Bob Dylan Chart
by 
Mercury 
UPDATE: about 7 years ago when I first gained custom chart abilities round these parts, the first thing I did was this chart. I was indeed listening intently to Dylan each day in chronological order, trying to write a sensible review, and then ranking them. Years went by and I never got past the 80s (go figure...lol) but I now will open this up and make it public again. I have added every album i think and then i'll rank them without reviews in some cases. But for now the first 30 is all done and reviewed and then the next 40 or so are just the very long chronological list of what I have left to do.
I do plan on (yes I know I have said the following before) continuing and giving new listens to all these albums.
Let me know what you think.
- Chart updated: 09/25/2021 04:45
- (Created: 08/23/2013 08:22).
- Chart size: 73 albums.
There are 15 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Bob Dylan Chart has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 23 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Bob Dylan & The Band. (Remove this filter)
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30 September 2013-
It is hard to describe the merits and qualities of this album. For me at least. Because it is sorta strange. The bulk of it was originally recorded with The Band in Woodstock in '67. Dylan and The Band recorded A LOT more than this. And they didn't release it for awhile. Finally in '75 they released it on the heels of the overwhelming enthusiasm that greeted "Blood on the Tracks". BUT the recordings from that time were added to a bit and cleaned up. And even more weird was The Band randomly added about 8 songs they had recorded seperate from "The Basement".
Now the Band material that is added is pretty killer at times and in and of itself is always solid. It seems unnecessary is all. The Dylan and the Band material is BRILLIANT! It's hard to say what makes it sound so great. It just sounds utterly unrushed, unconcerned, non-chalant and relaxed. It feels like the weight has been taken off these guys' shoulders and they are just making cool music that they want to make. The stories and lyrics on here feel sorta non-sequitor at times. They don't feel particularly deep, or at least it doesn't feel like Dylan is going out of his way to make deep, important music or trying to top BoB.
The music is rough, tough, natural. It mixes all these great folk and country and rock elements together so well. There is just a lot of uniqueness and personality in here and The Band were obviously top notch.
Overall, while the whole release is about a 90 or 89, if I exclude the Band's added songs and just consider Dylan's material here with such classics as "This Wheel's On Fire", "Clothes Line Saga", "Million Dollar Bash", "Goin' to Acapulco", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Tears of Rage" and "Lo and Behold" etc, you're lookin' at an all time unimitable (although often attempted) classic!
Grade: 95/100
(Oh and won't that be the great Bootleg Series ever if they literally released and remastered ALL 100+ songs that are out there of the real Basement tapes? Whoa!!!)
((Note I wrote the above need for all the basement tapes 2 years before they were indeed fully released. so yeah, that is amazing)) [First added to this chart: 09/30/2013]
It is hard to describe the merits and qualities of this album. For me at least. Because it is sorta strange. The bulk of it was originally recorded with The Band in Woodstock in '67. Dylan and The Band recorded A LOT more than this. And they didn't release it for awhile. Finally in '75 they released it on the heels of the overwhelming enthusiasm that greeted "Blood on the Tracks". BUT the recordings from that time were added to a bit and cleaned up. And even more weird was The Band randomly added about 8 songs they had recorded seperate from "The Basement".
Now the Band material that is added is pretty killer at times and in and of itself is always solid. It seems unnecessary is all. The Dylan and the Band material is BRILLIANT! It's hard to say what makes it sound so great. It just sounds utterly unrushed, unconcerned, non-chalant and relaxed. It feels like the weight has been taken off these guys' shoulders and they are just making cool music that they want to make. The stories and lyrics on here feel sorta non-sequitor at times. They don't feel particularly deep, or at least it doesn't feel like Dylan is going out of his way to make deep, important music or trying to top BoB.
The music is rough, tough, natural. It mixes all these great folk and country and rock elements together so well. There is just a lot of uniqueness and personality in here and The Band were obviously top notch.
Overall, while the whole release is about a 90 or 89, if I exclude the Band's added songs and just consider Dylan's material here with such classics as "This Wheel's On Fire", "Clothes Line Saga", "Million Dollar Bash", "Goin' to Acapulco", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Tears of Rage" and "Lo and Behold" etc, you're lookin' at an all time unimitable (although often attempted) classic!
Grade: 95/100
(Oh and won't that be the great Bootleg Series ever if they literally released and remastered ALL 100+ songs that are out there of the real Basement tapes? Whoa!!!)
((Note I wrote the above need for all the basement tapes 2 years before they were indeed fully released. so yeah, that is amazing)) [First added to this chart: 09/30/2013]
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,594
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
17
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1 December 2013
This is a live album from '74 when Bob Dylan and the Band were touring after releasing "Planet Waves". This was sort of a come back for Dylan. He hadn't toured for 8 years prior to this.
I'm not hugely enthusiastic about live albums. I just want to get that out of the way. They aren't really generally my cup of tea. But I do like this album. I'm loving the playful and loose vibes here. And the Band really rock throughout here. They are really on their game. Dylan vocally is also quite good.
These 2 disks definitely cover a lot of ground both in Dylan's and the Band's discography.
Highlights are the very emotional rendition of "I Shall Be Released", and the very energetic takes on "Most Likely You Go Your Way", "It Ain't Me Babe", "All Along The Watchtower", and the whole acoustic set that starts off disc 2. It's fun to hear the crowd reaction during "It's Alright Ma.." When Dylan says the legendary line "Even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked." They ate it up! (Nixon's scandal was fresh at the time of this album.)
I don't really love The Band separate from Dylan, and there are whole sections where Dylan is nowhere to be found here. That is my main gripe. Otherwise, the missteps here are few ("When You Awake" is kinda shit) and the energy is there. This tour was a good primer for the absolute work of genius which was to follow the next year.
Grade 79/100 [First added to this chart: 12/01/2013]
This is a live album from '74 when Bob Dylan and the Band were touring after releasing "Planet Waves". This was sort of a come back for Dylan. He hadn't toured for 8 years prior to this.
I'm not hugely enthusiastic about live albums. I just want to get that out of the way. They aren't really generally my cup of tea. But I do like this album. I'm loving the playful and loose vibes here. And the Band really rock throughout here. They are really on their game. Dylan vocally is also quite good.
These 2 disks definitely cover a lot of ground both in Dylan's and the Band's discography.
Highlights are the very emotional rendition of "I Shall Be Released", and the very energetic takes on "Most Likely You Go Your Way", "It Ain't Me Babe", "All Along The Watchtower", and the whole acoustic set that starts off disc 2. It's fun to hear the crowd reaction during "It's Alright Ma.." When Dylan says the legendary line "Even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked." They ate it up! (Nixon's scandal was fresh at the time of this album.)
I don't really love The Band separate from Dylan, and there are whole sections where Dylan is nowhere to be found here. That is my main gripe. Otherwise, the missteps here are few ("When You Awake" is kinda shit) and the energy is there. This tour was a good primer for the absolute work of genius which was to follow the next year.
Grade 79/100 [First added to this chart: 12/01/2013]
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
244
Rank in 1974:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
[First added to this chart: 02/15/2016]
Buy album
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On deck....
[First added to this chart: 02/15/2016]
Total albums: 4. Page 1 of 1
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Bob Dylan Chart composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 9 | 12% | |
| 1970s | 13 | 18% | |
| 1980s | 10 | 14% | |
| 1990s | 8 | 11% | |
| 2000s | 13 | 18% | |
| 2010s | 18 | 25% | |
| 2020s | 2 | 3% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Bob Dylan | 62 | 85% | |
| Various Artists | 5 | 7% | |
| Bob Dylan & The Band | 4 | 5% | |
| Bob Dylan Featuring Johnny Cash | 1 | 1% | |
| Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead | 1 | 1% |
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Bob Dylan Chart ratings
93/100 (from 23 votes)
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 chart. | Show all 23 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
100/100  | 07/28/2025 13:07 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
100/100 | 06/21/2025 00:31 |  Robert Anton Wil | | 91/100 |
 100/100 | 11/07/2018 12:49 |  DommeDamian | | 89/100 |
| 100/100 | 09/10/2018 02:05 |  Onater | | 90/100 |
| 85/100 | 05/30/2018 01:37 |  JulianR | | 75/100 |
Rating metrics:
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 charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.2/100, a mean average of 96.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 96.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 5.1.
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Bob Dylan Chart comments
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100/100
From Johnnyo 07/28/2025 13:07
Clearly a labour of love and a great read. Outstanding effort.
#310327 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From DommeDamian 11/07/2018 12:49
DommeDamian 11/07/2018 12:49
I felt like I needed a chart like this. Bob Dylan a living legend!!!
#224028 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From JulianR 05/30/2018 01:40
JulianR 05/30/2018 01:40
This is pretty cool. I can see lots of effort has gone in to it. However you're missing some of Dylan's best albums! Oh Mercy, and then basically all the studio albums from Time Out of Mind to present are absolutely phenomenal. Time Out of Mind is especially good, my #2 Dylan album at the moment. Other than that (and the fact that Blonde on Blonde is so low! How could you??), you're doing great work. Keep it up!
#215787 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From stangetzaway 12/09/2015 12:17
Great hobby to rank the albums of the grestest solo performer in the history of popular music. One piece of advice hunt down Biograph its the grandfather of the bootleg series if you like but comfortably better than any of them (except poss live 66!)
#154217 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From Jhef9312 11/24/2015 05:16
Cool chart, but you have to finish it. Again the comments are great. Being a huge Dylan fan, I would have ranked them differently. I think I'm going to have to steal the idea for my first custom chart also, thanks!
#153382 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From RockyRaccoon 03/26/2015 18:44
RockyRaccoon 03/26/2015 18:44
I'd be interested on your thoughts on Dylan & The Dead
Come back to this!
#137877 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
Arthurknight 12/10/2014 04:15
Arthurknight 12/10/2014 04:15
Revisited is definitely Dylan's best work, and for that your chart definitely wins me over. i love the notes you've added btw
#129096 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
Decurso 07/28/2014 14:14
Decurso 07/28/2014 14:14
Fabulous! Personally I would put Blonde on Blonde in the number 2 spot and rate Desire ahead of Blood on the Tracks...but thats just me. Bob rules!
#117981 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From RockyRaccoon 05/09/2014 04:31
RockyRaccoon 05/09/2014 04:31
I'm also interested to see what your absolute least favorite Dylan album is when this is all said and done. My bet is Under The Red Sky
#111256 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From RockyRaccoon 05/09/2014 04:29
RockyRaccoon 05/09/2014 04:29
Love it. Of course I would've had Blood On The Tracks at #1 but that's me, #2 ain't bad. You can't go wrong with just about any of these albums. I'll be interested to see your opinion on his 80s stuff. 80s Dylan can be tough to listen to at time, but I think albums like Saved get more hate than they should.
Anyways, good chart, love it.
#111255 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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