I was first turned on to and tuned into Bob at age 11 when my brother played “Desire.” And despite listening to Bob for nearly fifty years now and having seen him play a dozen times, there were some stark holes in my relationship with a fair amount of Dylan’s studio repertoire. So for the past three months I listened to it all, again and again and again. And made a mix/playlist/sequencing of nearly everything he has recorded in the studio (447 songs). For this initial version of the playlist I left off the three albums (2015-2016) of torch song covers. More notably, though I wanted to include everything from the basement tapes (original/reissued) I only chose certain songs due to the production quality. Would I prefer listening to many of Bob’s albums start to finish rather than this mix. Unquestionably. But this exercise has introduced or resurrected me to so much brilliant songwriting. Having spent this much time with Bob, there are only two or three songs I have not warmed up to. Bob’s a treasure and this is his treasure chest for us. Enjoy these nearly 33 hours and let it roll one day (and nearly another half)…I certainly did.
