Top Ten Of The Week-Is It Rolling Bob?

Tuesday it will be Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday which is hard to believe that he has survived that long.  And for his effort I dedicate a full top ten of music to Mr. Zimmerman.  I'm sure he'd care less what I think or what the masses think but first and foremost Dylan has always been a big fan of music.  Just listen to his XM show it goes way back to the early years.

It's hard to categorize the man.  He started out a Woody Guthrie like singer and then blew up bigtime with albums such as The Freewheeling Bob Dylan,  Highway 61 Revisited, Blood On The Track, Time Out of Mind, Modern Times.  While some people find fault with Self Portrait, I tend to listen to that one a bit more than Blonde On Blonde if you can believe that.  But then again I don't expect you too, Self Portrait usually doesn't get played that much here either.  But it is on my shelf for reference.  Still his greatest two record set may be The Basement Tapes to which didn't come out till 1975 and still made best ofs on just about every magazine out there.  For every Blood On The Track, there's a Knocked Out Loaded, for every Oh Mercy, there's a Under The Red Sky and for every John Wesley Harding, there's World Gone Wrong.  Certainly Down In The Groove and Empire Burlesque doesn't hold up to say Highway 61 Revisited but I can find I can listen to those.  And what about those Born Again albums?  Saved and Slow Train Coming are for the believers and the hardcore Dylan followers who follow wherever he takes you.  Sometimes it may not be the best road traveled but the road less traveled to me the always the way to go.

This top ten isn't the best Dylan songs ever, but rather the ones that I have noted and have played and if I don't include Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 or Like A Rolling Stone, it's not that I don't like them but I do think everybody has those on their best of Dylan songs.  But if you don't agree with what I have down, your are free to compile your own best of Dylan songs.  I'm sure he won't mind.

1.  Knockin On Heaven's Door (Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid Soundtrack or Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3) 1973  When I hear this version on the dreadful money grab Dylan & The Dead it makes me forever disown this song but when when I hear the original 2 minute single version it stands out as Dylan classic.  Makes you believe that long dark cloud is coming down upon you.

2.  Highway 61 Revisited (Real Live) 1984  I didn't pay much attention to Dylan in the 80's except for this money grab live album that featured Mick Taylor on guitar and sounded a bit like Dylan doing the Rolling Stones (Compare Jumpin Jack Flash from Get Your Ya Yas Out for reference).  KUNI played this when the album got released in 1984 a few times. Nothing does beat the original version I guess but this showed that Dylan could get his rocks out if he wanted to.  But I do admit the way he sings this, he ain't giving it a second thought.

3.  Tweedie Dee & Tweedie Dum (Love & Theft) 2001  If Time Out Of Mind was his dark album, Love & Theft was his comedy album and he lighten up to show a sense of humor with a nod and a wink.  But in some way I always considered this song to be a nod at Dubya Bush and Neo Nazi Cheney to which I'm sure Dylan won't say it was but I'm sure he was thinking of them that way.  I believe I gave this album an A plus and it still earns that grade, I think it still remains A plus over Blood On The Tracks or Blonde On Blonde.  One of the best bands that Dylan ever played in.

4.  Shot Of Love (Shot Of Love) 1981  By then Bobby D was beginning to tire of the sacred songs that he was singing around that time and although Shot Of Love is considered the final of the scared albums, I don't look at that record as gospel like Slow Train Comin but still this song could be considered Gotta Serve Somebody Revisited and Rewritten.  Robert Randolph does a fine cover of this last year.

5.  Most Of The Time (Oh Mercy 1989)  Between Shot Of Love and Oh Mercy, the 80s showed Dylan in search of a style and song. The year before he scared most of his fanbase away with contractual obligations such as Knocked Out Loaded, Down In The Groove or Dylan & The Dead, probably the worst thing he ever done (unless you count the 1973 Columbia finale Dylan while he moved to Asylum for Planet Waves or 1979 Budokan fiasco) but Oh Mercy, while not completely perfect was at least a return of what made him what he is today.  This song pretty much got me through a bad breakup with an ex high school sweetheart which tells it better than I ever could.  Daniel Lanois adds a spooky dark overtone which enhances the song quite well.

6.  It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Bringing It All Back Home) 1965 The beginning of his classic electric years and yes like Highway 61 Revisited this is just about a perfect album but in light of all I enjoy this acoustic classic. Was more familiar with the Roger McGuinn version that can be heard on the Easy Rider Soundtrack.

7.  On A Night Like This (Planet Waves) 1974  Yeah there are much better Dylan songs out there but I have this one of 45 that I bought years ago in the cheap bins.  I guess you have to be a real record collector or audiophile to have something from Asylum Records.

8.  Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts (Blood On The Tracks) 1975  What Bob Dylan can do is write a story that takes you into the whole scene like a movie and this song always gives me the image of being in that town and watching the story unfolding between the players involved.  A good song will provide you with your imagination.  This was before MTV.  We did well before it came.

9.  The Ballad Of Hollis Brown (Live At Brandeis University) 1963  From a then unreleased performance recently reissued, you can feel the tension builds from Bob's two note guitar sound and the tale of impending doom of a desperate unemployed farmer whose ready to take the easy way out.  At this time, Bob was just an unknown folk singer but bigger things were on the horizon.  And sooner than expected.

10.  Like A Rolling Stone (Live 66) 1966  I wasn't going to include this song since it is already in everybody's top ten and then some.  But the more I thought about it the more it was needed to be pointed out that the most interesting version of this song came at the tail end of a frustrating 1966 concert in the UK. The first set, Dylan was alone with guitar and the fans went wild but on the second half he bought out The Hawks with the future Home Improvement actor playing drums (Micky Jones would go on to play in Kenny Rogers and the First Edition) and turned things up and slowed the songs down some.  Certainly the 6 minute single version was a much more jollier affair, this version sounded like a death march as somebody yells "play fucking loud" and they did.  But perhaps the chilling part of the song is the ending to which song is over, there's a mild applause and the strange silence of the crowd as they shuffled out the door wondering what they just heard. 

To have Bob Dylan still alive and celebrating his 70th Birthday is a celebration of a musician who continued to break the rules and challenged his listeners to follow him for the good or the bad and of course that Christmas Album to which he pays back Mitch Miller.  Who thought that the folk singer on Bob Dylan (the first album) would become the electric folkie (Highway 61 Revisited) and go Nashville (Nashville Skyline) and make a 2 record set of arguably his best (Blonde On Blonde) or worst (Self Portrait) and then return to his folk roots (Blood On The Track) before losing himself in the late 70's and most of the 80's before Oh Mercy showed the world he still had a good album in him and Time Out Of Mind and Love & Theft still make a classic album as well.  So for all that effort of the past maybe he was entitled to make a turd album such as Knocked Out Loaded or Under A Red Sky or even Christmas In The Air.  He's earned that right.

In short, Bob Dylan makes timeless music because it's what he was feeling at the time.  And that's all right by me.  Happy Birthday Mr. Zimmerman.