Happy Birthday Zimmy!

Wow, Bob Dylan turns 60 and, if Iím not mistaken, that puts him in the category of being an old dude.  But thatís okay, Bobís still cool in my book.  And he was way ahead of anyoneís game in the first place.  Rap music?  Dylan was doing that back in í65 with ìSubterranean Homesick Blues.î  And over 35 years and 42 albums since he first began, heís still going strong. Do me a favor and let me know whatís happeniní with Eminem in the year 2035.

To help pay tribute to Mr. Dylan, I slapped together this list of what I consider to be his ten most essential albums.

1. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Man, you gotta be pretty good if this is the second best album of your career. Hell, in Dylanís case, it was his second best album of the year!  And I wouldnít knock you down and steal your pants if thought this one was even better than Highway 61 Revisited.  Includes ìSubterranean Homesick Blues,î ìMr. Tambourine Man,î ìItís All right, Ma (Iím Only Bleeding)î and ìItís All Over Now, Baby Blue.î 

3. Blonde On Blonde (1966)

ìDonít tell anybody you donít own fucking Blonde On Blonde,î Barry warns a customer at Championship Vinyl in the movie High Fidelity.  And heís right.  In fact, you could even say this is Bob Dylanís best album ever.  Again, I wouldnít knock you down and steal your pants for saying so, but I might untie one of your shoe laces just for spite. One of the few times where the double album ego trip doesnít elicit the phrase, ìIt wouldíve made a good single album.î

4. Blood On The Tracks (1975)

Love hurts.  And who better to get the point across in song than rockís premier poet.  ìTangled Up In Blueî and ìIdiot Windî rank right up there with Bobís best and ìShelter From The Stormî doesnít lag far behind.  (Maybe a scissors step or two.)  Also one of the greatest album titles of all time.  And to think this is only his fourth best album.

5. The Freewheeliní Bob Dylan (1962)

The first album to be made up almost entirely of Dylanís own compositions. So in a way, this is the first true Bob Dylan LP.  Most songwriters would cut off their right arm to come up with one song like ìBlowiní In The Wind,î ìMasters of War,î ìA Hard Rainís A-Gonna Fallî or ìDonít Think Twice, Itís All Right.î  Bob thunk up all of ëem by himself and even put ëem on the same record.  Talk about your embarrassment of riches.  (And thatís just another figure of speech, so go on ahead to #6.).

6. John Wesley Harding (1968)

While most of the rock world was following the path The Beatles cleared with the studio trickery on Sgt. Pepper, Dylan took a complete left turn and released a record that brought him back to the basics.  Yeah, Iím beginning to sound a bit pretentious here, but sometimes I get these metaphors building up in my head and I just gotta let ëem out.  So scratch the part above and replace it with...This is a good but simple album.  And the critics like it a lot.

7. Desire (1975)

ìHurricane,î the eight and a half minute ode to Rubin ìHurricaneî Carter is worth the price of admission alone.  Add ìIsis,î ìMozambiqueî and ìSaraî to the mix and youíve got yourself a mix with three more good songs added to it. And, by the way, Bob was using a fiddle player on his records a way long time before John Cougar Mellencamp even dreamt about it.

8. Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964)

I guess the title refers to Dylanís more personal approach to his music, but it could be misleading.  I mean, an album is supposed to have two sides and ìanotherî implies that there is only one. Hope this didnít hurt the sales. Anyway, this would be Dylanís last solo acoustic album in a real long time and it includes such classics as ìAll I Really Want To Do,î ìChimes of Freedom,î ìIt Ainít Me Babeî and ìMy Back Pages.î

9. Bob Dylan

The debut album and I believe it took almost three weeks to come up with the title.  Thereís a lot of cover tunes on this one, but somehow Bob is able to give them all his own personal and unique touch.  Iím sorry, did I just say, ìBlah-blah-blahî?  Yeah, I think I did.  Anyway, whatís really cool about this album is it only cost about 400 dollars to make and most of the songs were recorded in one take.  Letís see the Backstreet Boys do that!

10. Oh Mercy (1989)/Time Out Of Mind (1997)

Yes, Iím cheating here by putting these two Daniel Lanois produced albums together in one slot, but since Iím not splitting atoms, why split hairs?  Bob could have borrowed a line from Elvis Costello and titled either one of these records Donít Bury Me, Cuz Iím Not Dead Yet, because they both came at a time when fans wondered if Dylan had another great album of original songs left in him.  The answer in both cases was a resounding ìyesî and with the latter release Dylan picked up a much deserved Grammy for Album of the Year. 

So thatís the Top Ten plus one.  And if you think thatís all the Bob Dylan albums you need to keep me from pointing and giggling at your CD collection, youíre wrong.  Some other good ones you should own are The Times the Are a-Changiní, Nashville Skyline, New Morning and Shot of Love.  And thereís also The ìRoyal Albert Hallî Concert and The Basement Tapes and The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3...

Oh, and donít forget The Masked Marauders.