Bob Dylan At Budokan
by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan At Budokan by Bob Dylan
(Live album)
Year: 1978
Overall rank: 14,685th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
69/100 (from 107 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1978 (210th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (1,923rd)
Award Best albums of all time (14,685th)

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Bob Dylan bestography

Bob Dylan At Budokan is ranked 45th best out of 80 albums by Bob Dylan on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Bob Dylan is Highway 61 Revisited which is ranked number 29 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 25,634.

Bob Dylan album bestography « Higher ranked (14,507th)
Fallen Angels
This album (14,685th)
Bob Dylan At Budokan
Lower ranked (14,914th) »
The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Bob Dylan At Budokan track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 74 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Bob Dylan At Budokan rankings

Bob Dylan At Budokan rankings summary
Overall rank: 14,685th | 1970s rank: 1,923rd | 1978 rank: 210th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 2 hours ago).

Bob Dylan At Budokan collection

Bob Dylan At Budokan ratings

Average Rating: 
69/100 (from 107 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 107 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !
01/29/2026 09:09 Gedi  Ratings distribution  33683/100
 
70/100
 !
01/18/2026 13:49 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  14,71470/100
 
75/100
 !
05/17/2025 20:00 mostlymor  Ratings distribution  6,95179/100
 
75/100
 !
02/11/2025 16:23 jokerman1965  Ratings distribution  12083/100
 
80/100
 !
08/13/2024 03:15 lleon79  Ratings distribution  1,14381/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 68.7/100, a mean average of 66.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 68.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.7.


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Bob Dylan At Budokan favourites

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Bob Dylan At Budokan comments

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Rating:  
100/100
From 01/01/2021 20:58 | #263594
This is probably the most important album in my collection as it was the one that got me into Dylan way back in the early 1980's. I fell in love with it straight away, which gave me routes into so many other Dylan albums and also other artists that have covered Dylan. Still an absolute favourite after all these years.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 07/10/2016 11:11 | #170996
Dylan goes for a big band sound. It's actually very enjoyable and although you certainly wouldn't want these songs done like this too often, I can't help but find this album a lot of fun. In fact, some of It is quite beautiful.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/25/2016 12:43 | #157615
Not even close to my favorite Dylan record. I agree with the previous commentator, some interesting takes on classic material. Should have been a single disc.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 03/02/2014 20:20 | #105161
2 March 2014

The instrumentation is clean. Sax solos! Background vocals! A flute! Congas! Horn section! Big brass licks! This is damn clean fun. Somehow the presentation of all these classic songs in this way removes nearly all the emotion and beauty of the songs. Sometimes the songs feel totally lifeless, like Dylan is just going through the motions but in a "new" way.

The above is my perception of the lows here. There are things that are admirable about this album: Dylan is clearly going for a new sound. And he just jumps right in and goes for it. The band is actually pretty skilled. It sounds like a well drilled show. I like the reggae vibe of "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" The guitarist, Billy Cross, is pretty hot throughout the album. The version of "Maggie's Farm" is actually quite good and rockin'! The version of "Like A Rolling Stone" is, while being almost insanely predictable, quite good and fresh in a way. A crowd pleaser if there ever was one! And then the tender, harmony heavy and organ-rich version of "I Shall Be Released" is also surprisingly effective and captivating. And "All Along The Watchtower" features some great violin work. "All I Really Want To Do" is also really fun. Those are the slight good points.

As a whole this record is hampered by clear attempts at dancey and slightly disco inspired pop and big, wannabe Springsteen rawk.

All in all, this is terribly inconsistent record. About half of it not very good at all. The rest is at best quite good, but mostly kind of alright. Nothing approaching greatness here. Not really my cup of tea.

Grade: 58/100
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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