17. THE BASEMENT TAPES (with The Band) (1975) (24/5/18)
Despite being released in 1975, the songs on this album were relentlessly bootlegged since they were recorded in 1967 and 1968. Apparently more than 100 songs were laid down during Dylan's time with The Band (still known as The Hawks at the time). I think the biggest collection of songs from those sessions were released as part of Dylan's official Bootleg Series in 2014.
Anyway, I find this album a little difficult to get into. In fact, it was listening to this that stopped me from continuing forward with these blog posts back in 2018. There are eight tracks that don't feature Dylan at all, echoing the shared track listing of Before The Flood, and that creates a bit of a mixed vibe. It was always going to be difficult to craft an album out of so many songs that people had shared among themselves for nearly a decade. But, even with that in mind, it comes across as being very disjointed. Maybe after more listens, I'll start to 'get it'.
I've never been a huge fan of Tears of Rage and This Wheel's On Fire anyway, and they're the most well-known songs on offer. Even You Ain't Goin' Nowhere is quite different, lyrically and musically, from the version that appeared on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II. I did enjoy Goin' To Acapulco, Long Distance Operator, Katie's Been Gone and Please, Mrs Henry however. The fact that Clothes Line Saga mentions the date January 30th (my birthday) is kinda cool too. One to revisit a little more, methinks.
18. DESIRE (1976) (24/5/18)Interestingly, I listened to this album and The Basement Tapes on Dylan's 77th birthday. Another good reason for me to start spinning a little more of his work, I thought. Desire feels like a natural progression from Blood On The Tracks as far as production goes, with a prominent use of the violin, thanks to Scarlet Rivera and backing vocals from Emmylou Harris. Except for one song, the whole album was co-written by Dylan and Jacques Levy, which is quite unusual. Most of the tracks have a strong narrative style as a result, the album opening with arguably its most well-known song Hurricane. It's an epic tune outlining the wrongful imprisonment of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter for the crime of murder (Carter was eventually released in 1985). The eight and a half minute track is not the longest on this album though. That title goes to the twelve verse (count 'em, twelve!) ballad Joey, which details the events of gangster "Crazy Joey" Gallo clocking up eleven minutes. It's a pretty good album this one. It was my first listen, but I was already familiar with Oh, Sister, Hurricane and One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below), the latter being the one song Dylan penned on his own. I also dig Mozambique and Romance In Durango. During the recording of this album, Dylan also cut of my favourite tracks of his, Rita May. It was released as a single, and appeared on the 1978 three-album compilation Masterpieces, which is where I first heard it. The jaunty tune sounds like it should be here, like this is where it belongs, not adrift on a single.
19. HARD RAIN (1976) (25/5/18)
Like the documentary title, Dylan doesn't look back. If he chooses to revisit his older material in concert, he tends to change the arrangement significantly. This is definitely the case with this live album recorded during the Rolling Thunder Revue. The only songs that sound similar to the studio versions are the recent(ish) ones. Even the fairly new Shelter From The Storm gets a rollicking arrangement far removed from the acoustic treatment it received on Blood On The Tracks. The album opens with a raucous reworking of Maggie's Farm that I absolutely love. I only just learned that Mick Ronson (yes, THAT Mick Ronson) plays on the song too! It was actually the first version I heard, due to it being on the Masterpieces compilation. I didn't hear the original (from Bringing It All Back Home) until I was well into my twenties, possibly thirties. One Too Many Mornings gets a great rendition as does crowd favourite Lay Lady Lay, again presented quite differently to the Nashvillle Skyline recording. I'm not the biggest fan of Idiot Wind, but it's performance here is pretty apt closer for the album, and it's arguably more passionate than the studio version.
20. STREET-LEGAL (1978) (30/5/18)
Thanks to Rolling Stone magazine's Top 100 Dylan songs list a few years back, I was already familiar with three tracks on this album. If not for that, I would have flown into this one totally blind. While there's nothing hugely well-known here, it's pretty damn great. This marks another shift in Dylan's production as he enlists a full band complete with female backing vocals. My big highlights are Señor (Tales of Yankee Power), opening track Changing Of The Guards and the eight minute plus No Time To Think. The former is my absolute fave from this album, and bizarrely, No.100 in the aforementioned RS list. The album's closer Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat) is a good track too, and another of the three from that RS list.
