Nashville Skyline seems a bizarre choice - apart from Lay Lady Lay not too many of the other songs work for me. If they do, they seem unfinished. And the duet with Cash is awful (although Cash did duet with Joe Strummer on Marley's Redemption Song which was more execrable by a country mile).
I think it's the half-finished easy vibe I like, but I'm with you on North Country Fiasco!
I take it you're not too keen on acoustic Dylan by the absence of any of these albums - I'd certainly include Freewheelin', Another Side Of and World Gone Wrong as essentials.
Not just acoustic Dylan, acoustic singer-songwriters in general or more likely just acoustic full-stop. There are very few acoustic LPs or gigs that have kept me entertained for more than 15 minutes. Honourable exceptions being Nick Lowe solo at Brentford FC and anything by Hot Tuna. I need a full band to be playing, deep down though.
And no mention of Blood On The Tracks? Awesome album and possibly, just possibly, his best.
No, funnily enough - and I fully expected a Heron eyebrow to raise higher than one of Roger Moore's at this omission. I
do own a copy and play it every so often to see if it grows, but - with all due respect -
everybody hypes it up as his best but it just doesn't do it for me. I much prefer Desire.
In retrospect, too much of The Band and not enough Dylan on that album (which is not to say that The Band material is not good, just that I didn't buy an album called The Basements Tapes for Band outtakes)
Well, not surprisingly I think the opposite and don't understand the notion of "too much Band" but that's just me! Actually, from both camps some of my favourites are here: the throwaway but damn-it's-infectious "Odds and Ends" from the Zimmsman and "Katie's Been Gone" is one of the most compelling vocals Richard Manuel ever gave us; the trademark Danko/Manuel choruses are possibly my favourite interaction of two voices
bar none.
To take your side of Band overdosing, I hope you noticed Planet Waves WASN'T on my list, or Before The Flood. PW is simply not a favourite; BTF is an unneccessary document of a mega-grossing tour that only ever had money as a watchword.
There is another "anorak" type reason: I don't like the syrupy string-heavy organ sound Garth Hudson used on that album, or The Last Waltz, or Northern Lights Southern Cross! His trusty old Lowrey organ was retired for one of Lowrey's later theatre models that lights up like a christmas tree and doesn't have any non-cheesy sounds in it.I'm amazed that "Saved" didn't make it onto your no-no's though. "Salvaged", we used to call it in the shop!
