Album of the day (#1307): The Times They Are A-Changin'

[albummaster]

Today's album of the day

The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1964.
Country:
Overall rank: 488
Average rating: 81/100 (from 294 votes).

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Tracks:
1. The Times They Are a-Changin'
2. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
3. With God On Our Side
4. One Too Many Mornings
5. North Country Blues
6. Only A Pawn In Their Game
7. Boots Of Spanish Leather
8. When The Ship Comes In
9. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
10. Restless Farewell

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.

[Mdemauri]

His first album of all original songs. It's a step below The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Another Side of Bob Dylan the albums that were released before and after, so I think it tends to get overlooked in the Bob Dylan catalogue. But still a very good album.

[Skinny]

I think I ranked this eighth (out of nine) when we had a go at ranking his '60s output, and yet I still adore this album. There isn't anything that remotely resembles a weak song here, with 'Boots of Spanish Leather', 'Hattie Carroll', and 'One Too Many Mornings' being particular favourites. I guess I just feel like this album sort of doesn't work that well as an album (in comparison to some of his others; obviously it's still fantastic). It's just loaded with a few too many protest songs, or explicitly anti-establishment songs at any rate. They're all fantastic, but it makes for pretty heavy listening, not in the sense that it's dense or difficult, but just a bit of a downer. 'With God on Our Side', 'Only a Pawn in their Game', 'When the Ships Comes In', the title track, even 'North Country Blues' to an extent, the aforementioned 'Hattie Carroll' - it's just too much for one album. I don't think Bob had started smoking enough weed at this point, this album is totally devoid of humour (and somewhat lacking in hope).

But fuck it, I'm finding shit to complain about for the sake of it. I love this album. In the 1960s, Bob could do no wrong. He is quite probably my favourite artist ever, I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen him live (somewhere around 27 or 28, but possibly as many times as 30 - I've tried figuring it out, but to no avail), and this album contains some of his very best material, including - in 'Boots of Spanish Leather' and 'Hattie Carroll' - at least a couple of my favourite songs ever by anybody. So yeah, there are probably like 14 Dylan albums I prefer to this, more if we're including archival releases (various bits of the Bootleg Series, the Basement Tapes, etc.), and yet I'd still recommend this album in the most glowing terms possible. If you haven't heard it, check it out.
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[meccalecca]

I find ranking Dylan's 60s output impossible. Aside from his debut, everything was virtually perfect. Much of the time, this is my favorite Dylan album from his entire discography. And at other times it could be my 7th or 8th favorite. What I love most about this one is the stylistic consistency. With the title track, Bob sets the mood and never strays too far from it.
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http://jonnyleather.com

[Mercury]

Yeah, this album is just amazing. Looking at the tracklisting is crazy because there is literally no song on it less than completely brilliant, and there half a dozen absolute classics. And yes, it's very dark and grim and humorless. Sometimes it's just too much for me an sometimes it's exactly what I want in a Dylan album. It's really interesting seeing the contrast of moods from Freewheelin' to this - everything conveys it, the album cover the song titles as the song topics. Yet, obviously they are similar enough tht if you love one you'll love the other.

I think I ranked this 3 on my 60s Dylan ranking. If I redid it right now of probably place it at 2. I just adore this record. "One Too Many mornings", "Boots of Apanish Leather", and the title track and "One Too Many mornings" are all all time favorites for me.

But the song tht quite literally changed my life an is what turned me on to not only Dylan but music in general, is "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown". I remember being 11 or 12 and getting this CD from my local library and listening to that song over and over. I was stunned. It was undoubtedly the most powerful, stark, real music and art I'd ever heard or experienced. had never heard anything like it. I get shivers thinking about it to this day.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[Max15]

Hard to rank Dylan's albums, but this would probably be top 5 for me. Some are critical of it's lack of humour and bleak outlook but that's what makes it so great in my opinion. An album that starts with and is titled The Times They Are A-Changin' but continually goes against this idea in its other songs. In the song following the opener, Ballad of Hollis Brown, the final couplet is "There's 7 people dead on a South Dakota farm/Somewhere in the distance there's 7 new people", which I've always felt signifies the never ending cycle to death and poverty, a cycle carried on through North Country Blues and Hattie Carroll. Other songs like One Too Many Mornings show a cycle of heartbreak, and With God On Our Side shows the extent of War and how, despite its final plea, a country built on war and death will never be free from it as evidenced by its previous verses and the growing involvement in Vietnam at the time.

As with pretty much every Dylan album, there are songs that where wrongly left off this, such as John Brown and Percy's Song, either of which I feel could have replaced Only A Pawn In Their Game or When The Ship Comes In.

Blonde on Blonde had its "thin, wild mercury" sound and Blood on the Tracks had love sickness running through it. Dylan's albums have always been their best when striving towards a single particular, and when they seem more like chapters in the same book rather than a collection of short stories. A defeated bleakness exists in this album which, rather than protesting, examines the effects on human lives that government and outside force can have. It's amazing people where surprised Bob gave up protesting soon after this. If he ever started