(**½) May 30, 1988. 25th studio album
Dylan returns to a blues-rock/folk sound on the enjoyable but unspectacular late ’80s release Down in the Groove. With a mixture of traditional folk tunes such as “Shenandoah,” and the humorous “I’m in Love with the Ugliest Girl in the World,” and five originals, some of them written with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, the album is most notable for “Silvio,” featuring the Dead’s Garcia, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh on backing vocals, which became a minor FM radio hit and a song that still occasionally makes the setlist today in a live setting. But my favorite on this release is “Death is Not The End,” a traditional blues number sung elegantly by Dylan with sparse instrumentation.
#24….best is “Sylvio”