Comments for Dylan, Bob, Desire

This album is incredibly underrated. I am struck by Bob's raw anger and frustration. He sure came far from his early albums which were nice and folky, if sometimes whiny.

A definite must-have, if you're a Dylan fan. Far removed from his folk period, or his stoned out folk-rock period, it's still quintessential Dylan.

Track for track, the best album Dylan ever made. The twin masterpieces of Oh Sister and One More Cup of Coffee form the center. Hurricane was a hit, proving that the world isn't so bad after all. A song for Sara. A song about a place, Mozambique. A song for a gangster, Joey.

This album is not underrated, it's great. What I love about it is the musical arrangements & atmosphere: the violin (Scarlet!), the backing vocals, and the down home tunes - what richness. With every tune, you can picture yourself in the place or situation Bob writes about being in.

This album was certainly one of his best of the 70s. Released in conjunction with the Rolling Thunder Tour (The traveling circus-like multi-act tour, where he retuited with blasts from his past including Baez, The Band, Roger McGuinn, etc.), this gave hime some great material to perform.

Also, a very young Emmylou Harris is singing harmony on most of these songs.

Rolling Stone magazine once called Dylan "the poet's poet," this album exemplifies the art of the muse/-read the liner notes, & the original album in '75's liner notes by Allen Ginsberg, from the Jack Kerouac School of Disemodied Poetics Boulder Colorado . . . Dylan simply cooks on this album, one of his bests, & yes Emmylou Harris is divine! If you've never heard this album, get it today!

Desire is, in my opinion one of Dylan's four best works. It has strong male/female themes, rich with many characters (Hurricane,Joey,Isis,Sara). The everpresent violin gives this album an identifiable sound that is different from any other Dylan album at any other time. A definite must even for the casual fan.

What can I say? If you still don't have this album, please go to the CD store and get it. This is, I think, the brightest highlight of Bob's vocal perfomances. And you can get Ms. Harris as a bonus. The aura of this album is somewhat different from other Dylan albums. It's maybe Violin played by Scarlet Rivera that makes this album different from others. Anyway, in this album, Dylan did create a fresh musical and lyrical texture that should be called 'artistic' or 'Dylanic'.

In the midst of Dylan's mid-70's comeback, he released Desire as the follow-up to his critically and commercially acclaimed Blood on the Tracks. Desire is different from other Dylan albums in several respects. Most of the songs share a co-writing credit; I've always wondered about Jacques Levy's contributions to these songs. Secondly, this is Dylan's most "narrative" album. Dylan has always been a story teller, but this album seems particularly brimming with novelistic detail (eg, "Hurricane", "Black Diamond Bay", "Joey", "Romance in Durango"). The sound is different also because of the wonderfully haunting violin work of Ms. Rivera and the great harmonies of Emmy Lou Harris. Desire features some of the finest singing Dylan ever did- it's full, confident, and expressive emotionally. My personal favorites are the underrated "Black Diamond Bay" with its apocalyptic microcosm of lonliness, greed, incomprehension, desire, and compassion. The last verse is classic as the scene shifts to L.A. and the TV zombie who intones for all of us who sleepwalk through life, "Didn't seem like nothing's happning, so I went to grab another beer..." Great song! I'm not sure what to make of "Joey". Is this really a pean to a too bit, violent thug or is it meant to be ironic or??? It's a wonderful, moody album, certainly among Dylan's 7 or 8 best.

My favorite album, I especially enjoy Isis, a song that I believe represents Dylan at his best, spinning a tale that perhaps is a thousand years old, or perhaps just happened last week. And the violin, well, its as good as Knopfler on Infidels. I''ve been trying to find the cover of the album, I''d like to have a print matted and framed. Any help?

faggally waggally warts