At a recent “live” gathering of a handful of Townspeople, we picked up on the then-burning “Worst of the Great Stones albums” and got into a brief discussion of Worst of the Great Albums by other great artists. So, for a handful of you, you’ve already chimed in on some of these artists, but this topic might interest other members of the Hall.
Here’s the deal: What’s the worst of the great albums by any of the following artists? It should be pretty clear where the line on “great” albums is; if not, we’ll be sure to point it out for you. Here are some artists to kick off the discussion:
- Elvis Costello & the Attractions (My Aim Is True included)
- The Clash
- XTC
- Wire
- Bob Dylan
- Joy Division
Feel free to suggest others we could discuss. As a special bonus question, What’s the worst of the great songs that populate side 1 of Television’s Marquee Moon?
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Armed Forces
The Clash: Combat Rock
XTC: English Settlement!
Bob Dylan: Bringing it All Back Home
Marquee Moon: “Friction”
Thanks for kicking this off, Oats, but we cannot allow Combat Rock. That’s the first of the non-great Clash albums. Interesting choices, otherwise. I agree with one, would have to think about another, and strongly disagree with two. That’s what we’re here for, though!
Costello: Trust
The Clash: Sandinista
Wire: 154
XTC: Drums & Wires
Dylan: The Basement Tapes
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
Marquee Moon: ‘Friction’
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Armed Forces
The Clash: Sandinista
XTC: Oranges & Lemons, though Skylarking has been grating on me recently
Wire: Dunno
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited: a gleaming, gem-studded, completely ridiculous TURD
Joy Division: Dunno
Bob Seger: Against the Wind
Please elaborate Mr. Mod. Which ones do you disagree with? Anyway I think that Combat Rock should be part of the discussion since I personally think it’s the last great Clash album. If Oats would’ve said Cut the Crap, I could see where you would draw the line. Then again, without having Combat Rock as a choice and obvious answer, it makes this survey A LOT harder. With that said, here’s my list.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Armed Forces
The Clash: Give Em Enough Rope
XTC: Black Sea
Wire: Chairs Missing
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde
Joy Division: Unknown
Pleasures
Keep in mind that aside from the Dylan and Joy Division albums, I absolutely love all of these records and at least like the others as well, so this was hard. Oh and it’s impossible for me to pick a worst song on side 1 of Marquee Moon as that side is absolutely perfect.
No fair! Oranges and Lemons is far from a great or classic album IMO! See the problem with this kind of quiz is that there’s no consensus on what’s considered an artist’s “great” or “classic” albums unless you set the standards. For example, the only Elvis Costello albums that I considered are the ones from My Aim is True to Trust and also Imperial Bedroom and in this case, I think the only XTC albums that should be considered are the ones ranging from Drums and Wires to Mummer as well as Skylarking.
I’m one of the very few who actually see “Nonsuch” as a Great XTC album. “Big Express” has also aged very well for me.
But I don’t wanna start an XTC thread — heaven forfend!
Too late. 🙂 Nonsuch isn’t as bad as some say, but I don’t think it’s particularly good. The biggest problem is the production, which is totally stifling and inappropriate. It just sounds stale.
I agree re: The Big Express. The production sucks, but the songs are so good that it overcomes these difficulties. It’s a very underrated Lp. For me, though, my favorite XTC record is Mummer. Talk about underrated!
Townspeople, there’s nothing to worry about. Oranges and Lemons is not among the “great” XTC albums. Same goes for Combat Rock. We’ll simply agree to discount those nominations and move forward. Keep ’em coming!
Costello: Armed Forces
The Clash: The Clash
(Depends where you draw the line here, but I’m going to say they only have two “great” albums)
XTC: Drums and Wires
Wire: 154
Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Joy Division: Closer.
(A tough call. My favorite moments are on Unknown Pleasures, but Closer is more consistent. Nonetheless.)
But hey, Mr. Mod. This question seems like it asks for a list, but without reasoning. S’up with that?
Mwall, wisely, asks
I’m confident that as we collect data, discussion will ensue. If I’m wrong about that, I will apologize to the entire Hall. Please keep an eye on me. Thanks.
XTC: mod and i both said “skylarking’ when we were talking about this at cherry st…reflexively, we both said it. so i’ll have to go w/ Skylarking.
EC: i agree with Team “Armed Forces” here.
Clash: nah…”combat rock” is far from great. it’s quite a mess…their fall from grace. of the GREAT clash albums, “Sandanista” is the biggest pooper for me…it suffers from “too muchness”…over ambition.
How’bout them Talking Heads?: I used to think “Remain in Light” was “important” and “revolutionary”, but it really hasn’t held up as well as the albums preceding it. I play them more. i don’t consider “speaking in tongues” great, but if it’s in the loop, then it’s definitely the worst of their great albums.
Dylan: since so many people CREAM themselves over “desire”, i think it qualifies as a “great ” album, and it’s his worst “great” album, by far.
Marquee Moon: friction.
Here are my thoughts – and WHY:
Elvis Costello, Armed Forces: Too many of the songs rely on gimmicks, more than usual from EC. Also, the sameness of the production and arrangements, although not bad production and arrangements, is less than I’d come to expect from this group at that time.
The Clash, Give ’em Enough Rope: Nearly every other song is weak or outright sucks. Even some of the good ones are throwaways on other great Clash albums. This is one of the all-time needle-lifters in music history. “English Civil War” is particularly bad, managing to be worse than every anti-war/boarding school song that appears on each Jam album at some point or another.
XTC, Skylarking: An objectively “great” album that demonstrates the lows as well as the highs of the “Prock” approach. We really do need to get back to hammering out that definition of Prock, by the way.
Wire, Pink Flag: One of rock’s ultimate “unfinished business” albums – lots of good ideas and bold gestures, but someone forgot to go back and finish the job. I know a lot of you think this was all intentional and a sign of tremendous artistic integrity. That’s cool, and you are welcome to hold onto that belief. The two “great” albums that followed tell me they finally decided to “man up” and finish what they’d started.
Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks: To my ears, this album has always been a letdown. I love a few songs, but even the best songs reek of a guy dusting off the mothballs and trying to communicate to people once more. This may be a proto-Coffee Table Rock album, but that’s probably too strong an insult. Anyhow, it’s the one great Dylan album that lacks his usual sense of flaunting the fact that he’s higher and mightier than anyone in the room.
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures: Half of the songs are stuck between that punk band and post-punk band place, which makes for some great rockers but a less-cohesive, scary album than Close, which must be taken as a whole.
Oh, and I guess “Friction” is the weakest of the great songs on side 1 of Marquee Moon. Sorry about not answering my own extra-credit question up front.
Saturnismine just introduced a new one, and I heartily agree:
Speaking in Tongues is NOT among the greats, so I agree that Remain in Light is the weakest of those first 4. Just yesterday I was just uploading tracks to iTunes (more on that another day), and when I came to that album, I decided to load “Once in a Lifetime” and the first 3 songs on side 2. I did not question my choices.
Excellent argument, Mr. Mod–except what it really proves is the point I would make: that Rope is not a “great” album. It’s a good album with a handful of great songs.
Mwall, you may be right in terms of the album’s content itself, but I think there’s one KEY aspect that puts …Rope into the “great” category: the album cover. God, that cover is one of the strongest songs on the album!
And I would say too, about Skylarking, which didn’t make my list of great XTC albums: I just can’t get past the candy-coating. That shit’ll ruin your teeth.
So will too much bread and stout!:)
Oats wrote:
Yowzah!
Not at all. In many countries those are basic healthfoods.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions – “My Aim Is True” – songs are great but the performances really suffer
The Clash – “Sandanista” – would have been an awesome 1.5 sided record
XTC – O & L – The drum loops and shiney production really don’t make it work. “King for a Day” is pure MOR trash
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Armed Forces – Something really went off the rails for this one. I am not a fan of the band on My Aim is True, but this one was relentlessly ugly and gimmicky. Especially as evidenced by the cure he took on the follow up Get Happy!, my favorite of the great Costello albums.
The Clash: Give ’em Enough Rope – regarding early comments about Sandinista, Too much of a good thing is never enough!
XTC: Mummer – Who knew that was one of their great albums? The loss of Terry loomed large.
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 – Dylan is great. And he’s had several great phases. I’m looking only at the three great 60’s Eeeelectric records. Fritz is right. No it’s not a Turd, but it lacks the fresh discovery of Bringin’ It All Back Home and the more varied song structure and crystal clarity of playing of Blonde on Blonde.
Marquee Moon: “Friction” I think most of us agree on this one by default. See No Evil jumps out of the box, Venus has the great words and the cool feel changes between sections and Marquee Moon is…Marquee Moon. But how good is an album side with Friction as the stinker?
Good answers, Geo, except we disagree on Mummer, but that’s cool.
You and Fritz make good points about the weaknesses of Highway 61 Revisited, my second least-favorite great Dylan album. How many points off alone for that stupid whistle at the beginning of the title track? NOT that it’s in any way a bad album.
1. The Kinks – Arthur. Not nearly as good as the four albums which preceeded it.
2. Friction. I have no problems with this song. What is wrong with you people?
3. Cut the Crap and Nonsuch are crappy records. There are three decent songs on Oranges and Lemmons. It would’ve made a fine 3-song 7″.
Man, I’m feeling punchy today.
Arthur is a great suggestion, although I like Face to Face a lot less, so maybe it’s a toss up.
As for “Friction”, nothing’s wrong with anyone. We’re just making the tough choices we’ve been asked to make…or that I’ve asked of you to make. You know what I’m talking about:)
I’m genuinely surprised at all the negativity towards Highway 61 Revisited in the course of this thread. Like Geo, I was also considering just the 3 classic mid ’60s electric albums and not the ones before (to the person who picked The Times They Are A-Changin’), but to me Highway 61 Revisited is more immediate, catchier and despite the lyric impenetrability, more inviting to the listener than Blonde on Blonde, which has its great moments but which I always thought of in the same context as our Moderator thinks of Exile on Main Street, though I’d pair it down to a single Lp and not an EP personally.
EC-I’ve always thought Trust was a giant turd. Clubland was a pretty cool tune, but I’ll take minor classics like Blood and Chocolate over this thing.
The Clash-I think London Calling is one of the most overrated albums ever. Also, I don’t consider sandinista to be a great album, it blows. Try making an ep out of it, you can’t. Garbage. First two Clash albums rule, other than that, it’s all pretty not bad.
XTC-Black Sea is the pick here. Why? Why not, I had to pick something. It’s still a cool record, I just like it the least of their best.
Dylan-The Basement Tapes
Words can’t describe how bored I get when I listen to this album.
Townsman Kpdexter wrote:
A man’s man! I highly disagree with much of what you say, but I like the way you say it. When you’ve got the time, I think it’s important that you select the songs that would constitute your 7-inch single version of Sandinista. Likewise, Townman Berlyant, I want to see a piece on the Blonde on Blonde ep. Don’t cop out with this single-lp nonsense!
to me, it’s painfully obvious that they knew this album was crap. That’s why they kept recording, hoping that if they recorded enough songs, they’d eventually have a solid album’s worth. guess what, they didn’t. they should’ve stopped after the first two songs on the lp, The Magnificent Seven, and Hitsville UK. That’s my ep right there. a solid 10 minutes.
Kpdexter wrote:
I recall you saying you’re more of a boozer than a pothead. Do you think Sandinista is a pothead’s record, and if so, how much pot must be smoked to fully enjoy it? I used to smoke a lot, and I always dug the album, coming around to liking more and more songs over time. Geo’s not a stoner, but his brain’s naturally wired to hear music like one. Any other non-stoner fans of Sandinista?
Yo. My relatively brief period of weed smoking in college was mostly spent alternating between Roland Kirk and PET SOUNDS depending on whethere my girlfriend or I was in charge of the stereo, but I liked SANDINISTA quite a bit before and after that.
The Sandinista ep:
The Magnificent Seven
Hitsville U.K.
Somebody Got Murdered
Police On My Back
Washington Bullets
Charlie Don’t Surf
There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
It’s not hard to be wrong:) If I had my druthers I’d cut off “Lightning Strkes (Not Once But Twice)”, maybe 2 other songs – if I really think about it – and keep the rest. At least “Lightning Strikes” has that cool speaking intro.
OK off the top of my head, I would keep the following:
“Rainy Day Women #12 and 35”
“Just Like a Woman”
“Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” (perhaps the best song Dylan ever wrote, BTW)
“Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”
“I Want You”
“One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)”
Well there it is, my 6 song Blonde on Blonde 10″ EP. 🙂
Looking at the track listing, all of the songs I like on it are from sides 1 and 2, though even side 1 drags a bit in the middle. And man oh man is “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” boring. Sorry! If you want, Mr. Mod, I can write a full feature on this, but it’ll require getting reacquainted with sides 3 and 4, something wish I’m not sure I’m willing to do.
Hey, T-vox! Man, are you nuts or something? How could you leave “The Call Up” off of your “Sandinista” EP? That song has the absolute perfect-est production in the Clash canon for me. And it’s a cool song, too, duh.
Yeah me. I haven’t touched the stuff in years, though admittedly in college and for about 6-7 years afterwards I would partake on occasion, so maybe it does have something to do with it. Regardless, Sandinista! is a fine and very underrated record underrated by people who don’t have the patience, tolerance or endurance to absorb it. It’s a lot like Trout Mask Replica (a childhood favorite of Joe Strummer’s, BTW) in that way actually.
It’s amazing to me that people would leave off songs as strong as “The Call Up,” “Ivan Meets G.I. Joe,” “Something About England” or even “Lightning Strikes (Not Once, But Twice)”. Mr. Mod, you would really leave off that last one? I love the line about “New York’s only tree”. Pure genius. And what about “Version City” or their take on “Junco Partner”? I even like the weird, dubby stuff like “The Crooked Beat”. I used to fall asleep to side 6 when I was in college, though on its own the songs don’t really rate. Nevertheless, I love the off-the-cuff, experimental, fuck it and let’s try anything and see if it sticks vibe of the record. In fact, it’s probably my favorite Clash album if only because I know the others so well that they hold little sense of discovery and wonder (they’re more like musical comfort food at this point) and awe that Sandinista! still provokes in me.
If only Adam Davidow made it over here to defend this record!
Now granted, I know people will get up in arms about my wanting to trim down Blonde on Blonde to an EP, but to each his or her own.
Dem’s fightin’ words, my man. Trust is not only THE underrated gem in Costello’s catalog, as far as I’m concerned, it contains “You’ll Never Be a Man” and “White Knuckles”, two of his best songs ever. I would definitely suggest that you go back and listen to those as well as “New Lace Sleeves”, which is one of The Attractions’ finest performances (esp. Bruce Thomas’ bass playing).
Let it be stated, for the record, that I didn’t see this post when I was typing my above Sandinista! defense. In any event, right on brother! Plus, I would add that it also has a cool B&W video.
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowland, the fourth side of the record can get a little tiresome. But you would drop the “Adverb” side? Most Likely You Go Your Way I’ll Go Mine, Temporary Like Achilles, Absolutely Sweet Marie, 4th Time Around (I assume this is where Positively Fourth Street once resided) and Obviously 5 Believers. NO FRIGGIN’ WAY! These are smaller songs in some way than ones you mentioned, but it’s a line-up of deep album cuts back to back that for me doesn’t quit. This may actually be my favorie Dylan album side.
Does anyone else here think that Fourth time Around is a straight up rewrite of Norwegian Wood, out and out mocking Lennon for his oblique cheating song? How did I miss thast for 30 years or so, the melody is virtually identical at the top of the verse and doesn’t stray far in any of the other sections.
Problems with Trust
Trust is a wonderfully rich sounding record with the Attractions playing splendidly however:
It has Lovers Walk and Strict Time, percussive exercises built around a slight kernels of song.
It has Luxembourg which a friend of my once identified as Costello’s first bad song.
It has Watch Your Step, or as I prefer to call it “Tertiary Modern”
It has Shot With His Own Gun, a portentious glimpse of things to come.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions (My Aim Is True included)
I like Elvis, but he’s one of those guys that goes on tangents I don’t care for at all. So for my least liked of his great albums, I’ll pick Get Happy. I still like it, but it’s not as great as the ones that came before.
The Clash
Gotta go with Sandinista! because I think it’s their last great album (London Calling is far from overrated), and it’s flaw is that it’s just too long.
XTC
XTC sucks. I just took their last chance for me up to the store and stiffed it. Oranges and Lemons, my friend said if I didn’t go for the other stuff, then that would be the one I’d like. Yuck. I poop on it.
Wire
Did Wire have any great albums? I liked some of their songs, but they were a tough listen for me. I like it simple, but I think they were even too simple for me.
Bob Dylan
If it’s got to be a great album, then I’ll go with Blood on the Tracks. I still think that kicks ass, too.
Joy Division
They had no great albums. They had a few great songs, but I still don’t go for that synth sound. Definitely a singles band for me.
Marquee Moon is just great and I won’t say anything bad about it. It’s just great and the best way to listen to it is always all at once.
Mr Mod,
you might be right. Maybe. Actually I don’t think so. It has nothing to do with the record being a pothead record. Remember, I went through a serious Deadhead/Allman Bros phase. I don’t think it has anything to do with being in the right state of mind. I think maybe I just can’t stand dub music. I listened to the first 5 songs on Sandinista while I was doing dishes, and here are a few thoughts:
Magnificent Seven-Right On! I’m loving this, good groove, sounds cool, I can pump my fist AND shake my ass to it.
Hitsville UK-I like it. Think Sin of Pride only five times better.
Junco Partner-Reggae Bullcrap, if my hands weren’t wet I’d have skipped it.
Ivan Meets GI Joe-THE COLD WAR! woo hoo! the background videogame music ruins it. If I want to hear Space Invaders, I’ll play it. Thanks for ruining a good song.
The Leader-truthfully I couldn’t even tell you what this song sounds like, because in my head I’ve already put on another record.
Hey Berlyant!
No way Rainy Day Women makes the Blonde on Blonde ep. That’s top five “worst Dylan song ever” material.
I’m gonna go jam 5150 to cleanse my palette while I await your response!
That would be me. Saying that none of the early Dylan acoustic records qualifies as a great record is stupid. Still, I have mixed feelings about positioning Times where I did. It’s not as good as Freewheelin’ and Another Side, but it has some excellent tunes (of which the title tune is not quite one). But then I feel better: if Give ‘Em Enough Rope is anybody’s idea of a great record, then Times They Are A’Changin’ can’t be shut out.
I’d be interested, by the way, in a Clash-Dylan conversation. Intriguing cross species comparisons to be made…
mwall said:
“Saying that none of the early Dylan acoustic records qualifies as a great record is stupid.”
I didn’t actually say none of the acoustic records were great, I just limited myself to consideration of those three mid-sixties Dylan classics that for years were held up as the gold standard that he needed to recapture. These seemed similar enough to make teasing out the reasons for least favorite an enlightening exercise. To bring in Freewheelin’, Times, Another Side would be worse than comparing apples to oranges; it would be like standing in the produce department with a cartful of tasty fruit and trying to prove which fruit was the best for all times.
By the way, as a fan of the early stuff, did do you have the Live 1964 Concert at Philharmonic Hall? Dylan synthesizes and plays around with every aspect of his pre-electric phases from reverent folkie to budding surrealist. His command of the material and his audience is masterful. I recommend it for anyone that likes the acoustic stuff and for anyone that finds it hard to get into the records before Bringin’ It All Back Home. It shows what a great performer can do with just a guitar and his voice.
Berlyant: Thanks for reminding me to cut “Ivan Meets G.I. Joe”, probably the only song by the Clash (w/Mick Jones) that’s worse than “English Civil War”. TERRIBLE! Lightning only struck once with the drummer writing a song, and that lightning would not hit until the band’s next album.
Geo: FINE FINE summary of the problems with the still-delightful Trust. If “Luxemborg” was the first lousy Costello song, “Shot With His Own Gun” was the second.
2000 Man: Your friend is probably a dear, loyal, and valuable one, but he must have been desparate to think you’d dig Oranges and Lemons. Hell, what’s he think you are, a Vitamin Water-sipping wuss? That double album can be reduced to a 1-sided cereal box single.
Kpdexter: You continue to impress. In fact, all of you have been impressive on these questions. The only exceptions are the 2 or 3 instances of avoiding the tough choice on side 1 of Marquee Moon. It’s not like you guys are shirkers though, so I’ll grant you a pass.
Ah, Geo, I wasn’t responding to anything that anyone specifically said. Just making a point.
I do have the Live 64 material, and I can certainly back your plug of it.
If I have to choose the worst of the great from among the post-electric Dylan, I’ll go with Blood on the Tracks. Objectively, a great record. Importantly though, it’s Dylan’s main entry into the Psychic Oblivion sweepstakes–which makes it personally enjoyable for me but a notch lower than the 60s classics. Mr. Mod will be happy to know that the connection between Psychic Oblivion and propping one’s feet on that death-knell coffee table has been verified in multiple studies.
OK fine “Lovers Walk” and “Strict Time” aren’t the best songs on there, but after the high of “Clubland”, I think “Lovers Walk” works really well as a “come down” song much like how “Strict Time” works that way after “You’ll Never Be A Man”, one of the most underrated songs in the Costello canon. It’s a bit like people on here criticizing “Parachute Woman” or “Dear Doctor” because they’re not “Sympathy for the Devil” as if EVERY song has to be as good as that one for Beggars Banquet to be a good and listenable album and that’s just ridiculous.
So yeah, there’s your Costello/Stones parallel since someone asked for a Dylan/Clash one (was it you again, mwall?).
I think you have to hear the solo acoustic version from 1984 that I have on a bootleg to really appreciate this song. I liked it fine as a rockabilly-ish romp, but couldn’t understand most of the lyrics. Once it’s stripped-down, it’s revealed to be a really funny, tawdry tale not too dissimilar from many other EC songs thematically, esp. “Pump It Up” and the same album’s “New Lace Sleeves”. The one bad thing I can say about it is that it definitely set the template for “Playboy to a Man”, an awful song from Mighty Like a Rose on which EC used a similarly affected voice.
Very clever, but I always thought “Watch Your Step” was a stronger song compositionally than “Secondary Modern”, though I love the latter as well.
OK why do all of you hate this song? I guess what it comes down to is that I have much less of a problem with EC as a balladeer than many of you do. Big Steve, can you come to my defense here?
I mean, he covered “My Funny Valentine” 3 years earlier, not to mention “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” and I don’t see any of you hating on those songs or even “Motel Matches”, a lovely ballad from Get Happy!!. Thus, I just don’t get all the invective directed towards this song, especially since melodically it’s rather strong, lyrically evocative (though confusing as hell, probably deliberately so) and isn’t too long. I just don’t get it.
Not to sound too much like Townsman plurby here, but your behavior is really starting to concern me here, Kevin. You would rather listen to Van Hagar than a great (though long and flawed) Clash album past 5 songs? Really? I guess we’ll just have to differ there, but when you have a chance, please listen to the rest of Sandinista, esp. the side with “Washington Bullets,” “The Call Up” and “The Equaliser” on it. Oh and “The Leader” is so short that you have to pay attention to it or it’ll slip right by you as you listen. It’s a great song, though, and the second time they milked the Profumo scandal for material (the first time was “Janie Jones” and later they had Janie Jones herself record a single with them under the name Janie Jones and the Lash).
As for “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”, I’ll grant you that the “everybody must get stoned” part is played out at college keggers and what not and if I had to cut one song from the EP, it would definitely be that one, but I still regard it as classic anyway since it’s included on that fine Greatest Hits album that got me into Dylan when I was 15 or so.
Townsman Mwall, if Blood On The Tracks is the worst of the great post-electric Dylan albums, which albums are better? I’m with those who say that Blood doesn’t reach the heights of Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde On Blonde but what albums post-Blonde do you think it is worse than?
I’ll give a slight nod to Basement Tapes over Blood On The Tracks. But if we’re talking great post-electric Dylan albums, those are the only five on my list.
I like Before the Flood a lot, but I wouldn’t call it great. The rest, including Desire, are even farther off, though there’s good material on many Dylan albums through the 80s, especially Shot of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque. Since then I have only paid occasional attention; is there a “great” post-1990 Dylan album that I’m ignoring?
I’m just confused. You said “If I have to choose the worst of the great from among the post-electric Dylan, I’ll go with Blood on the Tracks”. Are you saying Blood is worse than Flood or Infidels or Shot or Burlesque?
It’s not clear to me what the 5 great post-electric albums are in your opinion but you seem to be saying there are 4 post-electric albums you think are better than Blood.
Help me out here even if it means breaking Mr. Mod’s dictum on lists.
I guess we’re just misunderstanding each other. By post-electric I meant “after he went electric,” not “following the three great electric records.” But I can see how maybe the phrase isn’t clear.
So the five great ones are, in order of my preference:
Highway 61
Blonde on Blonde
Bringing It All Back Home
Basement Tapes
Blood on the Tracks
Townsman mwall asked:
I suppose that you could include Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times in this discussion, though that would be really stretching it, I think. Then again, if you’re gonna include the ’80s albums, then why not? I mean, they are considered great or at least great in that comeback or late-career sort of way in the same way as the recent Nick Lowe albums. Personally, Time Out of Mind is definitely my favorite of those albums, but I don’t like it nearly as much as say, Highway 61 Revisited or Blood on the Tracks.
Ah, I’ve heard all those. There are some okay moments. But nothing that qualifies as a great album. And I didn’t include any 80s albums as great either, so I don’t understand why you think I opened that can of worms.