Playlist - The Very Best of Bob Dylan 80’s

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Today, Sony Legacy released a compilation of what they feel are the best tracks from Dylan's most up-and-down decade. What's the best track on it, and what's missing?

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Blind Willie McTell 8
Most Of The Time (Alternate Version, Oh Mercy) 6
Jokerman 4
Dignity 2
Everything Is Broken 2
The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar 2
Brownsville Girl 1
Sweetheart Like You 1
Every Grain Of Sand 1
Dark Eyes 1
Series Of Dreams (Unreleased, Oh Mercy) 1
Pressing On 0
Foot Of Pride 0
Silvio 0


EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:48 (fifteen years ago)

is the alternate version of "Most of the Time" the acoustic version that sounded like a blood on the tracks outtake and came out on "tell tale signs"?

a prairie based companion (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:49 (fifteen years ago)

Cover is an aneurysm.

cee-oh-tee-tee, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:50 (fifteen years ago)

Based on the Amazon snippets, yes.

xpost

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:52 (fifteen years ago)

cool, getting my vote!

a prairie based companion (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:56 (fifteen years ago)

hilarious that the best songs on this were never on actual albums tho

a prairie based companion (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:56 (fifteen years ago)

I, too, am happy they took Dignity, Series Of Dreams and Most Of The Time from Tell Tale Signs, and Blind Willie McTell from the first bootleg series release. Don't know what I'm voting for yet.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:57 (fifteen years ago)

that actually looks like a good mix.
but yeah, who in hell designed that cover.

tylerw, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:59 (fifteen years ago)

maybe the only thing i'd add is "angelina" (also not on an actual album, haha)

tylerw, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:01 (fifteen years ago)

I might throw in something from the shelved Rock Solid live record too, but it's quite good on the face of it. Except the cover.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:03 (fifteen years ago)

All in all, an excellent job of making the 80s look like a much stronger decade for Dylan than it was, accomplished partly, as mentioned above, by included material that never actually got released during the 80s. Going with 'Blind Willie McTell.' I think the recording just might be his single greatest performance as a singer.

MumblestheRevelator, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:04 (fifteen years ago)

i would add "man in the long black coat" -- my favorite track on oh mercy

a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:04 (fifteen years ago)

oh yeah, that's a good one. i've kind of got a soft spot for "tight connection to my heart"

tylerw, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:05 (fifteen years ago)

No "Tight Connection to My Heart," no credibility – top fifteen Dylan.

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:20 (fifteen years ago)

otherwise it's "Jokerman" over "Foot of Pride."

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:20 (fifteen years ago)

I'd been thinking of polling Dylan in the eighties, if it hasn't been done.

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:21 (fifteen years ago)

Sweetheart Like You
beating out Groom's Still waiting, for me

KC & the sunshine banned (outdoor_miner), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:38 (fifteen years ago)

No "Tight Connection to My Heart," no credibility – top fifteen Dylan.
well, i like the song, but that's crazy talk.

tylerw, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:39 (fifteen years ago)

OMG! Album cover of the year!! Maybe EVER! I might actually buy the thing just to have all those boxed, video bar wall Dylans glowering at me during my afternoon coffee.

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:43 (fifteen years ago)

well, i like the song, but that's crazy talk.

My Dylan list would look like no other.

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:47 (fifteen years ago)

let's see it -- i'm curious!

tylerw, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:50 (fifteen years ago)

I came here looking for "Man in the Long Black Coat" too. Still, "Dignity" is one of my all-time favorites.

"Tight Connection" has the classic couplet:
Never could learn to drink that blood and call it wine
Never could learn to hold you, Love, and call you mine

ok we are pals (Eazy), Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:53 (fifteen years ago)

"Blind Willie McTell" by a million miles, & I love everything on here ("Pressing On"!). But "Blind Willie McTell" is my favorite Dylan song, or at least one of my five favorites.

Euler, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:54 (fifteen years ago)

It seems more conceptually coherent than the still-perfectly-listenable Greatest Hits Volume 3. Plus it evokes memories of a head-scratching screening of Hearts of Fire on a plane.

And yeah, "Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anyone Seen My Love)" is an unfortunate disco Dylan omission.

Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 17:59 (fifteen years ago)

cuz I love you, tyler:

Girl From the North Country
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine
Tangled Up in Blue
Lonesome Day Blues
Tombstone Blues
Blind Willie McTell
Sara
Foot of Pride
Sign on the Window
Buckets of Rain
Every Grain of Sand
Tight Connection To My Heart
Man in the Long Black Coat
Jokerman

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 00:58 (fifteen years ago)

Voted Every Grain of Sand but a few v. good ones here.

Mark, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 01:06 (fifteen years ago)

ah, that's not *that* crazy, alfred. <3 st. augustine. you heard the supper club versions of tight connection? kind of definitive.

tylerw, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 03:37 (fifteen years ago)

She was the Rose of Sharon, from Paradise Lost........

kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 03:47 (fifteen years ago)

"Blind Willie McTell" by a mile.

slow a cat sample down 800 percent (Matos W.K.), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 03:52 (fifteen years ago)

I think the only change I'd make would be to exchange 'Silvio' for 'Clean Cut Kid.'

MumblestheRevelator, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 04:18 (fifteen years ago)

Dark Eyes 4EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caribbean Wind is a fatal omission, and I would personally include Neighborhood Bully

kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 04:19 (fifteen years ago)

would have man in the long black coat

Picture me ¯\(°_°)/¯ ing (symsymsym), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 07:10 (fifteen years ago)

so much dylan chest area

Picture me ¯\(°_°)/¯ ing (symsymsym), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 07:10 (fifteen years ago)

That's a great comp. Voted Jokerman.

margana (anagram), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 07:42 (fifteen years ago)

This was easy, Brownsville Girl is my favourite any decade Dylan song.

Popture, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 10:42 (fifteen years ago)

"Blind Willie McTell". Still a mystery that he didn't include it on "Infidels".

Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 11:30 (fifteen years ago)

That's actually a pretty good overview of his 80s stuff there.

I'd have gone for the album version of Most Of the Time though, the Tell Tale Signs version is nice, but it's a curio. I love the American Music Club-ness of the LP version.

Missing is "Rank Strangers To Me" from Down in the Groove and the still-unreleased best take of "Born In Time" from the Oh Mercy sessions. I can't approach Shot Of love with anything approaching objectivity as it was my first exposure to Dylan, but I'd say that In The Summertime, Dead Man Dead Man, and Property Of Jesus are worthy of inclusion.

Officer Pupp, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 13:52 (fifteen years ago)

i was gonna bitch that "senor (tales of yankee power)" wasn't on this but then i remembered that's late 70s i think

da poupier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 16:25 (fifteen years ago)

just man...like who the fuck sits down and say "This is a song, it's called "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)"

<3 bob!

da poupier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 16:25 (fifteen years ago)

When I saw him in 2005 he really shocked everyone by (a) dusting it off (b) kicking its ass.

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 16:28 (fifteen years ago)

yeah that's the only street legal song he ever plays anymore ... maybe the only one he's ever played since the tour for that album? really seems to relish singing it.

tylerw, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 16:32 (fifteen years ago)

Ended up voting for "Dignity". Maybe not the best song here -- are any of these really better than "Blind Willie McTell"? -- but one I love nonetheless and want to make sure it's represented.

EZ Snappin, Saturday, 23 October 2010 23:27 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Sunday, 24 October 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

Hard to vote anything over "Willie McTell" here, but "Every Grain of Sand" is a pretty close runner-up.

o. nate, Sunday, 24 October 2010 23:05 (fifteen years ago)

ahahahaha that cover

Bobby Short, Wayne Shorter (Hurting 2), Sunday, 24 October 2010 23:06 (fifteen years ago)

bobdylan'80s

Bobby Short, Wayne Shorter (Hurting 2), Sunday, 24 October 2010 23:07 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Monday, 25 October 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

Hard to argue with Blind Willy McTell, but only one vote for Every Grain of Sand?

Officer Pupp, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 11:52 (fifteen years ago)


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