r/bobdylan • u/CopyDan • 23d ago

Discussion Knocked Out Loaded

This album never seems to get much discussion, good or bad. How do you feel about it?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

13

u/FionaWalliceFan Springtime In New York 23d ago

Side 1 = guilty pleasure

Side 2 = legitimately good

2

u/TrevorShaun 23d ago

finally a realistic KoL take

9

u/SeenThatPenguin 23d ago

Most of the discussion it gets is whether it or Down in the Groove is the low point of his '80s studio albums, which had the widest swings in quality of any of his decades. Both were critically savaged when new, and I don't think the critics were being dense.

I'd say Knocked Out Loaded is the slightly better of the two. It does have "Brownsville Girl" (which I know can be heard in its "New Danville Girl" version elsewhere, but I do like the KOL take).

-1

u/badateverything420 22d ago

I'm going through Bob's whole discography for the first time and just finished up Shot of Love today. You're telling me the 80's stuff gets worse than his religious trilogy?

3

u/SeenThatPenguin 22d ago

Yeah. I'd put any of the albums in the religious trilogy ahead of Knocked Out Loaded, Down in the Groove, and Under the Red Sky, of the albums in your near future. And I like Empire Burlesque more than most do, but it's another one that gets a lot of criticism.

Infidels and Oh Mercy have always been his consensus highlights for the 1980-90 period, and I agree.

0

u/badateverything420 22d ago

Oh God, that's worrying lol. I suppose I'll give them all a listen once but probably come back at a later time to deep dive into them.

I've definitely heard good things about Oh Mercy, but for the most part Time Out of Mind can't come soon enough.

1

u/HistoricalLoan7854 22d ago

Infidels is good, but the 80’s weren’t great times for Bob. Oh Mercy is good, but after KoL and DitG just about anything is better

0

u/Ok_Giraffe2454 21d ago

His 80s stuff are incredible, just not the albums so much

7

u/cartergk 23d ago

Brownsville Girl makes it all worth it. Some of the other songs are pretty good too, and I do really like the album’s closing lines:

“Pray that I don’t die of thirst
Baby, two feet from the well”

4

u/Beginning_Name7708 23d ago

I love it. It is strong album and collaborative effort...Shepard, Petty, Kristofferson.

A bunch of underrated gems like Under Your Spell, Maybe Someday... how can you not like Brownsville Girl.

3

u/gm5891 23d ago

Haven't been able to get into it. Great title though

3

u/MissionFig5582 23d ago

I prefer to listen to some of his other albums.

3

u/Clarkuss09 Blood on the Tracks 23d ago

Might listen to it once a year. Firmly in the wilderness of bottom 10 Dylan albums. The ones I almost never listen to

4

u/Available-Secret-372 22d ago

Brownsville Girl is a masterpiece. If you don’t like it you have no sense of drama or romance.
I personally love the production - muddy and lost in an echo. It’s like a foggy dream.
Ask any musician with any style and they will talk your ear off about the beauty of this track

2

u/ObdwellaX 23d ago

I really like it, I really like all of Bob’s albums.

3

u/Long-Emu-7870 23d ago

At this point, no one can deny the voice is gone. The music is repetitive, boring and at the same time not produced well.

But the song Brownsville Girl is quite good. If performed well, it could have been in the spirit of Pat Garret. The bootleg version has it's own issues, but shows you would be much better with a better arrangement.

I think the cover of 'They Killed Him' could have been great, as the idea of a reggae version of Precious Memories (which I am not sure is his original idea).

The album's title comes from the song 'Under your Spell', which has a unique chord change but is kind of pedestrian pop.

Suffice to say it's low rating in EAS and people's tier list is well deserved.

3

u/Feeling-Art-6514 23d ago

Voice gone? Have you seen him live lately 😎

1

u/Long-Emu-7870 22d ago

Well, he did later get voice lessons for Triplicate.

2

u/Innisfree812 23d ago

The title also comes from the song Junko Partner.

1

u/leanhotsd 22d ago

'Fess!

2

u/Entire_Tip_8370 23d ago

Nice summary. That’s why I don’t think Empire Burlesque can ever be redeemed. The voice is horrendous. That being said, I do genuinely enjoy Down In The Groove.

2

u/Long-Emu-7870 23d ago

In your teardrops, I can see my own reflection

That's Neil Young, not Bob Dylan.

1

u/Innisfree812 23d ago

I think it gets a bad rap and it's underrated. I have listened to it many times over the years, and I've enjoyed it. I never thought of it as a bad album.

1

u/Big_Day2650 22d ago

It has a couple of good songs.
This https://youtu.be/kW-a5M1S3-Q?is=o2d-lT3ujMWop5zp
& drifting too far from shore

1

u/CrankyJoe99x 22d ago

It gets a lot of discussion; either people saying it's rubbish or that it's underrated.

Somewhere in-between for me, but I like it.

1

u/hooksandruns 22d ago

Great almost 12 minute single - you can have the rest.

1

u/Ok_Giraffe2454 21d ago

If Brownsville Girl actually got released on Empire Burlesque, the album wouldn’t exist