Play a song for me: If Wknd had to pick 5 Dylan albums, it would be these
Behind every beautiful thing: Also check out 10 Dylan covers that HT’s editor-in-chief R Sukumar thinks are up there.
Blonde on Blonde; 1966
Features Robbie Robertson and Al Kooper, has the songs Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again and Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. What more do you need?
Musically the best album by Dylan — and almost pure blues-rock. Listen to it as much for the lyrics (Desolation Row, Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, Highway 61 Revisited) as for Mike Bloomfield’s preternatural guitar playing.
Doesn’t matter whether it was based on Chekhov stories or influenced by a bad marriage. Doesn’t matter if the original Blood on The Tracks remains lost (Dylan reworked five songs just before the album’s release). This is the one that showed the man still had it. And it has Simple Twist of Fate, Shelter from the Storm and Tangled Up in Blue.
Nashville Skyline; 1969
A partnership with Johnny Cash (Girl from the North Country), and the ever-popular Lay Lady Lay, this was as close to a complete country-music album as Dylan ever came.
Rough and Rowdy Ways; 2020
The most recent of the four albums mentioned above was released in 1975. Sure, 1997’s Time Out of Mind has its moments, as does 1989’s Oh Mercy. Then, almost a quarter of a century after the former’s release, Dylan came out with an album that reminded everyone of just what made him one of the world’s greatest writer-singers (I Contain Multitudes and Murder Most Foul are almost poetic).
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10 OF THE BEST BOB DYLAN COVERS
Dylan songs have been covered by countless artists. Here, HT’s editor-in-chief R Sukumar(there’s music playing in his room all the time) picks 10 that he thinks are up there.
Tangled Up in Blue; Jerry Garcia Band, 1991
From the first live album of the Jerry Garcia Band — based on a concert at The Warfield, San Francisco the previous year — comes this most joyous version of Tangled Up in Blue.
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again; Cat Power
Chan Marshall aka Cat Power has one of the most unique voices in music. This cover, from the soundtrack of the 2007 movie on Dylan, I’m Not There, will tell you why (the entire album is worth a spin; as is CP’s superb take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son for Marvel’s Punisher).
All Along the Watchtower; Eddie Vedder (above)
No this isn’t a Hendrix song; nor is his the best version (I’d put a Furthur jam of the song and a release by Playing for Change in my top 3). But my favourite is Vedder’s characteristic performance of this song, which is also from I’m Not There.
Desolation Row; My Chemical Romance
The closing credits of Zack Snyder’s under-rated film Watchmen (2009) play out to this guttural performance by My Chemical Romance. Interestingly, the first chapter of Alan Moore’s comic Watchmen is titled At Midnight, All the Agents..., a phrase culled from the lyrics of Desolation Row.
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue; The Animals
From the Dead to Judy Collins to Leon Russell, everyone’s covered this song, but my favourite is this version from The Animals’ 1977 album, Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted. Eric Burdon can sing.
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry; Stephen Stills, Al Kooper
This is from the second session Kooper hoped to do with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. When the latter bailed, he managed to convince Stills to sit in. The first song on Side 2 of the album Super Session (1968), this cover shows why many consider Stills one of the greatest guitarists ever.
Just Like a Woman; Nina Simone
The lyrics are marginally different from Dylan’s but this is the divine Ms Simone (the 1971 album Here Comes the Sun also has a cover of The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun).
Property of Jesus; Neal Casal
The late lead guitarist of Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Circles Around the Sun may not be a familiar name to many, but he was a rare talent, snatched away too soon. This 2014 cover of a not-so-popular Dylan song is a sampling of what we lost.
Like a Rolling Stone; The Rolling Stones
Stripped wasn’t a great album (it’s a mix of live and studio recordings) but is still memorable for this song — from a 1995 concert in London.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; Grateful Dead
The Dead covered a lot of Dylan. This version, from Wake Up to Find Out: Nassau Coliseum (March 29, 1990) finds the band at their peak (you can tell by the tempo) and features an amazing sit-in by saxophonist Branford Marsalis.
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