No. 16: Blood On The Tracks

Band: Bob Dylan
Album: Blood On The Tracks
Why Rolling Stone gets it right:At the risk of sounding repetitive, Bob Dylan is considered the best songwriter ever. He's smart and this is his real confessional album. The songs have a "sad love" tinge to just about all of it.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: We got it. Bob Dylan is a genius. How many more albums does he have to have in the top twenty before we get the picture?
Best song: "Tangled Up In Blue," by far.
Worst song: I'm not in love with "Meet Me in the Morning."
Is it awesome?: I guess. I tend to like sad love songs, but Dylan's voice is like knives in my ears.

Bob Dylan wrote and record "Blood On The Tracks" while in the middle of a big divorce (Jakob Dylan calls the album a conversation between his parents), so the songs are all desperately sad. "Tangled Up In Blue" is the big single that everyone knows, and while I like that song (again, you're tired of hearing this), Dylan's voice is awful.

"A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It's hard for me to relate to that. I mean, it, you know, people enjoying the type of pain, you know?" Dylan said.

It's hard to dislike this record. I do like the writing, from the complexity of characters in "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" to the upbeat blues juxtapositioned with the imagery of "Buckets of Rain." It's a beautifully lyrical record.

But, again, Dylan's voice. Knives in my ears.