Bob Dylan Time Team?

[Si Hunt]

Would anyone be interested in doing a Bob Dylan Time Team?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

I think the problem is that Bob has way, way too many albums!

Perhaps if you did a selection of five, we might get through it. But I'm almost entirely unfamiliar with his back catalogue, short of a few greatest hits and a tape that someone made for me 18 years ago.

[Si Hunt]

I understand he's an aquired taste. If I did it on my own, would anyone be interested in reading my comments? I mean, you could join in with the ones you knew/liked/felt like getting to try if you wanted? Or I could identify certain "key" albums that I think are the essential ones for people to get hold of in advance.

Si.

[Nyder]

I'm afraid Bob Dylan doesn't float my boat, so my comments would be quite sparse!

[Si Hunt]

Okay, well there arn't as many Dylan albums as one might think. Well, there are, but if you strip away live, compilations and what not to the bare bones studio albums, we have:

Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Times They Are a-Changin'
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
Self Portrait
New Morning
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Dylan
Planet Waves
Blood on the Tracks
The Basement Tapes
Desire
Street Legal
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love
Infidels
Empire Burlesque
Knocked Out Loaded
Down in the Groove
Oh Mercy
Under the Red Sky
Good as I Been to You
World Gone Wrong
Time Out of Mind
"Love and Theft"
Modern Times
Together Through Life
Christmas in the Heart

Now I would do everything, if people want to read it, but if anyone is interested in just the essentials, they can be picked up cheap on Amazon Marketplace (or Spotified, I expect) and there are some genuine treasures to be found - epics of music. I would summarise the ten key albums as:

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - brilliant early acoustic stuff. "Blowin' in the Wind", "Don't Think Twice", "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" etc.
Bringing It All Back Home - Dylan goes electric. Features a lot of Greatest Hits
Highway 61 Revisited - majorly electric, includes "Like A Rolling Stone"
Blonde on Blonde - The drug one, "Rainy Day Women", "I Want You" etc.
Blood on the Tracks - his best album, the divorce one. "Twist of Fate", "Idiot Wind", "Tangled Up In Blue", "Shelter from the Storm" etc. etc.
Slow Train Coming - the biblical album. "Gotta Serve Somebody" etc.
Infidels - This and the next two albums are ropey, but you need at least one eighties album and this is half good
Oh Mercy - Brilliant return to form
Time Out of Mind - Second brilliant return to form
"Love and Theft" - Finally finds the natural sound for his old age, earthy and varied in style

Anyway, those are the main ones. If anyone wants to join in, or even just read what I have to say, then give me the green light and we'll go!

Here's an interesting article I found, ranking each of Dylan's albums from worse to best. Good lunchtime reading:

http://www.nerve.com/entertainment/r...-worst-to-best

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

I once listened to Time Out of Mind from beginning to end.

I just about lost the will to live by the end of it!

[Si Hunt]

He'd almost died of heart disease when he made that one, so he's not that "cheery". The closer is a treat though - 16 minutes long and no chorus.

Si.

[Dino]

I've only heard bits and bobs of Bob and Blonde On Blonde. It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding is probably my favourite of his.
But thanks for making this thread Si! Now watch everyone run away when I mention a Manic Street Preachers (13 albums, 2 compiliations and 1 b-side album) or Super Furry Animals (11 albums, 1 of them compilations, 1 a b-side album) Time Team!

[Rob McCow]

Si, perhaps you should start a Blog to review all of his albums - you could copy and paste the articles into PS as you do them. But that way you could publicise it on Twitter & Facebook and have it as it's standalone 'thing'. If you see what I mean!

There are many blogs that solely concern themselves with album reviews, so it would fit into that niche quite happily.

[Si Hunt]

Which blogsite should I use?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Ah, hum. This is where it gets complicated and comes down to personal preference! Wordpress seems quite popular for that sort of thing. I wouldn't recommend Live Journal, it's sort of Okay but not really that great.

[Si Hunt]

Ok, thanks Steve. I may do that.

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

I like Blogger