Desire

I am working from a bar this afternoon (shocking I know). They are playing Bob Dylan's Desire. Hearing this 1977 album all the way through for the first time in a few years reminds me that it is far and away Dylan's most underrated album. It's really very very good. "One More Cup of Coffee for the Road," "Isis," "Sara." These are great songs. I am somewhat less blown away by "Hurricane," but it is certainly the most famous song on the album and was a nice return to his more political days. The album suffers from "Joey" it is true. I mean how many 11 minutes songs about mobsters do we need? None. And at the time I am sure it was disconcerting to hear Dylan use his pen to immortalize thugs. But this disappointment fades over time and really the song is not bad as a song.

How does Desire compare to his other albums. I would probably put it at the lower end of the top 5. It isn't as great as the wonderful mid 60s work of Blonde on Blonde, Bringing It All Back Home, or Highway 61 Revisited. It isn't as good as Blood on the Tracks either. But I would rate it above the early material, which is more important than it is good or interesting. It's certainly the last good material he had for a long time, as soon after Desire he plunged into his horrible Christian period and then the 80s.

To me Desire and Neil Young's Tonight the Night hold similar spots in my mind, and not just because they both came out in 1977. They aren't considered classic albums by the more casual fans and they don't have a lot of hits. But they are mature albums from great writers who have lived through some rough times and expressing them through their art in extremely satisfying ways.