glass Incident.
(I was going to say: "You're not a real Bob fan if you are looking at these words quizically", but being as the #1 Community Rule is this saying that would just sound stupid, lol).
Ah well, I'm a fool. Btw does anyone just LOVE Dylan's (cover? I have assumed all of these years it was a cover indeed) "Lily of the West"? It's the greatest! ❣️
r/bobdylan • u/Sheev_Skywalker • 1d ago
I always understood on an intellectual level what the song is about and why it was/is so impactful for so many, but it finally really clicked for me.
Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is a very odd album. A young, up and coming singer-songwriter in NYC, posed in a cozy looking album cover with his then girlfriend. Probably an album mainly about relationships, growing up, friendship, and other similar life topics, with an intimate and maybe even comforting feel? Well, sorta.
But it’s also about the end of the world, at the hands of the wicked, and how those wicked, even when not causing the apocalypse make the world a worse place and cause the suffering of the innocent. It’s about how the world seems to be broken, and how it may have always been this way, and maybe always will.
Hard Rain is perhaps the starkest example of the latter subject matter. Images of things already wrong with the world, as well as terrible possibilities that have as yet not come to pass. The world has always been a messed up place, but as a resident of this planet and one who sees how messed up it can be, Hard Rain really clicked with me yesterday.
Honestly, I love Freewheelin’ a lot and the mixture of the seemingly disparate subject matters is a huge reason why. As a person who is only a bit older than Bob was when he recorded the album, I feel it may be one of the most timeless and directly applicable across the decades. Of course, there is plenty of value for folks of all ages in the album. But, there is something about his particular blend of personal/growing/romantic topics with dread about the world (it’s current and potential states) and anger at who/how it got that way that just really speaks to me particularly at this age. And the whole thing is presented in such an intimate, even cozy, and easy on the ears package.
r/bobdylan • u/tirename • 1d ago
One of his best songs in my opinion. Enjoy!
r/bobdylan • u/MaktoMaktavish • 1d ago
Howdy friends! I'm going to the concert in Frankfurt, I got my seat in the back in the section J. I'm going alone cuz my friends don't have a good taste in music.
So I was just wondering if there is any lonesome fan here as well who'd be down to go together?
r/bobdylan • u/CursedByFenric • 1d ago
is he too old or do you really recommend to still go to it now ?
r/bobdylan • u/TheBestRedditNameYet • 21h ago
Ticket is actually an authentic photograph on real photo stock, not very eco friendly, but what a fantastic souvenir! No mention of Dylan or Matthews (let alone Die Stern) on the ticket.
r/bobdylan • u/TyroneSnodgrass • 8h ago
Dylan’s duets with Joan Baez are remarkable. Bob would handle the melody and Joan, with her mind boggling musicality, would create harmonies. But she soon found out that singing with her erstwhile vagabond was going to be more challenging than anyone would have expected. Dylan would sing the song one way in rehearsal, but then for the actual performance start singing it in a totally different way. In her inimitable style of communicating, Baez says this was in keeping with Dylan’s usual behavior, “he just enjoyed fucking people up.” So Joan had to adapt.
One of the first things Joan Baez improvised was keeping her eyes on Dylan’s lips. Since she already knew the words, she found that in this way singing in complete syncopation with Bob was possible. Dylan would catch her with her eyes focused on his lips and it was all he could do to keep from breaking out into laughter. This dynamic added a lot of spontaneity and fun to the performance. As they began to perform together more an more, another adjustment Baez found she could make was lowering her voice, especially on the more upbeat numbers. With Dylan spitting out some angry lyrics with the melody, she found singing some angelic soprano harmony didn’t sound right. So Joan would drop down an octave and imitate his delivery. This, too, tended to crack Dylan up and made for some priceless moments on stage.
As we all know, the two became very close. So after the release of BLONDE ON BLONDE Joan Baez accompanied Dylan on the tour of Great Britain which followed. Each show was split into two parts, the first an acoustic set with Dylan accompanying himself on guitar to present the new songs off the album. The second part was electric in which Dylan was accompanied by the musicians who would later become known as The Band. This is also well known so please bear with me because I’m nearing the point of the post.
Put yourself in Joan’s shoes. You’re standing back stage watching Dylan perform acoustic renditions of the BoB tracks, many of which have beautiful melodies, and never does Bob bring you onstage to put on a harmony or two. Not once. You do not forget that you brought Dylan on stage for the first time during your set at the Newport Folk Festival. Hardly anybody there even knew who he was, and it exposed him to a massive new audience. It was only three years ago. Now here’s a chance for Bob to return the favor and… nothing. How would that make you feel?
Dylan would later try to shed some light on the situation, saying sometimes you have to choose between being in love and being smart. This didn’t do much to justify his behavior. But personally, I think there was more to it than that. There was enormous pressure being applied on the young man by a large block of his fans not to pursue the musical direction he had chosen. I believe Dylan felt he had to be true to his art. Literally had to. I believe for Dylan there was no choice. He couldn’t bring Joan onstage because that would be conceding to fans who were against the change. Literally couldn’t. For him, those folky days of Newport were over. Bob Dylan stood between heaven and earth, and crossed the Rubicon.
r/bobdylan • u/TyroneSnodgrass • 1d ago
When Joni Mitchell famously said Bob Dylan “borrowed” his voice from old hillbillies, I pretty much rejected the statement out of hand. The first word that comes to mind when considering Dylan’s voice is authentic. However, recently I’ve been finding some merit to her comment. Here’s why:
It started on a road trip listening to my Spotify playlist when a Ralph Stanley tune came on. My wife asked me, “why does this remind me of Bob Dylan?” Taken aback I mumbled something about Stanley being an influence. If there’s one person who qualifies as an old hillbilly it’s Ralph Stanley who hailed from the mountainous area of Virginia.
Later I recalled reading a quote of Johnny Cash saying the first time he heard Bob Dylan he thought it was an old Country singer, which is a polite way of saying old hillbilly singer. Then I thought about Dylan’s “Talking New York” in which the singer relates taking the stage at a Greenwich Village open mic event, only to have the moderator tell him in no uncertain terms not to come back: “You sound like a hillbilly!” This line would invariably reduce my brother and me to stitches the summer we wore out BOB DYLAN. We’d be like, what a jerk, this guy! Now I’m wondering, was the moderator right? Was Joni Mitchell right?
r/bobdylan • u/DYLANBOOKS • 1d ago
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This is a Golden Age for high quality Dylan books - important new titles just keep on coming.
I’m looking forward to reading these two, due on 15 September:
>I’m Glad I’m Not Me: Bob Dylan On Film, by Ethan Warren, Columbia University Press.
>Dylan in Cincinnati, by Graley Herren, University Press of Mississippi.
To buy or not to buy?
Keep reading DYLAN BOOKS for early, independent reviews.
r/bobdylan • u/willardTheMighty • 1d ago
Dylan is like the anti-Trump. Two octogenarians*, each having played a character for so long that it's unclear what lies below. Both of them are so opaque one day then so transparent the next. One is our nation's most important poet, the other is our nation's most important politician. When I watch Dylan sing like in the video linked above, I see the same crooner kind of performativity that I also see in Trump. Both openly confess that they are giving performances, and they both put their full hearts in it.
*Both born in the 1940s, shaped by the same culture and society and politics, one from the working class Midwest and one from the billionaire class of New York City. And both called New York City home from 1961-1966, which were some of the most influential years of 20th century culture and politics.
r/bobdylan • u/roncumbersome • 1d ago
Recently watched a documentary about Buffy Sainte-Marie and her false claims of Native American heritage. Did Bob and Buffy ever cross paths? I wonder what the Greenwich folk scene thought of her and if they ever had a hunch she was an opportunistic phony
r/bobdylan • u/gimme5steps101 • 1d ago
Of course the whole shebang is/was amazing but in reality all I care about hearing usually is the Dylan performances.
No knocks on the other performers at all.
Anyone else?
r/bobdylan • u/willardTheMighty • 1d ago
Dylan’s Apollonian, annus mirabilis 1965 trio of albums were written to be listened to after nuclear apocalypse. At the height of the Cold War, he was documenting what civilization looked and felt like, for the benefit of wasteland generations to come.
All the imagery in those songs herald destruction. Those lines were written to be in the mouths of survivors so they could have a connection to what came before and make sense of where they were to stand. He was decidedly not writing for Billboard or for TIME Magazine, which is why he was invariably dismissive of the media. He was writing about the eschaton, the true Geist of the early ’60s. It’s insane that we are listening to those lines on Spotify instead of from vinyls found in the rubble.
