underdog

I have owned blonde on blonde, blood on the tracks, and HIghway 61 for awhile now, they are great but i kinda have to be in the mood. I work at a used cd store so i through in a copy of desire that we got in and it was great. The female vocalist that sings along with bobby is great; i can not believe you dont hear as much about this album as blonde or highway. My highlight is most definetley "romance in durango." classic, soulful

One More Cup of Bob's Coffee

Ok I am only 21, but I am a very big Bob Dylan fan. I have around 6 or 7 of his cd's and will be purchasing more in the future(he inspires me to write more creative songs). Anyway, I love Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home, but there is just something about this Desire cd that makes me keep listening to it more than the others, and I can't figure out what it is. Oh, I know... it's that darn/absolutely amazing song One More Cup of Coffee!! The song has this kind of a Arabian feel to it and Mr. Bob Dylan suprises everybody by making his voice sound as if the boy walks through the desert with a turban on his head doing a little snake charming on the side for some extra pocket change! All this with lovely backing vocals by Mrs. Harris and spine chilling violin, plus rolling drums make this my all time fav. Dylan track!(I even had to learn to play this song for myself).My second fav. on this paticular album is Romance In Durrango. That song just makes me want to crack open a can of pinto beans on a hot summer day.Again Bob creates a characterized voice for this song making it more convincing. If you just heard this song and didnt know it was Dylan, you'd swear it was some Mexican folk singer with a great story to sing about. Anyway I know I only talked about two songs, but the rest of the album is great as well,(the two mentioned just being my favorite). But by all means get this album NOW!!!

Best? No. Favorite? Yes.

Wierd how that happens, I know. "It's not his/her/their best work, but something about it...." Anyhoo, this is my favorite Dylan album I can definitly say. "Oh, Sister" makes me weep when I hear it, often times I force myself to listen to it again and again. I have an old Vinyl copy for home play and CD for car or what-not. Side 1 ends after "Oh, Sister", so the songs preceding this tend to be the ones I hear most, chiefly "Isis" thru "Oh, Sister." "Mozambique" takes me to a happy place inside, as does "Black Diamond Bay" in the latter half of the album. I suppose its the upbeatedness of the vocals that I enjoy along w/ the progressive stories/imagery these songs instill. More than likely not the best starting point to get into Dylan; definitly one to build upto.

Now sounds lame - get the Rolling Thunder Bootleg (#5)

This used to be one of my fave Dylan discs, along with Blood on the Tracks and Basement Tapes. I just picked up Bootleg #5, which includes live versions of six of these tunes. Each one, especially the uptempo numbers (Hurricane, Isis, and Romance in Durango), rocks, putting the studio versions here to shame. If we had a similar, live version of Black Diamond Bay, I'd never put this disc on again.

A Contrarian's View of Dylan

Most of Bob's albums up to this point (except for Self-Portrait) sound like the rehearsal tapes of Bob's new backing band warming up for a tour. It's just one group of musicians trying to learn a new batch of songs quickly. And whatever you think of that particular group of musicians (Nashville's finest session men, Mike Bloomfield and Company, The Band formerly known as the Hawks), that's all your going to get on that album. But rarely has a group of musicians so strongly imprinted a Dylan album as the ones on Desire. If you don't like Emmy Lou Harris's vocals and Scarlet Rivera's violin, you might as well turn this album off now, there's nothing on it you'll like. Even the best songs ("O Sister", "One More Cup Of Coffee") are sometimes hard to distinguish from the rest of the album. Lyrically, the songs have a very cosmopolitan, international flavor to them (thanks in most part to Bob's only long term collaborator, Jacques Levy). Musically there are some moments in here where Bob shows off a bit of sophistication (the double-time in "Romance In Durango" for example), but it's mostly just typical high-quality Bob. While the Rolling Thunder sound does get a bit grating at times, both "Sara" and "Isis" are particularly strong - perhaps just because they manage to stick out. "Hurricane" actually is a good song regardless of whatever factual errors the lyrics may or may not contain. "Joey" on the other hand... while I'm often in disagreement with the rest of Dylan aficionados over Bob's over ten minute epics, at least here everyone sees my point: it's boring. It goes on too long. It'd be a fine song if he just cut like seven verses out of it. Why they can only see it in "Joey" and not "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" or "Highlands" is beyond me.

An underrated gem from the 70s

I'm tempted to give this wonderful album five stars on the strenght of "Oh Sister", "Sara" and the folk/rock ballad "Romance In Durango" alone. But the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to these three collective centerpieces, although both "One More Cup Of Coffee" (which benefits from the vocals of a young Emmylou Harris) and "Black Diamond Bay" are great songs as well, and the rest isn't excactly throwaways either.



But "Oh Sister" and "Durango" in particular are two of the most melodic songs Dylan has ever written, and rarely has he committed such pleasant, expressive and confident vocals to tape as he does on one of the very best songs of his long career, the beautiful "Romance In Durango".

He may have surprised listeners when he crooned "Lay Lady Lay" in a dark baritone back in 1969, but here he sings in his natural tenor voice, and even as nasal as Dylan is, he comes off as a very competent balladeer.



This in one of Dylan's very best (and most accessible) albums, the band is great, the arrangements are beautiful, and the songs shine.

Not to be missed.

Worthwhile Upgrade

This reissue is a significant improvememt over the original CD. The sound is still compressed, but this remastering will put a smile on your face if you've always longed for something better.