A few weeks into the pandemic and lockdown, a mysterious thing happened. A new song, “Murder Most Foul,” appeared on the Bob Dylan Facebook page. As the weeks went on, a few more songs were released, and eventually the album Rough and Rowdy Ways was available.
The album was critically well-received, but where did it fit in in my personal Dylan discography? I decided to listen again to all of the studio albums in the order they were released, so I could re-live how things evolved through his storied career.
The results follow. Please remember these rankings are not based on sales, critical acclaim, or any other criteria other than how well I’ve like each one. I jotted down notes, and I hope this can be a guide for those who may not be well-versed in the many moods of Bob. I tried to give a capsule summary of the sound you could expect to hear if you wanted to pop some Dylan on, but didn’t know which album to pick.
I tried not to analyze the meanings of the songs. That’s been done to death, and quite frankly it’s a personal interpretation, what may mean something to you may mean something else to me. I’ve included links to Spotify versions of the songs. (If you are using Chrome browser, you may have to go to the upper right-hand corner and click the red triangle and click Disable Nothing for Spotify to play.)
I hope you enjoy this, and please let me know what your rankings are!