Not a fan of the mid 80s live stuff where he sounded like he was trying to copy what he’d done on Blonde on Blonde (see: most of Real Live, though it has its moments). He didn’t seem to have much bass resonance at all, and all the big swoops sound like every bad Dylan impression. I’ve heard some great stuff from every touring year though
Also, and this is purely a function of my own (bad) personal taste, but I never liked his Nashville Skyline Kermit voice. That said, I kinda dig the live Isle of Wight version of Wild Mountain Thyme, and the Skyline songs are mostly good.
[I’ll share this every chance I get](https://youtu.be/OavWMkvFnFg?si=1xbWgM7ku8_v_quK)
between Nashville Skyline and some tracks on Another Self Portrait, there’s almost no way that’s not his natural voice
I believe that’s Robbie Robertson sittin there with him. It’s such a fascinating peak into one of Dylan’s most prolific writing periods of his life. It makes you literally feel like a fly on the wall. Part of me wishes he had finished the song. But another part loves that it exists just as it is here. Same epic YouTube channel, but I also think this is better sounding:
https://youtu.be/sh7_uNRk9dw?si=DQ3ompF4lI_hodJm
Love those tracks so much, but it sounds more like the basement tapes than Nashville skyline to me. He’s just singing soft, using his larynx instead of projecting with his diaphragm. The sound on Lay Lady Lay is done, I think, by tensing up the vocal cords a bit. At least, that’s how I can approximate it
I actually think it's the other way around. The Nashville Skyline voice is using the diaphragm and singing with his real voice. If you listen to 1950s tapes of Dylan, he sounds like Nashville Skyline, and his childhood friends have said that's his real singing voice
Also there's been some studio engineers that have talked about it being hard to get Dylan's mic set up because he sings with his throat/larynx and comes out overloading the signal lol
I had the same issue when I started making music actually. I actually got into Dylan because people said I sounded like him and I was surprised by that. But it's because I was singing without my diaphragm at all. When I had my diaphragm I sound completely different (both to young me and to Dylan)
So I think that's what's going on, personally. Who knows though!
I had a bootleg copy of "Eat the Document" back when I was a kid, and this was far and away my favorite bit of the movie.
EDIT...I should clarify, in the movie, I think he's singing a more complete version of this song with Johnny Cash, maybe? It's been so long, my memory may be a bit hazy.
Bonnie Beecher, who hung out with him way back in Minneapolis, has said that his Nashville Skyline voice was his natural voice - how he sounded back then before he put on his Woody voice!
That's my favorite Dylan song of all time! Might be a rare opinion, but it always leaves me spellbound. And I also noticed the Nashville Skyline thing too when he slips into it at a point or two, yeah!
There's some audio from 1956 or 1959 (can't recall which) of Dylan singing in that voice. It is his natural voice, according to a childhood friend or two of his. So most likely that's true, yeah!
Willis Alan Ramsey is the legit kermit. Dude put out one album in the 70s and it's honestly one of my favorites of all time but I gotta say he's straight kermit on some songs
On my first listen of Real Live, I really did not like the vocals. (I honestly think Real Live inspired a lot of comedians' really bad, really nasally Bob Dylan impressions.) But over time it's grown on me. There's some bangers on that album! While I don't always love all of the vocals on everything, I can always appreciate them. Like another person said, there's something in Dylan's catalog for everyone!
I’m so glad you gave RL a shout-out! Real Live was my first live Dylan album - I mean, that I purchased myself as a (young) adult Dylan fan, in 1984. With Infidels (some great songs!) the year before (his first “post-Christian” album), I was eager to hear live Bob. As you say, the vocals are stereotypical Bob (like “stereotypical Barbie,” ha, ha) but the album has a special place for me (love hearing “I and I”!), and I like to imagine the excitement of those Irish and Italian audiences enjoying their Bob experience.
I was 11 years old when my dad popped a bootleg of Manchester '65 in the car tape player. Transfixed. The person who copied it left Tangled up in Blue from RL on the end of the tape. I was just as mesmerised by TUIB than Gates of Eden, honestly. Such a gem! Years later I realised that he had re-written sections. My favourite version is still the RL version although every version is a banger.
What is “upsinging”? Like the other comment below, could you link to an example or tell me an example I can find myself. I’ve never heard this term and super curious what it means. Thanks!
I can only explain. Dylan’s “upsinging” is his habit of ending every, or nearly every, line on a high-pitched note whether the melody calls for it or not. It’s like he is not confident to land on the correct note so he chooses a note that he can hit and goes for that instead.
Unfortunately, this has generally coincided with rushing his lines, meaning he is detached from his band. They do their thing (in time) and he does his (not in time).
Others can comment on when this has most prominently occurred, but overall it has happened a lot in the last two decades or so.
That’s amazing, haha. It’s one of my favorite versions of that song – partly bc of his vocals but also the arrangement. One part that always struck me as honest or raw or whatever is just _how much_ he seemingly gets into the song around/after 3 min 30 sec mark.
Precious Angel has as gorgeous a backing track as any song ever, thanks to Jerry Wexler, Mark Knopfler and the Mussel Shoals crew. And about half its lyrics are sheer poetry, while the other half are leaden fear-mongering. And then there's the vocal, which is everything Dylan-haters accuse him of. He even stumbles over a lyric and can't be assed to try another take.
I love love LOVE the song “You’re a Big Girl Now” but when Bob starts extending his notes “Woooooah! you were on dry land.” I love that line so much but the ‘WHOOOOOOAHs” and “OHHHHHs” just grate on my ears after a bit and makes it hard to get fully immersed. aside from that the song is amazingly beautiful
I can’t think of one. His vocal delivery is one of if not the thing I like most about his music, it’s usually the one thing I can enjoy in an otherwise average to not so great Dylan song.
The closest thing I have to this is I much prefer his vocal delivery of the Desire material from the Rolling Thunder Revue vs what came up on the record. It may have shredded his voice, but his 75 live performances of songs like Isis, One More Cup of Coffee and Oh Sister blow away the recorded versions for me
For me, it has always been Lay Lady Lay. First, imho, it’s not all that great a song, and the vocals are just too different from the rest of his work, like he’s searching for a vocal style that no one else has.
I remember discussing this with my friend on the bus going to school. It was the talk of Radio 1, "Dylan has changed his voice". We agreed that we preferred his original voice.
1964 is my least favorite Dylan voice and then 1965 is my favorite Dylan voice. Very grateful Dylan changed things up when he did, because there are so many songs from '65 that are like lullabies from another world: She Belongs to Me, Love Minus Zero, Tambourine Man, Baby Blue, Queen Jane, Desolation Row.
If I imagine any of those songs sung with the shrillness of Dylan's '64 voice rather than the fullness of his '65 voice, they don't sound nearly as good. (In one case, I don't even need to imagine it; the tape is out there of Dylan doing Tambourine Man for Another Side in '64 and it's so much worse than the Bringing It All Back Home version, it's staggering.) So much of the magic of Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 rests on the melodious lilt Dylan added to his vocals between '64 and '65. It's a small thing, but it's also a big thing. It's everything.
I love his voice in the 1960s but found I wasn't so keen when he started to sing in his half talking, pleading, style, like on BOTT. I'm not sure why he adopted that style, it may have been because cigarettes were already messing with his vocal chords.
Honestly, I typically like his vocals, but I think it's sad he chose to cave to pressure and return to using that guthrie/jack elliot impersonation voice he started out with. I feel like his voice would've held up better singing straight like he did in the Nashville Skyline era.
I love Dignity and John Brown from unplugged. I would listen to those 100 times each before I'd listen to the studio version of All I Really Wanna Do.....woof
Might be unpopular, but I really dislike his vocals on *Another Side of Bob Dylan* and on some songs off of its predecessor. Way too abrasive for my liking, especially compared to a more balanced approach on *Freewheelin'* and the electric trilogy.
His crooning during the *Nashville* days isn't really my cup of tea as well, but I don't mind it as much.
Yeah, the upsinging and the late entry into lines because of some really janky guitar playing. This is from the NET, late 90s, early 00s.
If I'm honest, it is one of those things that, once somebody brought my attention to it, if I heard it, I couldn't listen.
Take any song, and Dylan would arrange it thus:
"Guys, I'm going to play like the same 3 notes on my guitar in between lines, and that's going to make me late to sing the next line of the song. Yeah, I know the guitar playing is no good and yeah, Larry and Charlie, you guys could do that, and maybe I should be thinking about what I'm about to sing, but let's do this instead. Oh, yeah, since I'm late to sing the line, I might fluff it, or runitalltogetheronthesamenote, but, see, if I pause for a beat and then sing a higher note, it seems really, really deep and resonant, right? Right, guys?"
Some of the singing on New Morning and Planet Waves (including the Flood tour) is just bad. Comparing it to what Bob would do for all the BOTT singing and Desire, it's like...what were you thinking?
See, I actually like it for just that reason. 'Cause Christmas songs are egalitarian; they're for everyone. It's like Dylan saying: look, I can sing these songs, and so can you! To my mind, it actually works better than the Sinatraesque triad.
This is probably an awful take, especially for this sub. But, I’m not the biggest fan of his vocals on the Rolling Thunder Revue. He’s just a bit too shouty. And some of the arrangements of older songs really don’t do it for me. I prefer the sneer of Blonde on Blonde or the croon of Nashville Skyline.
I can get a little annoyed with “all I really want to do” but it’s obvious he’s being sarcastic and it can be funny at times too, other than that I don’t think any really bother me.
Here "legitimately" means that you have sincerely and honestly considered this and it's not the kneejerk dislike of Dylan's voice that non-fans seem to be profess.
Hot take: I don't like the live '66 RAH vocals. The music jams, but his voice just makes me feel bad for the guy. Like just get some sleep Bob.
Then again I've never gotten into punk rock, and that seems to be the sort of appeal he has on the '66 tour.
Whaaaaaaa! Blasphemy. 😂
61 followed by Blonde were my first 2 Dylan albums so there’s a nostalgia in it for me – from the, like you said, tired vocals to the setlist to the new band arrangements on previous acoustic songs, I absolutely love this entire performance.
Curious though, which album has your favorite Dylan vocals?
Same here Hwy 61 and BiaBH were my intro records.
'74 - '78 was Dylan at his peak vocal capacity both on albums and live imo. My personal favorite sound is the BTs in '67 though.
Yeah the Basement Tapes are great. Love Yea! Heavy, haha.
I could agree with that. I think his best album performance (studio, so not live) is Blood on the Tracks. Hands down. It has everything – the longer songs, the abstract, disguised characters that live in the song, an overall, more straightforward storytelling approach, some of his best harmonica playing of his career and some of the best melodies of his career.
**EDITING TO ADD:** Just because I mentioned this as “best studio performance”, I’ll add my favorite live performances – vocally that is – are certain live shows from 1994 and 1995.
1. Specifically, there is 1 performance of Boots of Spanish Leather that just destroys me in the best possible way. It’s on the Cracked Bells in a Busted Barn show which I believe was in November of 1995. Don’t remember the location of it though.
2. The second one is a version of Shelter from the Storm from the 1995 European Collection album. Right after the 2 minute mark, he is so into the song and you can tell it immediately. There’s a part near the end where he even interrupts the lead guitarist doing a solo with a harmonica solo. The fact he hits the wrong note at the start of it makes it perfect in my opinion. That after all of the years, he still felt it so much he just had to. He just had to. 😂
And after the 3 minute mark, well, you need to listen to it yourself for that. Gives me chills every time I hear it.
The music video for Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight is legitimately terrible vocals. It’s so bad, and if you argue otherwise, I’d argue you’re treating Dylan like a deity who can do no wrong.
>I’d argue you’re treating Dylan like a deity who can do no wrong.
I'd never class myself like that, but I love the video version...
Why do you pick this recording as 'bad'? Genuinely curious.
When most folks say Dylan sings out of key, they really mean that he’s pitchy and nasally and all the usual complaints. I have no problem with any of that. In this video, he’s actually singing out of key and it’s painful.
I think it's a great vocal But, I listen to a lot of Cash and Lou Reed so I'm pretty happy to say being 'in key' is way overrated (yes, being serious). The phrasing is utterly delightful. As Miles Davis or Monk would say... There are no bad notes
I hate the 'singing' on the last album. None of the songs have a discernable melody. They all sound pretty monotonous to me - more like talking than singing.
Love the song Something’s Burning, Baby, however, something about the way he sings the word “baby” just rubs me the wrong way. Despite how much I love the song, I almost can’t listen to it. Don’t think there’s any other songs I have this reaction to
The bad side of Supper Club boots. Fantastic setlists with bad vocals, almost the opposite of unplugged, which I actually like and hoped would be a lot less fanservice setlist wise
Basically everything after Nashville Skyline with a few exceptions. To the point I think he sustained some kind of injury that destroyed his ability to sing properly.
Honestly, none. I’m not saying he hasn’t got any shitty songs but his voice isn’t my problem with them.
Not a fan of the mid 80s live stuff where he sounded like he was trying to copy what he’d done on Blonde on Blonde (see: most of Real Live, though it has its moments). He didn’t seem to have much bass resonance at all, and all the big swoops sound like every bad Dylan impression. I’ve heard some great stuff from every touring year though Also, and this is purely a function of my own (bad) personal taste, but I never liked his Nashville Skyline Kermit voice. That said, I kinda dig the live Isle of Wight version of Wild Mountain Thyme, and the Skyline songs are mostly good.
I really liked his voice on Nashville Skyline as a one off album. I'm glad he didn't stick with it but it suited the songs.
It’s been speculated that Nashville Skyline was the closest to his natural singing voice that you’ll ever hear
[I’ll share this every chance I get](https://youtu.be/OavWMkvFnFg?si=1xbWgM7ku8_v_quK) between Nashville Skyline and some tracks on Another Self Portrait, there’s almost no way that’s not his natural voice
I believe that’s Robbie Robertson sittin there with him. It’s such a fascinating peak into one of Dylan’s most prolific writing periods of his life. It makes you literally feel like a fly on the wall. Part of me wishes he had finished the song. But another part loves that it exists just as it is here. Same epic YouTube channel, but I also think this is better sounding: https://youtu.be/sh7_uNRk9dw?si=DQ3ompF4lI_hodJm
Love those tracks so much, but it sounds more like the basement tapes than Nashville skyline to me. He’s just singing soft, using his larynx instead of projecting with his diaphragm. The sound on Lay Lady Lay is done, I think, by tensing up the vocal cords a bit. At least, that’s how I can approximate it
I actually think it's the other way around. The Nashville Skyline voice is using the diaphragm and singing with his real voice. If you listen to 1950s tapes of Dylan, he sounds like Nashville Skyline, and his childhood friends have said that's his real singing voice Also there's been some studio engineers that have talked about it being hard to get Dylan's mic set up because he sings with his throat/larynx and comes out overloading the signal lol I had the same issue when I started making music actually. I actually got into Dylan because people said I sounded like him and I was surprised by that. But it's because I was singing without my diaphragm at all. When I had my diaphragm I sound completely different (both to young me and to Dylan) So I think that's what's going on, personally. Who knows though!
I had a bootleg copy of "Eat the Document" back when I was a kid, and this was far and away my favorite bit of the movie. EDIT...I should clarify, in the movie, I think he's singing a more complete version of this song with Johnny Cash, maybe? It's been so long, my memory may be a bit hazy.
Bonnie Beecher, who hung out with him way back in Minneapolis, has said that his Nashville Skyline voice was his natural voice - how he sounded back then before he put on his Woody voice!
That's my favorite Dylan song of all time! Might be a rare opinion, but it always leaves me spellbound. And I also noticed the Nashville Skyline thing too when he slips into it at a point or two, yeah!
There's some audio from 1956 or 1959 (can't recall which) of Dylan singing in that voice. It is his natural voice, according to a childhood friend or two of his. So most likely that's true, yeah!
I’ve actually been able to figure out how he does that voice. It’s not natural in the slightest.
That's my favorite Dylan album. I don't think he sounds like Kermit. That's Canned Heat
I love his Nashville Skyline voice!
Willis Alan Ramsey is the legit kermit. Dude put out one album in the 70s and it's honestly one of my favorites of all time but I gotta say he's straight kermit on some songs
I agree with real live, it’s a shame it has my favorite version of tangled because his voice is atrocious on it
On my first listen of Real Live, I really did not like the vocals. (I honestly think Real Live inspired a lot of comedians' really bad, really nasally Bob Dylan impressions.) But over time it's grown on me. There's some bangers on that album! While I don't always love all of the vocals on everything, I can always appreciate them. Like another person said, there's something in Dylan's catalog for everyone!
I’m so glad you gave RL a shout-out! Real Live was my first live Dylan album - I mean, that I purchased myself as a (young) adult Dylan fan, in 1984. With Infidels (some great songs!) the year before (his first “post-Christian” album), I was eager to hear live Bob. As you say, the vocals are stereotypical Bob (like “stereotypical Barbie,” ha, ha) but the album has a special place for me (love hearing “I and I”!), and I like to imagine the excitement of those Irish and Italian audiences enjoying their Bob experience.
80s Bob often gets a bad rap, but there are so many gems from this decade!
I was 11 years old when my dad popped a bootleg of Manchester '65 in the car tape player. Transfixed. The person who copied it left Tangled up in Blue from RL on the end of the tape. I was just as mesmerised by TUIB than Gates of Eden, honestly. Such a gem! Years later I realised that he had re-written sections. My favourite version is still the RL version although every version is a banger.
That upsinging he was doing on the Neverending tour for awhile.
What is “upsinging”? Like the other comment below, could you link to an example or tell me an example I can find myself. I’ve never heard this term and super curious what it means. Thanks!
Agree. That was brutal.
I just don’t understand how someone with Bob Dylan’s artistic sensibilities can think it acceptable to produce upsinging like that.
Can you explain? Or possibly link me to an example?
I can only explain. Dylan’s “upsinging” is his habit of ending every, or nearly every, line on a high-pitched note whether the melody calls for it or not. It’s like he is not confident to land on the correct note so he chooses a note that he can hit and goes for that instead. Unfortunately, this has generally coincided with rushing his lines, meaning he is detached from his band. They do their thing (in time) and he does his (not in time). Others can comment on when this has most prominently occurred, but overall it has happened a lot in the last two decades or so.
Thank you so much for explaining *THIS*. Had no idea what it meant *OTHERWISE*. I had never heard this term *BEFORE*. 😆
Anything from 08-12. It’s just brutal with some exceptions like Scarlet Town. The delivery is usually good but the raspiness is grating.
I enjoy raspy Dylan. He sounds apocalyptic.
It can work. Particularly in the first leg of the RARW tour on My Own Version of you.
I consider that his Tom Waits period lol
His vocals on the mtv unplugged version of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Like they make me laugh. So maybe I do like them ironically
That’s amazing, haha. It’s one of my favorite versions of that song – partly bc of his vocals but also the arrangement. One part that always struck me as honest or raw or whatever is just _how much_ he seemingly gets into the song around/after 3 min 30 sec mark.
One of his greatest performances.
Not crazy about his duet with Allen Ginsburg.
Do you mean “Vomit Express”?
That's the one!
I thought Dylan just did some backing vocals on that one.
I just remember hearing it a few years back, didn't care for it.
It’s not good, but it’s very odd to have Dylan’s byline on a song all about gay sex tourism.
It really sucks!
Precious Angel has as gorgeous a backing track as any song ever, thanks to Jerry Wexler, Mark Knopfler and the Mussel Shoals crew. And about half its lyrics are sheer poetry, while the other half are leaden fear-mongering. And then there's the vocal, which is everything Dylan-haters accuse him of. He even stumbles over a lyric and can't be assed to try another take.
I actually always liked the weird way he articulates "the judgment hall of KE-RIIIIIST."
I'm sorry, I know it's blasphemy- but "All I Really Want to Do" gets on my last nerve.
I love love LOVE the song “You’re a Big Girl Now” but when Bob starts extending his notes “Woooooah! you were on dry land.” I love that line so much but the ‘WHOOOOOOAHs” and “OHHHHHs” just grate on my ears after a bit and makes it hard to get fully immersed. aside from that the song is amazingly beautiful
I can’t think of one. His vocal delivery is one of if not the thing I like most about his music, it’s usually the one thing I can enjoy in an otherwise average to not so great Dylan song. The closest thing I have to this is I much prefer his vocal delivery of the Desire material from the Rolling Thunder Revue vs what came up on the record. It may have shredded his voice, but his 75 live performances of songs like Isis, One More Cup of Coffee and Oh Sister blow away the recorded versions for me
For me, it has always been Lay Lady Lay. First, imho, it’s not all that great a song, and the vocals are just too different from the rest of his work, like he’s searching for a vocal style that no one else has.
I remember discussing this with my friend on the bus going to school. It was the talk of Radio 1, "Dylan has changed his voice". We agreed that we preferred his original voice.
1964 is my least favorite Dylan voice and then 1965 is my favorite Dylan voice. Very grateful Dylan changed things up when he did, because there are so many songs from '65 that are like lullabies from another world: She Belongs to Me, Love Minus Zero, Tambourine Man, Baby Blue, Queen Jane, Desolation Row. If I imagine any of those songs sung with the shrillness of Dylan's '64 voice rather than the fullness of his '65 voice, they don't sound nearly as good. (In one case, I don't even need to imagine it; the tape is out there of Dylan doing Tambourine Man for Another Side in '64 and it's so much worse than the Bringing It All Back Home version, it's staggering.) So much of the magic of Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 rests on the melodious lilt Dylan added to his vocals between '64 and '65. It's a small thing, but it's also a big thing. It's everything.
I like hearing the man *speak* so idk. But yeah early 90s helium period was weird.
'66 tour with the band. Too much shouty.
I love his voice in the 1960s but found I wasn't so keen when he started to sing in his half talking, pleading, style, like on BOTT. I'm not sure why he adopted that style, it may have been because cigarettes were already messing with his vocal chords.
The nasal voice when he went country.
Honestly, I typically like his vocals, but I think it's sad he chose to cave to pressure and return to using that guthrie/jack elliot impersonation voice he started out with. I feel like his voice would've held up better singing straight like he did in the Nashville Skyline era.
That said, I would still think of his vocals on Blood on the Tracks, say, as quite different from on Highway 61 Revisited.
MTV Unplugged
Wow, surprised to see this. I love this album. This version of Desolation row is my favorite.
Wow, that's the one that made me dislike the album. But it just shows how diverse Dylan fans are. There's something for everyone.
I like the arrangement, including some beautiful slide guitar. The vocals do feel a little, not bad, but weak.
It has really grown on me over the years but the first time I heard it, I truly found it unlistenable
It’s instructive to compare the vocals on “Dignity” to the crisp, clear ones on the original version, just a few years earlier.
That performance of Dignity is the definitive version of the song IMO.
I love Dignity and John Brown from unplugged. I would listen to those 100 times each before I'd listen to the studio version of All I Really Wanna Do.....woof
1. The Nashville Skyline voice is just so simpering it sets my alarm bells off 2. 1974 WAS A BIT SHOUTY
Perfect answer - i'm 100% on this. His two lowest vocal moments
The New Morning album, and a few songs around that point where he tries to be a pop singer.
All I really want to do
This! I know he was drunk in the studio when he cut Another Side, but what the hell was going on with this song
Might be unpopular, but I really dislike his vocals on *Another Side of Bob Dylan* and on some songs off of its predecessor. Way too abrasive for my liking, especially compared to a more balanced approach on *Freewheelin'* and the electric trilogy. His crooning during the *Nashville* days isn't really my cup of tea as well, but I don't mind it as much.
Was going to put this Some of the songs on here are funny but I wouldn’t intentionally put them on to listen to
Another Side is a pretty challenging listen for me. He sounds drunk and arrogant, and he’s barely playing the songs correctly
Well like, he was drunk when he recorded them so that explains that!
And how
Lay Lady Lay omfg
Thank you! Was going to say the same thing. It doesn’t even sound like him.
[удалено]
He's doing a Tom Waits impression by the sounds of it; nonetheless, a magnificent song.
Real Live is the only example, it's the only one where it just straight up sounds like self parody.
Saw him in concert in Philly and he was adding Frank Sinatra songs to his play list. He wasn’t an effective crooner
Street-Legal
Might seem sacrilegious, but I'm not crazy on the Albert Hall performance of Like a Rolling Stone.
Yeah, the upsinging and the late entry into lines because of some really janky guitar playing. This is from the NET, late 90s, early 00s. If I'm honest, it is one of those things that, once somebody brought my attention to it, if I heard it, I couldn't listen. Take any song, and Dylan would arrange it thus: "Guys, I'm going to play like the same 3 notes on my guitar in between lines, and that's going to make me late to sing the next line of the song. Yeah, I know the guitar playing is no good and yeah, Larry and Charlie, you guys could do that, and maybe I should be thinking about what I'm about to sing, but let's do this instead. Oh, yeah, since I'm late to sing the line, I might fluff it, or runitalltogetheronthesamenote, but, see, if I pause for a beat and then sing a higher note, it seems really, really deep and resonant, right? Right, guys?" Some of the singing on New Morning and Planet Waves (including the Flood tour) is just bad. Comparing it to what Bob would do for all the BOTT singing and Desire, it's like...what were you thinking?
Most of the Christmas album. His voice just doesn’t mesh with most of the songs IMHO
See, I actually like it for just that reason. 'Cause Christmas songs are egalitarian; they're for everyone. It's like Dylan saying: look, I can sing these songs, and so can you! To my mind, it actually works better than the Sinatraesque triad.
I love the album and the passion but on 'i believe in you' there are some pretty screechy moments lol.
This is probably an awful take, especially for this sub. But, I’m not the biggest fan of his vocals on the Rolling Thunder Revue. He’s just a bit too shouty. And some of the arrangements of older songs really don’t do it for me. I prefer the sneer of Blonde on Blonde or the croon of Nashville Skyline.
No I won’t tell you are you crazy do you think I want to get a bunch of down votes on the Bob Dylan sub?
You’ll note that a lot of replies have gotten upvotes on this thread.
All right, I don’t like the way he sings Like a Rolling Stone. Because it sounds so contemptuous that it makes me uneasy.
The very early stuff: I still love it immensely but it hits a little too close to Woody.
It does sort of scream "trying too hard."
I understand why but I'm glad he figured out how to move on.
“Wait a minute man, ok take two.” But I am half joking. His laughter supersedes the disdain. 🤷
I can get a little annoyed with “all I really want to do” but it’s obvious he’s being sarcastic and it can be funny at times too, other than that I don’t think any really bother me.
Tempest - the song.
His big yellow taxi cover.
Define legitimately! My tastes have changed so many times over 50 years I have no answer for you.
Here "legitimately" means that you have sincerely and honestly considered this and it's not the kneejerk dislike of Dylan's voice that non-fans seem to be profess.
Second verse of "Never Say Goodbye", from "Planet Waves"(1974). Could curdle milk.
Tempest album. Vocals hard to take.
But the whole album sounds so good!
Hot take: I don't like the live '66 RAH vocals. The music jams, but his voice just makes me feel bad for the guy. Like just get some sleep Bob. Then again I've never gotten into punk rock, and that seems to be the sort of appeal he has on the '66 tour.
Whaaaaaaa! Blasphemy. 😂 61 followed by Blonde were my first 2 Dylan albums so there’s a nostalgia in it for me – from the, like you said, tired vocals to the setlist to the new band arrangements on previous acoustic songs, I absolutely love this entire performance. Curious though, which album has your favorite Dylan vocals?
Same here Hwy 61 and BiaBH were my intro records. '74 - '78 was Dylan at his peak vocal capacity both on albums and live imo. My personal favorite sound is the BTs in '67 though.
Yeah the Basement Tapes are great. Love Yea! Heavy, haha. I could agree with that. I think his best album performance (studio, so not live) is Blood on the Tracks. Hands down. It has everything – the longer songs, the abstract, disguised characters that live in the song, an overall, more straightforward storytelling approach, some of his best harmonica playing of his career and some of the best melodies of his career. **EDITING TO ADD:** Just because I mentioned this as “best studio performance”, I’ll add my favorite live performances – vocally that is – are certain live shows from 1994 and 1995. 1. Specifically, there is 1 performance of Boots of Spanish Leather that just destroys me in the best possible way. It’s on the Cracked Bells in a Busted Barn show which I believe was in November of 1995. Don’t remember the location of it though. 2. The second one is a version of Shelter from the Storm from the 1995 European Collection album. Right after the 2 minute mark, he is so into the song and you can tell it immediately. There’s a part near the end where he even interrupts the lead guitarist doing a solo with a harmonica solo. The fact he hits the wrong note at the start of it makes it perfect in my opinion. That after all of the years, he still felt it so much he just had to. He just had to. 😂 And after the 3 minute mark, well, you need to listen to it yourself for that. Gives me chills every time I hear it.
Is that '95 European Collection online anywhere?
I’m pretty sure it is, but I’ll check now to see if I can find a link. And I just sent you a DM by the way.
The music video for Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight is legitimately terrible vocals. It’s so bad, and if you argue otherwise, I’d argue you’re treating Dylan like a deity who can do no wrong.
>I’d argue you’re treating Dylan like a deity who can do no wrong. I'd never class myself like that, but I love the video version... Why do you pick this recording as 'bad'? Genuinely curious.
When most folks say Dylan sings out of key, they really mean that he’s pitchy and nasally and all the usual complaints. I have no problem with any of that. In this video, he’s actually singing out of key and it’s painful.
I think it's a great vocal But, I listen to a lot of Cash and Lou Reed so I'm pretty happy to say being 'in key' is way overrated (yes, being serious). The phrasing is utterly delightful. As Miles Davis or Monk would say... There are no bad notes
I’m not a fan of his vocals on another side of Bob Dylan album
Honestly everything after Desire. Just not for me
All I Really Wanna Do. Goddamn I just can't
Honestly I always kind of liked that one, the silly falsetto and all.
Yeah I like it a lot too. It’s silly but lots of fun.
I think there might be something in hurricane..
I hate the 'singing' on the last album. None of the songs have a discernable melody. They all sound pretty monotonous to me - more like talking than singing.
Exactly. And it was like he was quoting the lyrics. But in a weird way. As if he didn't understand the lyrics.
Love the song Something’s Burning, Baby, however, something about the way he sings the word “baby” just rubs me the wrong way. Despite how much I love the song, I almost can’t listen to it. Don’t think there’s any other songs I have this reaction to
The bad side of Supper Club boots. Fantastic setlists with bad vocals, almost the opposite of unplugged, which I actually like and hoped would be a lot less fanservice setlist wise
The moaning in "I believe in you" is atrocious.
Pretty Saro. Total shit. Every Grain of Sand too, god. I hate Bob dylan
This is a Bob Dylan subreddit
The Ballad Of Judas Priest & Frankie Lee - it's just a little too comical I don't *hate* it, it's the only 'least favorite' I could come up with atm
Basically everything after Nashville Skyline with a few exceptions. To the point I think he sustained some kind of injury that destroyed his ability to sing properly.
Wow! So you don’t like the vocals on, say, Desire?
I have a visceral aversion to everything about “I’m Not There”.
Interesting... I think it's one of the greatest vocals ever recorded... this thread is a trip...
It’s kinda weird the effect it has on me
#FART