Bob Dylan
by kokkinos 
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- Chart updated: 12/17/2021 23:15
- (Created: 12/06/2021 22:09).
- Chart size: 39 albums.
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So, my very first Dylan related memories date back to early ‘00s, when this alongside Love And Theft were the talk of the town. However, this doesn’t mean that it was one of his first albums that I got into. Quite the contrary, actually. It’s definitely an album I wouldn’t recommend to a newcomer. Even nowadays I feel like I’m too young to fully appreciate it, it’s so rich it offers plenty of room for extensive analysis and I’m barely scratching the surface, one of his releases that I need to spend more time with. Maybe that justifies the low ranking, maybe it doesn’t.
Anyway, what a comeback, you have to go two decades back to find another album of his that reaches the same heights. If there’s one reason that this album succeeds is that he realises and accepts where he stands, which is clearly reflected on his songwriting. He isn’t a rock star, a pop icon or a voice of a generation, just an everyday man who expresses his concerns and exposes his weaknesses, the best years of his life are behind him, aging is real, he’s as relatable as he’s ever been. At the same time, it comes off as extremely fresh, the themes explored here are not exactly mass appealing – considering the demographics of the target audience - and as a result close to uncharted territory for popular music. His (when I say his I don’t mean Dylan’s in an autobiographical sense, I’m talking about the narrator) personal struggles are clearly the trigger, but there are underlying causes for his sadness, it’s not only his own path that’s filled with grey clouds, i.e. a failed romance or the years passing, there are a few factors that go beyond himself and complete the picture, social alienation, the community being in ruins, freedom being threatened etc. As it is the case with all his "modern" albums, it is a very heavy listen that shouldn’t be repeated too often.
Something has to be said about the production as well – one of the last things you usually notice in a Bob Dylan album, when it stands out it's usually for the wrong reasons - see the '80s - but here it does an excellent job. Nothing fancy, bombastic or in any way distracting, simple and to the point, creating a dense and tight atmosphere. The guitar work is just as crucial, any effects used are essential in the “abstract horror film” aesthetics – here is the part I should mention what a fantastic album cover that is, probably my second favourite behind John Wesley Harding.
One might argue it’s just the organ, but the opening track, Love Sick, has always stuck me as Doors-reminiscent with its hypnotically repetitive, gloomily psychedelic vibe, the guitar is constantly on the edge, ready to explode, but it never does. It makes clear where the focus of the album lies in terms of its subject matter. His past and future look equally dark and desperate (by the way, what a funny choice for an album title, if there’s one thing he can’t get out of his mind, it’s time), he is a broken man, empty of life. When it comes to heartbreak songs, that’s as good as it gets. Dirt Road Blues is not as inspired, but that doesn’t stop it from being highly entertaining. Maybe he knows that we need a break after the emotional devastation that the opening track was and that’s exactly what we get here. It works better as part of the sum than as a standalone track. I guess if you want to label this song – and the entire album to an extent - using a single term, it’s blues to its core, but don’t take that as a criticism. After all, if there’s one songwriter who’ s mastered the art of walking in the steps of his predecessors while using his own shoes, it’s Bob Dylan. If you thought Love Sick had reached the bottom of the barrel, hang on a second, here comes Standing In The Doorway to prove you wrong. It is long and slow, giving you the chance to lose yourself in it, as it plays like an age-old, black and white movie, where the main character is lost, lonely and hopeless. Million Miles keeps the same groove, but at the same time shows a willingness to expand sound-wise, adding a healthy dose of exoticism and a bit of jazz. In terms of lyrical content, his state of mind remains unaltered. He’s far from his most poetic, but he’s close to his most accessible. Then it’s throwback time with Tryin’ to Get to Heaven and its super catchy melodies. If you take into account it deals with aging and mortality (the obvious point of comparison would be Knockin On Heaven’s Door, but I think this one’s clearly superior, a “on steroids” version of it if you will.), that’s definitely a weird combo. Til I Fell in Love with You has a kinda similar function to Dirt Road Blues. It may not be the most spectacular song when examined individually, but at least it maintains the momentum. By now the album is on a roll, everything flows super smoothly. Not Dark Yet is the central piece of the album, everything else is built around it and it has no trouble living up to the hype whatsoever. It’s like a punch in the face, his images are so powerful and so real, it crushes you again and again. A meditation at the very last moment before it’s curtains. You know, standing on the edge of the abyss and seeing the end coming can be more bloodcurdling than jumping right into it. Cold Irons Bound has a more playful sound, a welcome change of pace – but don’t be fooled, the landscape remains bleak and ugly. Make You Feel My Love used to be the track I used to consider the only misstep of the album. It’s not that I hated it or anything remotely close to that, I found it ok-ish, but I couldn’t help the thought it feels out of place here - and it’s one of his longest albums ever, so its running time would be just fine had it been omitted. Nowadays, I quite like it – still don’t love it - even a grim day has an hour of beauty, that’s what this sweet and uplifting ballad contributes to Time Out Of Mind. Can’t Wait is the point where the two ends that run this record meet – getting old and having a broken heart - and one could argue it would make an excellent closing track... but then comes Highlands. If Time Out Of Mind were a film, Highlands would have been the post-credits scene. We believed all points had been covered adequately and couldn’t imagine we needed anything more, yet it opens a brand new world and we're left wondering how we lived without it so far. It doesn’t matter what exactly it stands for – it could be the afterlife or anything else, who knows – the point is there’s a promised land waiting for him somewhere, bidding farewell with a glimpse of hope.
Score: 8.3/10
Anyway, what a comeback, you have to go two decades back to find another album of his that reaches the same heights. If there’s one reason that this album succeeds is that he realises and accepts where he stands, which is clearly reflected on his songwriting. He isn’t a rock star, a pop icon or a voice of a generation, just an everyday man who expresses his concerns and exposes his weaknesses, the best years of his life are behind him, aging is real, he’s as relatable as he’s ever been. At the same time, it comes off as extremely fresh, the themes explored here are not exactly mass appealing – considering the demographics of the target audience - and as a result close to uncharted territory for popular music. His (when I say his I don’t mean Dylan’s in an autobiographical sense, I’m talking about the narrator) personal struggles are clearly the trigger, but there are underlying causes for his sadness, it’s not only his own path that’s filled with grey clouds, i.e. a failed romance or the years passing, there are a few factors that go beyond himself and complete the picture, social alienation, the community being in ruins, freedom being threatened etc. As it is the case with all his "modern" albums, it is a very heavy listen that shouldn’t be repeated too often.
Something has to be said about the production as well – one of the last things you usually notice in a Bob Dylan album, when it stands out it's usually for the wrong reasons - see the '80s - but here it does an excellent job. Nothing fancy, bombastic or in any way distracting, simple and to the point, creating a dense and tight atmosphere. The guitar work is just as crucial, any effects used are essential in the “abstract horror film” aesthetics – here is the part I should mention what a fantastic album cover that is, probably my second favourite behind John Wesley Harding.
One might argue it’s just the organ, but the opening track, Love Sick, has always stuck me as Doors-reminiscent with its hypnotically repetitive, gloomily psychedelic vibe, the guitar is constantly on the edge, ready to explode, but it never does. It makes clear where the focus of the album lies in terms of its subject matter. His past and future look equally dark and desperate (by the way, what a funny choice for an album title, if there’s one thing he can’t get out of his mind, it’s time), he is a broken man, empty of life. When it comes to heartbreak songs, that’s as good as it gets. Dirt Road Blues is not as inspired, but that doesn’t stop it from being highly entertaining. Maybe he knows that we need a break after the emotional devastation that the opening track was and that’s exactly what we get here. It works better as part of the sum than as a standalone track. I guess if you want to label this song – and the entire album to an extent - using a single term, it’s blues to its core, but don’t take that as a criticism. After all, if there’s one songwriter who’ s mastered the art of walking in the steps of his predecessors while using his own shoes, it’s Bob Dylan. If you thought Love Sick had reached the bottom of the barrel, hang on a second, here comes Standing In The Doorway to prove you wrong. It is long and slow, giving you the chance to lose yourself in it, as it plays like an age-old, black and white movie, where the main character is lost, lonely and hopeless. Million Miles keeps the same groove, but at the same time shows a willingness to expand sound-wise, adding a healthy dose of exoticism and a bit of jazz. In terms of lyrical content, his state of mind remains unaltered. He’s far from his most poetic, but he’s close to his most accessible. Then it’s throwback time with Tryin’ to Get to Heaven and its super catchy melodies. If you take into account it deals with aging and mortality (the obvious point of comparison would be Knockin On Heaven’s Door, but I think this one’s clearly superior, a “on steroids” version of it if you will.), that’s definitely a weird combo. Til I Fell in Love with You has a kinda similar function to Dirt Road Blues. It may not be the most spectacular song when examined individually, but at least it maintains the momentum. By now the album is on a roll, everything flows super smoothly. Not Dark Yet is the central piece of the album, everything else is built around it and it has no trouble living up to the hype whatsoever. It’s like a punch in the face, his images are so powerful and so real, it crushes you again and again. A meditation at the very last moment before it’s curtains. You know, standing on the edge of the abyss and seeing the end coming can be more bloodcurdling than jumping right into it. Cold Irons Bound has a more playful sound, a welcome change of pace – but don’t be fooled, the landscape remains bleak and ugly. Make You Feel My Love used to be the track I used to consider the only misstep of the album. It’s not that I hated it or anything remotely close to that, I found it ok-ish, but I couldn’t help the thought it feels out of place here - and it’s one of his longest albums ever, so its running time would be just fine had it been omitted. Nowadays, I quite like it – still don’t love it - even a grim day has an hour of beauty, that’s what this sweet and uplifting ballad contributes to Time Out Of Mind. Can’t Wait is the point where the two ends that run this record meet – getting old and having a broken heart - and one could argue it would make an excellent closing track... but then comes Highlands. If Time Out Of Mind were a film, Highlands would have been the post-credits scene. We believed all points had been covered adequately and couldn’t imagine we needed anything more, yet it opens a brand new world and we're left wondering how we lived without it so far. It doesn’t matter what exactly it stands for – it could be the afterlife or anything else, who knows – the point is there’s a promised land waiting for him somewhere, bidding farewell with a glimpse of hope.
Score: 8.3/10
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,284
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
28
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A bit surprising considering how low I ranked World Gone Wrong, but I’ve always thought that this record doesn’t get enough love. He returns to his roots – or, I can’t resist the pun, he is going back to the start - an old man tired (just look at the album cover, he appears exhausted) of trying various things and returning home. Taking into account what happened throughout the ‘80s we can safely conclude that this was a sane choice. To be fair, Oh Mercy also showed some potential, but then followed Under The Red Sky – a career low, as bad as any of his ’80s releases -, so it was a clear case of one step forward, two steps back.
Despite following familiar paths and staying away from anything revolutionary or challenging, it doesn’t sound like his past takes on similar material due to his voice. His age shows in this album. A lot. Way more than anything that he’d done up to this point. Hadn’t I already known how old he was when this came out, I would have guessed we are listening to someone in his seventies. This is commonly brought up as a form of criticism, but for me it’s the opposite, it’s the deciding factor that elevates this record to next level. In all likelihood I am alone in that, but it contains some of my favourite performances of his – to be exact, not all of them, at some points it’s simply ok to good, but some of them are excellent - I just can’t get enough, it’s extremely addictive. One such example would be Jim Jones, it’s glorious, I wanna sound like that when I get old, lol. In that sense, I like thinking of this album as a new era – “senior” Dylan would be a sort of acceptable name I guess. Of course all the above could be taken as a warning: If his vocals irritate you on general principle, do yourself a favour and avoid this like the plague, else the post-traumatic stress disorder will be unbearable.
On top of his vocals, his guitar playing is some of the best of his career – acoustic Dylan can’t be wrong, but vocals and lyrics tend to steal the show more often than not, so it kinda makes sense that some of his earlier guitar work is underrated, here the other two elements don’t impress the average listener (don’t forget that it’s an album consisting of traditional folk songs, meaning that there are no Dylan lyrics, so the songwriting part goes out the window) leaving plenty of room for this aspect of him to shine. Another thing that I feel should be brought up is that I’m rather uneducated when it comes to traditional folk, so I’m not familiar with other versions of these songs and it’s hard to evaluate them in that regard – maybe explains why I think so highly of them and overrate this album. If I had to name a complaint, it could have been shorter, there are two or three tracks towards the end that could have been omitted. Not much else to be said really, his albums that lack original material aren't suited to any lengthy analysis.
Score: 7.1/10
Despite following familiar paths and staying away from anything revolutionary or challenging, it doesn’t sound like his past takes on similar material due to his voice. His age shows in this album. A lot. Way more than anything that he’d done up to this point. Hadn’t I already known how old he was when this came out, I would have guessed we are listening to someone in his seventies. This is commonly brought up as a form of criticism, but for me it’s the opposite, it’s the deciding factor that elevates this record to next level. In all likelihood I am alone in that, but it contains some of my favourite performances of his – to be exact, not all of them, at some points it’s simply ok to good, but some of them are excellent - I just can’t get enough, it’s extremely addictive. One such example would be Jim Jones, it’s glorious, I wanna sound like that when I get old, lol. In that sense, I like thinking of this album as a new era – “senior” Dylan would be a sort of acceptable name I guess. Of course all the above could be taken as a warning: If his vocals irritate you on general principle, do yourself a favour and avoid this like the plague, else the post-traumatic stress disorder will be unbearable.
On top of his vocals, his guitar playing is some of the best of his career – acoustic Dylan can’t be wrong, but vocals and lyrics tend to steal the show more often than not, so it kinda makes sense that some of his earlier guitar work is underrated, here the other two elements don’t impress the average listener (don’t forget that it’s an album consisting of traditional folk songs, meaning that there are no Dylan lyrics, so the songwriting part goes out the window) leaving plenty of room for this aspect of him to shine. Another thing that I feel should be brought up is that I’m rather uneducated when it comes to traditional folk, so I’m not familiar with other versions of these songs and it’s hard to evaluate them in that regard – maybe explains why I think so highly of them and overrate this album. If I had to name a complaint, it could have been shorter, there are two or three tracks towards the end that could have been omitted. Not much else to be said really, his albums that lack original material aren't suited to any lengthy analysis.
Score: 7.1/10
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As I got ready to post the next album, I didn’t remember it was this one, in my mind I had already moved on to the next and this little and seemingly unimportant incident perfectly sums up my relationship with World Gone Wrong. This is an album whose existence I tend to forget whenever I get the chance to talk about Bob Dylan – and deciding to listen to it is an extremely rare occasion. There’s nothing memorable, be it astoundingly great or spectacularly horrible, here, just a painfully middle-of-the-road, slightly boring record. It has a fitting title, something went wrong indeed – a quick hint:I don’t mean the world.
This is -rather sensibly- viewed as the sequel of Good As I Been To You, it’s the second part of his return to his roots, traditional, acoustic folk. It’s the '60s again, just Bob Dylan, his guitar and his harmonica, as good a company as it gets. On the other hand, you tried it once, good for you, a second one back to back? No, thanks. The truth is he has this tendency, when he comes up with a new idea or concept, he is willing to stick with it for some time – as a general rule it’s two or three albums – and push it to its logical conclusion. I don’t have a problem with this attitude per se, it’s definitely good to be persistent on a new concept, if you believe it’s one that’s worth being explored further. To additionally emphasise this point, there are numerous cases when his second take on a given subject does surpass the first, but it should be self-explanatory that this doesn’t apply to all ideas or concepts. I guess the point is that there’s no cure-all solution, it all depends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Here, it’s clearly the latter. If I had to speculate regarding his motivation for releasing World Gone Wrong, I’d say it has nothing to do with the above, i.e. being dissatisfied with his first attempt and being eager to improve on it, it’s mainly a matter of not being in the mood to challenge himself and try something different.
Trying to spot any distinguishing features between this and Good As I Been To You, this isn’t entirely dedicated to traditional folk – which of course remains the core of the album-, it moves closer to blues territory this time. Also, it establishes a darker atmosphere, which is reflected in both lyrics and instrumentation. Now, you may ask, is the outcome of these changes positive or negative? They sound good in theory, but they didn’t work for me. I’ve always found it puzzling that most people don’t differentiate them and the reviews will be either positive or negative towards both of them. As far as I’m concerned, the gap is quite large – in favour of Good As I Been To You. One of the most random thoughts ever, but the album cover reminds me a bit of another record that came out in 1993 aesthetics-wise, namely Liberation by The Divine Comedy - or even their 1996 release, Casanova.
I know I didn’t make any comment on specific tracks, that’s because I’d suggest resorting to the liner notes instead (even if you don't own the album, they should be available online), I don’t have anything substantial to add. Also, I am not familiar with other, more famous versions of these songs, so it’s not easy to evaluate them properly. Maybe this explains why I found it so consistent and identified practically zero highlights.
Score: 5.7/10.
This is -rather sensibly- viewed as the sequel of Good As I Been To You, it’s the second part of his return to his roots, traditional, acoustic folk. It’s the '60s again, just Bob Dylan, his guitar and his harmonica, as good a company as it gets. On the other hand, you tried it once, good for you, a second one back to back? No, thanks. The truth is he has this tendency, when he comes up with a new idea or concept, he is willing to stick with it for some time – as a general rule it’s two or three albums – and push it to its logical conclusion. I don’t have a problem with this attitude per se, it’s definitely good to be persistent on a new concept, if you believe it’s one that’s worth being explored further. To additionally emphasise this point, there are numerous cases when his second take on a given subject does surpass the first, but it should be self-explanatory that this doesn’t apply to all ideas or concepts. I guess the point is that there’s no cure-all solution, it all depends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Here, it’s clearly the latter. If I had to speculate regarding his motivation for releasing World Gone Wrong, I’d say it has nothing to do with the above, i.e. being dissatisfied with his first attempt and being eager to improve on it, it’s mainly a matter of not being in the mood to challenge himself and try something different.
Trying to spot any distinguishing features between this and Good As I Been To You, this isn’t entirely dedicated to traditional folk – which of course remains the core of the album-, it moves closer to blues territory this time. Also, it establishes a darker atmosphere, which is reflected in both lyrics and instrumentation. Now, you may ask, is the outcome of these changes positive or negative? They sound good in theory, but they didn’t work for me. I’ve always found it puzzling that most people don’t differentiate them and the reviews will be either positive or negative towards both of them. As far as I’m concerned, the gap is quite large – in favour of Good As I Been To You. One of the most random thoughts ever, but the album cover reminds me a bit of another record that came out in 1993 aesthetics-wise, namely Liberation by The Divine Comedy - or even their 1996 release, Casanova.
I know I didn’t make any comment on specific tracks, that’s because I’d suggest resorting to the liner notes instead (even if you don't own the album, they should be available online), I don’t have anything substantial to add. Also, I am not familiar with other, more famous versions of these songs, so it’s not easy to evaluate them properly. Maybe this explains why I found it so consistent and identified practically zero highlights.
Score: 5.7/10.
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Compared to the two albums that have appeared here so far, this belongs to a completely different category for me. Based on a rough estimation – that you should take with a grain of salt, the actual number could be higher-, I’d say I’ve listened to Slow Train Coming and Empire Burlesque at least 10 times each. They are albums I have strong feelings about, no matter if they are mostly negative. This one, on the other hand, I never seriously bothered or attempted to form any kind of relationship with it. Having the benefit of hindsight, I was lucky enough not to stumble on it during the formative years, my first experience with it dates back to 2015 and I don’t think I’ve revisited it more than 2 or 3 times since then.
So, it’s 1990 and we find everyone’s favourite bard standing at the dawn of a new decade. His last album, Oh Mercy- nothing spectacular, but a clear improvement nonetheless, more on that later-, offered his fans an unforeseen glimpse of hope, he was slowly returning to form, or so it seemed… One more case – admittedly, he’s got quite a few of those moments throughout his illustrious career – where one wonders if he does this on purpose.
This somehow ends up sounding more 80s than Oh Mercy. If you believed that the dreary, commercialised, devoid of any ambition or creativity, production is a thing of the past, well, tough luck, he keeps doing what he wants and he simply doesn’t care. The opening track, Wiggle Wiggle, sets the tone for what’s about to follow, he is goofing around, lines like “Wiggle till you’re high, wiggle till you’re higher Wiggle till you vomit fire” are plain embarrassing and the fact that the album is dedicated to his daughter doesn’t cut it as an excuse, sorry. (By the way, any dedicated listener will have noticed that his opening tracks tend to knock it out of the park even if the rest of the album proves to be subpar. So, when he begins like this, you better brace yourselves, you know you are in deep trouble.) Next up is the self-titled track, which is - surprisingly enough - a more than decent attempt, I like this one. Then, it’s time for some up-tempo rock/blues. This increase of tempo usually doesn’t suit him, despite being able to deliver the necessary energy to make this type of songs work, I’d rather have him take his time in order for the listener to be able to process and absorb the lyrical content. Then again, one may argue that going fast could act as a camouflage of sorts, help him hide the incompetent songwriting and I think that’s exactly what happens in Unbelievable – not that slowing it down would be enough to make a great song, just saying. Born In Time does have some potential and could have been a highlight, but his performance is so underwhelming, his workmanlike approach doesn’t do the song justice. At this point, I have to confess T.V. Talking Song is a bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s a painfully generic tune and a “talking” version of Dylan emerges out of nowhere, but it’s a kinda cool and definitely funny story with some witty lines that may stick with you for some time. 10,000 Men is another disaster, it’s the same old story, namely blues meet pop/rock in an ‘80s dress, yikes. 2x2 has a cool intro, but unfortunately that’s pretty much it – still above average for this record’s standards. If you hadn’t had enough until now and you were thinking of defending this album, hang on a second, here comes God Knows, a unapologetic throwback to his Christianity era and it undoubtedly succeeds in sealing the deal: this album is beyond redemption (it crossed my mind to say it can’t be saved, but the pun would be too obvious). The last two songs don’t do anything to change my mind, if anything they do their best to further convince me the above statement is true. Another noteworthy element is the presence of many guests, mainly big names past their prime, whose contributions aren’t that meaningful or memorable. Dylan himself has admitted the lack of focus and engagement that characterises this album, which makes it easier to dislike it with a clear conscience. And to think he wrote all the songs by himself, unlike some of his other lesser albums, it’s a shame. Instead of Under The Red Sky, this album should be under a rock, let’s leave it there and forget about it. For a moment I thought of giving it the exact same score as Empire Burlesque as they are more or less equal in my book, but at no point does this reach the lows of When The Night Comes Falling, which is the decisive factor and gives Under The Red Sky a tiny edge.
Score: 5.45/10.
So, it’s 1990 and we find everyone’s favourite bard standing at the dawn of a new decade. His last album, Oh Mercy- nothing spectacular, but a clear improvement nonetheless, more on that later-, offered his fans an unforeseen glimpse of hope, he was slowly returning to form, or so it seemed… One more case – admittedly, he’s got quite a few of those moments throughout his illustrious career – where one wonders if he does this on purpose.
This somehow ends up sounding more 80s than Oh Mercy. If you believed that the dreary, commercialised, devoid of any ambition or creativity, production is a thing of the past, well, tough luck, he keeps doing what he wants and he simply doesn’t care. The opening track, Wiggle Wiggle, sets the tone for what’s about to follow, he is goofing around, lines like “Wiggle till you’re high, wiggle till you’re higher Wiggle till you vomit fire” are plain embarrassing and the fact that the album is dedicated to his daughter doesn’t cut it as an excuse, sorry. (By the way, any dedicated listener will have noticed that his opening tracks tend to knock it out of the park even if the rest of the album proves to be subpar. So, when he begins like this, you better brace yourselves, you know you are in deep trouble.) Next up is the self-titled track, which is - surprisingly enough - a more than decent attempt, I like this one. Then, it’s time for some up-tempo rock/blues. This increase of tempo usually doesn’t suit him, despite being able to deliver the necessary energy to make this type of songs work, I’d rather have him take his time in order for the listener to be able to process and absorb the lyrical content. Then again, one may argue that going fast could act as a camouflage of sorts, help him hide the incompetent songwriting and I think that’s exactly what happens in Unbelievable – not that slowing it down would be enough to make a great song, just saying. Born In Time does have some potential and could have been a highlight, but his performance is so underwhelming, his workmanlike approach doesn’t do the song justice. At this point, I have to confess T.V. Talking Song is a bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s a painfully generic tune and a “talking” version of Dylan emerges out of nowhere, but it’s a kinda cool and definitely funny story with some witty lines that may stick with you for some time. 10,000 Men is another disaster, it’s the same old story, namely blues meet pop/rock in an ‘80s dress, yikes. 2x2 has a cool intro, but unfortunately that’s pretty much it – still above average for this record’s standards. If you hadn’t had enough until now and you were thinking of defending this album, hang on a second, here comes God Knows, a unapologetic throwback to his Christianity era and it undoubtedly succeeds in sealing the deal: this album is beyond redemption (it crossed my mind to say it can’t be saved, but the pun would be too obvious). The last two songs don’t do anything to change my mind, if anything they do their best to further convince me the above statement is true. Another noteworthy element is the presence of many guests, mainly big names past their prime, whose contributions aren’t that meaningful or memorable. Dylan himself has admitted the lack of focus and engagement that characterises this album, which makes it easier to dislike it with a clear conscience. And to think he wrote all the songs by himself, unlike some of his other lesser albums, it’s a shame. Instead of Under The Red Sky, this album should be under a rock, let’s leave it there and forget about it. For a moment I thought of giving it the exact same score as Empire Burlesque as they are more or less equal in my book, but at no point does this reach the lows of When The Night Comes Falling, which is the decisive factor and gives Under The Red Sky a tiny edge.
Score: 5.45/10.
Total albums: 4. Page 1 of 1
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Bob Dylan composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 9 | 23% | |
| 1970s | 10 | 26% | |
| 1980s | 7 | 18% | |
| 1990s | 4 | 10% | |
| 2000s | 4 | 10% | |
| 2010s | 4 | 10% | |
| 2020s | 1 | 3% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Bob Dylan | 38 | 97% | |
| Bob Dylan & The Band | 1 | 3% |
Bob Dylan similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Absolutely Definitive Dylan Studio Album Ranking | cmoshier | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| Bob Dylan studio album - My chart |  Sandrof1969 | Custom chart | 2021 |  |
| Bob Dylan: Albums ranked. | garycottier | Custom chart | 2017 | |
| Ranking Bob Dylan's Studio Albums | edubs | Custom chart | 2017 | |
| Mr. Zimmmerman's Urban Poetries |  SingingPeasant96 | Custom chart | 2014 | |
| Bob Dylan |  RockyRaccoon | Custom chart | 2023 | |
| Bob Dylan Ranked | daCritic | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| RANKED: BOB DYLAN |  Captain_Dude | Custom chart | 2017 | |
| Artist Series: Bob Dylan |  zags7000 | Custom chart | 2016 | |
| Top 20 Greatest Music Albums | visionsofjo | Overall chart | 2010 | |
Bob Dylan similarity to your chart(s)
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Other custom charts by kokkinos
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New entries | kokkinos | Custom chart | 2023 | |
| Charles Mingus | kokkinos | Custom chart | 2021 | |
| Bob Dylan | kokkinos | Custom chart | 2021 | |
Bob Dylan ratings
90/100 (from 4 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.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 4 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 12/07/2021 21:45 |  Purplepash | | 88/100 |
| 100/100 | 12/07/2021 13:59 |  Cytoma | | 90/100 |
| 100/100 | 12/07/2021 02:44 |  Mercury | | 95/100 |
| 100/100 | 12/06/2021 22:10 | Luigii | | 93/100 |
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Bob Dylan comments
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A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
