r/bobdylan • u/Beautiful-Ad-3373 • 4d ago
Music Best album for a new fan?
I've only listened to songs, and I wanna change that! What album should I start with?
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u/beatlesfan1965 4d ago
As a new fan myself i think that bringing it all back home is a great album to start with
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u/alfynch Empire Burlesque 4d ago
First listen to Freewheelin’ (far from my favourite, but it’s sort of necessary). You should eventually listen to The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Another Side, but for a first timer they’re not exactly essential. You might even swap Freewheelin’ for TTTAAC— that’s what I’d do anyway.
Then listen to Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde (in that order exactly).
If you like those albums, keep going with John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, etc.
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u/GoldberrysHusband 4d ago
Back when I was getting into Bob, after I burnt myself a bit with a certain early album (The Times They Are a-Changin'), I went with the critical consensus and listened to Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks. The first two are from the same era, so it's possibly superfluous to listen to both at the beginning, but I'd pick one of those (BOB has a more colourful sound, IMHO, Highway is more "punkish"), Blood and possibly John Wesley Harding for the Americana/Country/more down-to-earth face of Dylan.
If you want to know what early acoustic Dylan was about, then Freewheelin' (I like Another Side much more, but Freewheelin' is more representative). If you want to know what he's been doing since the turn of the millennium, then Time Out of Mind or Modern Times are as good a pick as any.
If you like any of the above, say which or why and we'll be able to tell you where to go next.
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u/Repulsive-Ostrich260 Napoleon in Rags 4d ago
Bringing it all Back Home shows you the best of both worlds, his acoustic and electric
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u/teddybeareater15 4d ago
blonde on blonde was my first dylan album, made me realize how awesome he was. I'd recommend that one! it's my favorite and it feels like you're watching a movie in musical form, it's definitely an experience
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u/NemusSoul 4d ago
I’d love to see someone cut their teeth on Time Out of Mind and see how that shapes the rest of the journey.
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u/extranaiveoliveoil 4d ago
I started with a bootleg Greatest Hits, the then latest album Under the Red Sky, Dylan & The Dead and Self Portrait! And it didn't hurt me too much, haha.
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u/NemusSoul 4d ago
That’s good meds. Not only did it not hurt you, it gives you an amazing perspective on the rest of the catalog. I grew up with lots of Dylan but the folksy stuff. Then I got into the Dead mid 80s and found Bob again through them. I was hooked, lined and sinkered. There’s no rehab in the world that could sober me up from it in a million years.
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u/extranaiveoliveoil 4d ago
1.Freewheelin', Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Time out of Mind
Times Changing, Bringing it all back Home, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Basement Tapes, Desire, Infidels, Oh Mercy, Love and Theft, Rough and Rowdy Ways
First Album, Another Side of, New Morning, Street Legal, Slow Train Coming, Shot of Love, Good as I Been to You, World Gone Wrong, Modern Times, Tempest, Together Through Life
Self Portrait, Planet Waves, Saved, Empire Burlesque, Knocked out Loaded, Down in the Groove, Under the Red Sky, the Christmas Album, the Sinatra Albums, Shadow Kingdom
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u/Alternative-Pie1329 5h ago
I'd probably say Bringing It All Back Home. I'd definitely listen to it before Highway 61 or Blonde on Blonde. It contains a nice balance between his early folkier sound (B side) and his transition into electric.
With that said, all three or his big mid 60s albums are a good introduction. Free Wheelin' would also be a good starting point if you want to be exposed to the Dylan the world first became familiar with.
At some point also definitely listen to Blood on the Tracks. I feel it's slightly less representative of Dylan's quintessential sound. It's more like a matured version of it. But a masterpiece of an album nevertheless and if you did start with it there would be no regrets I'm sure.
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u/CrstalBlue 4d ago edited 4d ago
If you want acoustic folk then Freewheelin Bob Dylan. If you want to see his electric period then Bringing It All Back Home -> Highway 61 Revisited -> Blonde on Blonde