Customer Reviews

Desire

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This album has two ingredients all the other Dylan albums lack: Emmylou Harris singing back-up vocals and Scarlet Rivera playing the violin. I love all of Dylan's albums, but this is my favorite of all time, mainly b/c the addition of emmylou and scarlet make this so much different (but still as good) than his other albums. The songs have a melancholic sound that isn't duplicated this well on any of the others. This album has another unique feature, Dylan co-wrote some songs with famed writer Jaques Levy. One thing that will catch your ear is that Emmylou's vocals give the songs haunting overtones. Add in the violin and its just an amazing sound. The songs I like the best are "hurricane," which is a great upbeat story song, "One more Cup of Coffee," and "Oh Sister" both which are slower and eerie. Also "Joey" an 11 minute ballad about mobster Joey Gallo's death. And it ends with "Sara" which he wrote for his wife (ex?). I didn't know what to expect when I bought this CD, but I was in no way disappointed.

Like a time capsule, Desire contains the spirit of a hopeful past. Recorded in July and October 1975 and released in January 1976, Desire is the final third of Dylan's mid-1970s trilogy, whose other parts are Planet Waves (1974) and Blood on the Tracks (1975). Although falling short of the earlier two albums' near perfection, Desire has some of Dylan's most engaging and likeable music, and his most touching love song, "Sara." In many ways, Desire resembles Planet Waves more than it does Blood on the Tracks. On Blood on the Tracks, the lyrics have primary importance, whereas on Planet Waves and Desire the music is essential in uniting these albums' diverse strands. Dylan on Blood on the Tracks is a soloist with accompaniment, but he collaborates on Planet Waves and Desire with other outstanding artists. The members of The Band join Dylan on Planet Waves in a kind of rock chamber music. On Desire, Dylan shares both songwriting and performance. Jacques Levy is co-author of all but two of the songs, and Scarlet Rivera, on violin, and Emmylou Harris and Ronee Blakley, on vocals, are notable among the musicians who help give this album its unique texture. Both Planet Waves and Desire were recorded in the aftermath of war (the Yom Kippur War for Planet Waves; the Vietnam War for Desire), and share an optimism for a better world that brackets Blood on the Tracks' tragic vision.

The trilogy's narrative progresses from first to second to third person. Dylan sings as an individual on Planet Waves, but on Blood on the Tracks he finds himself caught in a mirror play of relationships gone wrong. On Desire, Dylan adds a third party, the audience, as an integral part of the performance. Dylan pulls us into Desire by reaching outward. The songs on this album are a series of quests and adventures, all of them searches for justice or love. The stories range from a police frame-up in urban America ("Hurricane"), to a romantic idyll in Africa ("Mozambique"), to a fantastic hunt for treasure inside a frozen pyramid by the wayward husband (Dylan) of an Egyptian goddess ("Isis"). In "Black Diamond Bay," Dylan actually becomes an audience member. This song recounts the last hours in the lives of several lonely and isolated hotel guests on a sinking volcanic island. Dylan learns about the catastrophe only in the final stanza, when he hears a fragmentory report by Walter Cronkite on the television news.

The music of Desire varies with its locations and themes. In "One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)," Dylan laments his rejection by a bandit chieftain's beautiful daughter, in a style the poet Allen Ginsberg describes (in his album notes) as "Hebraic cantillation never heard before in U.S. song." The oceanic "Oh, Sister" is hymn-like in its plea for a loving partnership under the fatherhood of God. The accordion in "Joey" (Dom Cortese) evokes the Italian-American background of its real-life protagonist, Joey Gallo, a man "caught between the mob and the men in blue." "Romance in Durango" achieves its Mexican atmosphere through the sound of a Bellzouki 12-string guitar (Vincent Bell), trumpet, accordion and tambourine, as Dylan sings, partly in Spanish, about a killer's flight across the desert with his beloved Magdalena.

The eclectic nature of the album invites us to become a part of its creative process--we do not feel distanced by a single-minded vision of the artist. Hearing its songs allows us to draw our own poetic map of the world.

Two songs on Desire deserve special mention. "Hurricane" tells the true story of African-American middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, framed for a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey. Paced like a hard-boiled crime movie, "Hurricane" is both a compelling plea for Carter's freedom and a condemnation of racial prejudice in the American judicial system, "where justice is a game." The song publicized Carter's plight (later, Dylan held two concerts to raise legal defense funds) and helped win Carter a new trial in the fall of 1976.

The jewel of this album is its last song, the inexpressibly poignant "Sara," addressed to Dylan's wife. In an unsentimental but emotional voice, Dylan sings a simple modal melody on top of Scarlet Rivera's haunting violin. The verses are a succession of flashbacks of the Dylans' life together, interspersed by a "Sara, Sara" refrain praising his wife's beauty, kindness, and mystery. Dylan recalls their children, still babies, playing on the beach; Sara in a Jamaican marketplace; himself "staying up for days in the Chelsea Hotel, writing 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' for you." He concludes with the words, "don't ever leave me, don't ever go." The song feels transitory, evanescent, in contrast to "Wedding Song" on Planet Waves, where Dylan sings of the eternal verities of their marriage ("I love you more than ever, more than time and more than love").

After recording Desire, Dylan continued his deep audience connection by launching the Rolling Thunder Revue. With an all-star cast headed by Dylan and featuring Joan Baez, the Revue caravaned across the Northeastern states and neighboring parts of Canada (autumn 1975), and then through the South and Southwest (spring 1976). Its unpublicized itinerary was filled with surprise concert dates. From the Desire sessions, Rivera, Blaklee, Rob Stoner (bass), and Howard Wyeth (drums) joined this true people's tour.

But the circumstances that made Desire possible soon disappeared, as the places and people portrayed in many of its songs fell upon harder times. The new nation of Mozambique, whose freedom Desire celebrates, was devastated by a civil war. The old Mexico depicted in "Romance in Durango" became largely a memory following economic globalization and NAFTA. Rubin Carter was convicted in his second trial and not released on parole until 1988. And in 1977, Dylan's marriage to Sara ended in divorce, after which it seems he could no longer follow the same artistic path. Desire marks the completion of a grand cycle of Dylan's career, dating back to his first albums in the early 1960s. His next album, Street Legal (1978), reveals, beneath its "big band" gloss, a dark night of the soul. From Street Legal's first song, the aptly named "Changing of the Guards," we are in a new era.

From the surrealistic paranoia of Highway 61 Revisited to the solemn introspection of Blood On the Tracks, Bob Dylan’s albums as a whole have always had a certain feel or tone. That is why Desire is such an odd duck in the master songwriter’s catalogue. On this 1976 LP, Mr. Dylan journeys all across the musical, lyrical and cultural maps. Desire opens with the fast-paced, socially conscious opus, “Hurricane” and ends with the somber, personal account, “Sara.” In between are many valleys and peaks and some of the most varied material of Mr. Dylan’s career. Like “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” or “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “One More Cup of Coffee” shows Mr. Dylan’s cunning spitefulness at its best while the following track “Oh, Sister” is the artist at his most sentimental. “Isis,” is a rough-rocking rambler a la “Tangled Up in Blue,” set in country backwaters while “Joey” is a mournful tribute to gangster, Joey Gallo, caked in the grime and ruination of the urban crime. Mr. Dylan even takes turns as unexpected as working with a violinist (Scarlet Rivera) and a cowriter (Jacques Levy).

Its lack of direction may have been Desire’s downfall if not for the fact that the songs, evaluated on their own merits, are generally superb. There are only two moments where Mr. Dylan’s experimentation goes amiss: “Mozambique,” which features lyrics that read like a travel brochure and “Romance in Durango,” which has an almost stereotypically South American flavor. But while zigging and zagging across Desire, Mr. Dylan, for the most part, maintains the gorgeous melodies, sharp wit and magnificent story telling we have come to expect from him. Some of these songs, such as “Hurricane,” “Isis” and “Sara,” even have the right to be called classics. The many instances in which the experimentation of the eclectic Desire fly are undoubtably worth the price of the few that flutter.

Over and over, I hear that phrase, "best Dylan album since Blood on the Tracks" used to describe new Dylan albums. I guess those people haven't heard "Desire", which is arguably rather better than "Blood on the Tracks", and came out a year later. "One More Cup of coffee"? "Sara"? "oh, Sister"? Scarlet Rivera's violin? Emmylou?

I have all of Dylan's albums. This is the best one ever, and considering just how good some of those other albums were, that is something very good indeed. Enjoy.

There are many reasons why this is among my favorite Dylan album (which is quite a feat, since I have over 50 Dylan CDs). When you pop this CD in and press play, you are greeted by a soft-strumming guitar. This quickly turns into a driving rock song with an ethereal violin part. Welcome to "Hurricane," a favorite to frat-boys and retro hippies alike. Dylan's story-telling is at its absolute peak from this point of the album on. After the popular "Hurricane," you are greeted with another story-song called "Isis." Scarlet Rivera's enchanting violin is present again, and the story vocals are delivered by Dylan's distinctive and edgy voice. The next song, "Mozambique," is the first exposure of EmmyLou Harris, who does a wonderful job with the background vocals. "Mozambique" transports the listener to a tropical paradise where the mood is romance. The next two songs, which were frequently sung in the late 70's at Dylan's concerts, are "One More Cup of Coffee" and "Oh, Sister." The violin is very prominent on "Coffee," and Dylan and Harris harmonize well in their duet on "Oh Sister." Next is the epic song "Joey." This is another (long) story song, and has been regarded as Dylan's worst song. I tend to disagree. The story is told very well, and Dylan's excellent vocals are again complimented well with EmmyLou Harris. There is some controvesy about the song since it glorifies the life and death of a former mobster, but it is enough to sit back and admire the musical materpiece unfolding around you. Dylan sang this song with the Grateful Dead in the late '80's. "Romance in Durango" keeps the story-telling vein going. Again, you are transported to a paradise and you are searching for romance. The song blends into "Black Diamond Bay" which is almost a throwback to Dylan's trippy songs of late 1965 and 1966. Phrases such as "a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb" and "the Greek walked in in his bare feet with a rope around his neck" give this story song a creepy, cool feeling. Finally, the album closes with "Sara" a tribute to Dylan's former wife. Instead of being cryptic, as with his early love songs, Dylan says exactly what he feels in this song. As a result, this is easily one of his most poignant love songs. The material from this album was used on Dylan's mid 70's Rolling Thunder Revue, which is considered by many as the greatest concert tour of all time. It also forms the basis of the highly underrated movie "Renaldo and Clara" which Dylan directed and starred in. Clearly, this album is some of the best work of a creative genius, and it is one you should definitely own.

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.

These tracks aren't as anthemic or immediately accessible as some of Bob Dylan's more familiar classics, so it takes some time for them to sink in. Hurricane is a torrent of a song in what sounds to me a stream-of-consciousness style, whilst Isis is likewise dense and profound, quite an epic with vivid imagery. Mozambique has a lovely melody and a lilting tropical beat, and is the only song here that exudes joy and happiness. Closest to his earlier folk style, Oh Sister is introspective, heartfelt and moving. Romance In Durango is the tragic story of an outlaw fleeing from the law but not making it and saying his farewells to his wife and child - it has a beautiful soaring Spanish chorus and a vaguely Latin flavour. Black Diamond Bay is a powerful and intense rock ballad whilst the autobiographical Sara makes reference to Dylan's earlier song Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands; it's a flowing conversational ballad with lots of charm. The musical and lyrical variety on Desire ensures a captivating listening experience. I think this album holds up well in Dylan's great body of work. Perhaps not one of his top 5 albums, but a work of enduring value containing at least four classic songs.

This was an excellent album by Bob Dylan. Everything from his "Rolling Thunder Review" comes together nicely, especially "Hurricane".
Along with "Planet Waves" and "Blood on the Tracks", my favorite Dylan album.

Coming on the heels of what most people consider to be Dylan's best album, Blood On The Tracks, Desire is a hodgepodge album by comparison, but still a good album. Whereas "Blood" was a very dark, personal, and moving album, Desire is a more abstract affair, with Dylan sticking mostly to "story song" and long, epic narratives. There is one major exception to this, which is the deeply personal, moving closing track Sara, but the rest of the album's standouts are epic stories like Hurricane (one of Dylan's best tracks), Isis (an excellent, surreal rambling narrative), and Joey (apparently hated by many a Dylan fan, but I love it, and consider it one of the album's standouts.) Musically, this is Dylan's most schitzophrenic album. It's all over the map, featuring lots of violins, female backing vocals, and Spanish-style melodies (several songs even have some lyrics in Spanish.) Dylan never sounded like this again, either lyrically and certainly not musically, and Jacques Levy (who co-wrote every song but two) obviously had a big influence on it. Personally, some of the music on this album turns me off; I think Dylan has a lot better. But the lyrics are uniformly excellent (as always), and there are at least 4 very good songs here (Hurricane, Isis, Joey, and Sara.) I've heard around 10 of Dylan's albums so far, and this is the only one that I wouldn't give 5 stars. It's still quite good, but it's somewhat below his standard. Most other artists would be glad to be able to produce this album, so it's still a worthile buy for the Dylan fan, for sure. Get some other stuff first, though.

I've always been a fan of Dylan's long form songs--"Like a Rolling Stone", "Desolation Row", "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" and "Jack of Hearts", among others. "Desire", released directly after "Blood on the Tracks" has three such opuses, and I've loved 'em all for 30 years. The band that played at my wedding reception in 1991 played "Hurricane", the story of prizefighter Ruben Carter's arrest for a murder he may not have committed. "Isis", a fantastical and allegorical tale of a treasure hunter, may not quite measure up to opus status by way of length, but the twists and turns taken by Dylan's story are always captivating--along with the great images and rhymes, my favorite being "the wind it was howling and the snow was outrageous/we chopped through the night and we chopped through the dawn/when he died I hoped that it wasn't contagious/but I made up my mind that I had to go on." The third of the trio, "Joey", is certainly an opus--both lyrically and musically with its evocative accordion and violin accompaniment, along with Emmylou Harris's harmonies. "One day they blew him down/in a clam bar in New York/he could see it coming through the door as he lifted up his fork/he pushed the table over to protect his family/then he staggered out into the streets of Little Italy." Maybe Bob is borrowing from The Godfather here, but it's still a vivid and arresting image to me. Others in here have dismissed "Mozambique" as a lightweight song, but its catchy melody provides a good counterpoint to life on the ground in that country, which I don't think is near as idyllic as Bob describes. The remaining songs "Black Diamond Bay", "Cup of Coffee", "Durango" and "Sara" are all good--they just don't grab me like three of my favorite Dylan story songs do.