Category Archives: dylan weekends

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Song of the Day #699: ‘When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky’ – Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan released a live record in 1984, the year after Infidels came out, then returned with an original album — Empire Burlesque — in 1985.

Empire Burlesque is another of Dylan’s most polarizing albums… I’m amused by how many of his releases are described as both his best and his worst by different fans. This is the last of the albums I bought to prepare for this series, and once again I’m glad I did.

I don’t rank it on either extreme — it’s a strong collection of songs hampered by some very dated production techniques, but for the most part the quality shines through.

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Song of the Day #693: ‘I and I’ – Bob Dylan

I’ve been playing Infidels a lot during the past week, learning it the way you do with a new album, and it’s growing on me more and more. I’m planning to rank all of Dylan’s albums once I’ve cycled through his discography on these Dylan Weekends and I’m already anticipating what a daunting task that will be.

I’ve always had my favorites and my second tier, but I’ve now introduced great new albums such as Infidels, Planet Waves, Street Legal and Slow Train Coming, with another undiscovered album still to come. And then there are the albums I still don’t own but have come to appreciate from afar — Self Portrait, Dylan, Saved and Shot of Love.

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Song of the Day #692: ‘Jokerman’ – Bob Dylan

After four years of the “Christian thing” (which is a long time in music years), Bob Dylan released the (mostly) secular Infidels in 1983 and it was celebrated as a return to form.

And indeed it is his best album from that mid-70s to late-80s period when he was at his shakiest. As I’ve discovered through these blog entries, that period wasn’t quite as shaky as I’d been led to believe but it was shaky.

Infidels is another album that I purchased expressly for the purposes of this blog and I’m really glad I did. I’m not sure why I never got around to buying it in the past, because I’ve always heard it’s a good album, so it was nice to have the excuse.

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Song of the Day #686: ‘Every Grain of Sand’ – Bob Dylan

1981’s Shot of Love is another of those notorious albums which have been called Dylan’s worst by fans and critics alike (and I’m guessing a ranking of Dylan album covers would see this one near the bottom of the list as well).

It’s another album I don’t own, so I can’t side with the detractors or the equally passionate fans of Shot of Love. But I will say that a trip through the album via 45-second sound samples left me a lot more intrigued than depressed. Sure, the album seems to lack focus (it introduces secular subject matter into the mix, despite being his third Christian album in a row) but it sounds pretty damn good.

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Song of the Day #685: ‘Pressing On’ – Bob Dylan

1980 saw the release of Saved, the born-again-iest of Dylan’s born-again Christian albums.

Full disclosure here: my prejudice against both gospel music and organized religion makes me distrust and even dislike albums like this without even hearing a bar. The very thought of it creeps me out.

But I have a greater calling here, one that has me exploring all of the Dylan albums I’ve avoided through the years, and I have to admit this is one of the more interesting detours.

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