POLLING THUNDER REVUE: The Bob Dylan Poll Results Thread (He Acts Like We Never Have Met)

And here we go with Controversial Poll-runner Decision #2: The votes reflected here were for The Basement Tapes specifically, which imo is a discrete collection of recordings made commercially available in 1975. There were, however, also some votes for the full A Tree With Roots set, and also a few for Mixin' Up the Medicine/The Safety Tape. So. Depending on your own prejudices, you can add the votes for A Tree With Roots (137 points) and/or The Safety Tape (81 points) to this one. Which, by my calculation, would bump it up to 5th place.

9. The Basement Tapes (1975)
(19 votes, 4 1st-place votes, 544 points)

http://robbie-robertson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/The-Basement-Tapes-Dylan-Band1.jpg

This one is entirely too low, imo.

*16. /Modern Times/ (2006)*
/(13 votes, 293 points)/

otm. This was in my top 5 (might've been my #2). Easily up there with Blonde for me.

I voted for From the Reels as my Basement collection. All the various "unsweetened" collections are better than the released one.

8. The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live 1966, the "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)
(20 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 547 points)

http://www.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0886977328923.jpg

yeah I'm good with imagining Basement Tapes or whatever you wanna call it at #5, thanks for the clarification.

7. Love and Theft (2001)
(22 votes, 562 points)

http://eboutique.ric-vintage-records-shop.com/WebRoot/Orange/Shops/d3d8e5da-2056-11de-a9cd-000d609a287c/4B1A/936D/573C/5AF6/CCD0/0A0A/33E7/ABC9/CD-BobDylan-LoveAndTheft-1.jpg

relieved it outscored TOOM.

6. John Wesley Harding (1967)
(23 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 574 points)

http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/93/product_large/DYDD18.JPG

Of all his albums, this one to me sort of stands outside the rest of his stuff. It's connected, obviously, but it has such an odd particular vibe to it. Like a branch he found and explored and couldn't really take anywhere else, but I go back to it over and over.

otm

It's such an outlier that I didn't even put it on my albums ballot despite some really great songs on it.

Top 5! Pour one out for Suze.

5. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
(26 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 650 points)

http://lossless-galaxy.ru/uploads/posts/2010-12/1293363149_the-freewheelin-bob-dylan.jpg

dang, didn't expect to see Freewheelin' so high, but yeah it's a favorite of mine as well. of course, i didn't vote (due to not knowing what i'm talking about) so i should go back to the peanut gallery

The hidden weapon is "Corrina, Corrina."

love the alternate solo corrina, such a great vocal and guitar line. http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Corrina+Corrina+Alternate+Solo+Version/368L1v?src=5

Funny--I was in the middle of listening to this off Grooveshark:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Talkin+John+Birch+Paranoid+Blues/jxbMB?src=5

4. Blonde On Blonde (1966)
(28 votes, 3 1st-place votes, 820 points)

http://images.junostatic.com/full/CS413211-01A-BIG.jpg

Coming in 5 minutes: The top 3, posted in one block.

3. Blood on the Tracks (1975)
(27 votes, 5 1st-place votes, 854 points)

http://cdn-images.9cloud.us/288/piccit_bob_dylan__blood_on_the_trac_415048472.jpg

2. Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
(33 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 905 points)

http://www.bobdylan.com/sites/bdylan/files/5701847_147.jpg

1. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
(32 votes, 9 1st-place votes, 1,030 points)

http://www.wnyc.org/i/raw/1/1000x1000.jpg

I was a little surprised by Bringing It All Back Home, because it was almost nobody's top pick. But it just hung around near the top of most ballots.

I guess I'm the great Dylan mean when it comes to albums. Voted for five, the top five, almost in exact order (had #3 and #4 reversed). I believe this is the only poll where I submitted an album list.

It's hard to do a decade breakdown because so many of these were released years after they were recorded, but even if you just go by studio releases there are albums in the top 20 from every decade '60s-'00s. Range of 43 years from Freewheelin' to Modern Times.

BIABH at #2 is a surprise.

Range of 43 years from Freewheelin' to Modern Times.

That is mind-blowing to me.

bringing it all back home his best album cover. highway 61 rose in my estimation revisiting (EH?) it for the first time in many years for this poll, blonde on blonde fell.

I feel like Highway 61 gets a little snubbed in the canon because of the double-album hype around Blonde on Blonde. I love plenty of BoB, but 61 is all killer.

OK, obviously too late to start tracks tonight. I'll crank them up in the morning and get through as many as we can.

Everybody must go home.

Range of 43 years from Freewheelin' to Modern Times.

Also kind of amazing that only about 6 months separates the recording of the #1 and #2 albums. I guess '65 was the year Dylan could do no wrong.

Yay @ BoB not being #1!

OK, well, I hate to do this, but looking ahead at the next few days, I do not have the space-time capabilities to post the tracks. Too much stuff has piled up in the rest of the world that needs to be dealt with. So rather than drive myself crazy, I'm going to punt. The tracks will return next week, with a more stately rollout. My apologies. This ended up being a way busier couple of weeks than I initially anticipated.

Until then -- stay cool kids.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bEfdjVTDRmc/TjK8tpmYesI/AAAAAAAAAUw/P4UH-uj1EVs/s1600/dylan-hearts-of-fire.jpg

good results!

Shall we amuse ourselves by posting our lists for the side polls during the hiatus?

Very good album list, has 19/20 from my ballot - only missing Pat Garrett soundtrack and personally I don't really need Another Side of Bob, but I remember when a friend played it for me in high school and we thought it was soooo crazy so yeah, all cool with me. My top 5:

1. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
2. Blood on the Tracks (1975)
3. Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
4. The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 (1991)
5. The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)

BoB did not make my top5 because of sequencing/length, which may be unfair because Boots 1-3 isn't as much an album as a collection of songs.

I didn't get it together to vote for albums. The results look fairly reasonable to me, though I would agree with those who said that "Modern Times" was too low.

thanks tipsy! have a good time at bonnaroo. also i think it's cool to wait until next week. feel like with the brisk pace there wasn't enough time between results to chat about it.

here's my ballot for albums:

1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Blood on the Tracks
3. Basement Tapes
4. Bootleg Series 4: Live 1966 Royal Albert Hall
5. Self-Portrait
6. Time Out of Mind
7. Nashville Skyline
8. Another Side of Bob Dylan
9. Bringing it All Back Home
10. John Wesley Harding
11. Slow Train Coming
12. New Morning
13. Planet Waves
14. Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
15. Bob Dylan
16. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
17. Blonde on Blonde
18. Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
19. The Times They Are A-Changing
20. Saved

Just want to say, I'd never seen a large version of the Highway 61 cover art and had always interpreted his floral shirt as a leather jacket.

An illusion enhanced by the motorcycle t-shirt he's sporting underneath.

also suze is really beautiful

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/03/01/gettyimages_74261714-ec3efc964a076d939d2fd26574a2dc5e3adb969b-s6-c30.jpg

a stoner friend of mine in 8th grade asked me if bob was holding a pipe on the hwy 61 cover. no it's his sunglasses

My cover versions ballot. All of these are natch "better than the original".

01 William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
02 Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower
03 Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
04 PJ Harvey - Highway 61 Revisited
05 Klaus Wunderlich - Weil Ich dich so liebe (aka Wigwam)
06 Trombones Unlimited - The Mighty Quinn
07 Olivia Newton John - If Not For You
08 Alan Lorber Orchestra - Don’t Think Twice (It's Alright)
09 The Spokesmen - Love Minus Zero/No Limit
10 Robert Palmer with UB40 - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
11 Sebastian Cabot - Like A Rolling Stone
12 The Byrds - All I Really Want To Do
13 Claude Denjean - Lay Lady Lay
14 Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - This Wheel's on Fire
15 US Navy Steel Band - Blowin’ In the Wind*
16 Nico - I'll Keep It With Mine
17 Unit 4 + 2 - You Ain't Going Nowhere
18 Jimi Hendrix - Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (from BBC session)
19 Johnny Cash - Wanted Man (from 'At San Quentin')
20 Tom Robinson Band - I Shall Be Released

*toss up between this and the Neil Young version on 'Arc/Weld', but no Dylan covers list is complete without some steel drum

01 William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man

no way dogg

that's the least controversial pick in that list, catt!

Oh cool, someone else voted for "Wanted Man".

10 Robert Palmer with UB40 - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

almost voted for this!

The Ferry-cover is amazing enough.

Must've been drunk earlier - 17/20 of my albums placed - did not vote for Another Side, World Gone Wrong (out of ignorance) or Before the Flood (don't like shouting Dylan) but did vote for Pat Garrett (favorite Dylan morning album) s/t (not many originals, but lovely (guthriesque?) playing/singing and overall sound) and Bootlegs 8 (far better than 9 and also better than 10 imo)

Feel like Modern Times could be a bit overrated because it's so listenable, it's a very enjoyable album but maybe lacks a bit of drama/tension. Still, it's probably the album after 75 I've listened to the most.

pat garett is great, it made my albums ballot

I bashed my ballots out with what I thought were mere hours to spare. Ergo I think some of what I included here were representing for things I left off the main ballot.

1. Bryan Ferry: A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall
2. Jimi Hendrix Experience: All Along The Watchtower
3. PJ Harvey: Highway 61 Revisited
4. The Band: When I Paint My Masterpiece
5. Byrds: You Ain't Going Nowhere
6. Johnny Cash: Wanted Man
7. Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man
8. Them: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
9. The Faces: The Wicked Messinger
10. The Band: Don't Ya Tell Henry
11. Elvis Presley: Tomorrow Is A Long Time
12. Rod Stewart: Mama You've Been On My Mind
13. The Grass Roots: Mr Jones (Ballad of A Thin Man)
14. Willie Nelson: What Was It That You Wanted
15. Al Kooper/Super Session: It's Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
16. Byrds: Spanish Harlem Incident
17. Turtles: It Ain't Me Babe
18. The Replacements: Like A Rolling Pin
19. Stevie Wonder: Blowin' In The Wind
20. Sir Douglas Quintet: One Too Many Mornings/Got To Sing A Happy Song

i have world gone wrong but i've probably only listened to it a couple times, bought it at the end of a major dylan plunge that lasted many months and at that point i was starting to listen to other things

albums

the basement tapes
the bootleg series vol. 4: bob dylan live 1966 the “royal albert hall” concert
highway 61 revisited
new morning
blood on the tracks
another side of bob dylan
the bootleg series vol 5: bob dylan live 1975 , the rolling thunder revue
bringing it all back home
world gone wrong
the freewheelin’ bob dylan
before the flood
the bootleg series vol 8: tell tale signs: rare and unreleased 1989-2006
time out of mind
shot of love
slow train coming
blonde on blonde
infidels
john wesley harding
nashville skyline
a tree with roots

covers
elvis presley - tomorrow is a long time
them - it’s all over now baby blue
jimi hendrix experience - all along the watchtower
julie driscoll & the brian auger trinity - this wheel’s on fire
the byrds - you ain’t goin’ nowhere
pj harvey - highway 61 revisited
bryan ferry - a hard rain’s gonna fall
nina simone - just like tom thumb’s blues
gene clark - tears of rage
13th floor elevators - it’s all over now baby blue
patti labelle - forever young
fairport convention - i’ll keep it with mine
the band - when i paint my masterpiece
o’jays - emotionally yours
jerry garcia band - simple twist of fate
lou reed - foot of pride
sinead o’connor - property of jesus
nazareth - the ballad of hollis brown
miley cyrus - you’re gonna make me lonesome when you go
telly savalas - i shall be released

Albums (didn't do covers):

1. Nashville Skyline
2. Bringing It All Back Home
3. Desire
4. Highway 61 Revisited
5. Love and Theft
6. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live, 1966
7. Thin Wild Mercury Music
8. Blood on the Tracks: New York Sessions
9. From The Reels
10. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait
11. Biograph
12. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991
13. Christmas in the Heart
14. Borgholm, 2001 (7/3/01, Borgholm, Sweden)
15. Rundown Rehearsals Remastered
16. Rock Solid (4/19/80, Toronto, Canada)
17. Deeds of Mercy
18. Don't Think Twice, It's OK (11/2/12, Tulsa, OK)
19. The Genuine Supper Club Soundboards (11/16/93, NYC)
20. Paint the Daytime Black (2/14/74, Inglewood, CA)