Customer Reviews

Desire (Hybr)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If I had to choose only one of Bob Dylan's albums for the proverbial desert island adventure, it might just be 1976's "Desire." I'm still a little baffled by "Joey," the song our bard co-wrote in inexplicable praise of mobster Joey Gallo, but I'm also deeply moved by it. Scarlet Rivera's mournful violin and Emmylou Harris' beautiful falsetto duetting with Dylan makes it my favorite track even though I tend to side with the late Lester Bangs' famous essay ("Dylan's dalliance with mafia chic") in which he offered a line by line refutation of every admirable claim Dylan makes on Gallo's behalf.

Elsewhere, "Isis" contains some of the cleverest lyrics Dylan has written, and the often unheralded "Black Diamond Bay" is its equal. Then there's the the hauntingly beautiful "Oh, Sister" and Dylan's unabashed tribute to his ex-wife, "Sara." And I love "Mozambique," which deserved to be a hit single in that year when "Silly Love Songs" by Wings was a number one smash. What's the matter with people? Are they deaf?

Apparently some of them are. I've often read about how "Desire" fails to make the grade because of its lousy production. I admit I'm no audiophile, but it always sounded like one of Dylan's most polished efforts, and it sounds even better now. Sony has done an outstanding job with the remastering, but while they were at it, I wish they had added "Abandoned Love," one of Dylan's most infectious love songs, recorded for this album but shelved (ironically in favor of the aforementioned "Joey") until the release of "Biograph" nine years later.

I don't understand how people can give this 3 and 4 stars. It's obvious that every track here is memorable--great songs and moments etched in time just like Dylan's 65' & 66' recordings. Some people don't understand that Dylan's band sound--as opposed to his solo sound--is not defined by "tight production". Rather than arrangements and and rehearsal, he goes for an overall wash of sound--very distinctive yet abstract enough for it to act as a 'backdrop' if you will, a stage where he can let the content of his lyrics unfold. What happens on this album--with the violin, bass, drums, and Emmylou Harris--is quite magical. It both is and is not technically refined. There's very refined and intimate communication going on here between the musicians--but it never enters the realm of "production," thank God. Instead, great moments of expression are captured. However, I would say that, even in terms of pure vocal technique, "One more cup of Coffee" is perhpaps Dylan's most virtuous, passionate performance. You can feel the chemistry boiling between him and Emmylou on this and many of these tracks.
I'll never forget where I was when I first heard this ablbum. As good as "Blood on the tracks?" YOU BET!!

I love this man---I love this timeless music an exceptional remaster of previous work---worth every penny you may have to scavange for the pleasure!

"Desire" is a mostly overlooked album. "Hurricane" was the most popular song off this album and it seems to be the only song culled from here to be featured on a Greatest Hits album. I assure you there are many more better songs on here, some of which are better than the ones played on the radio.

Emmylou Harris adds so much with her voice in most of the tracks here, and Scarlet Rivera's viola is just... beautiful. These two add more and bring out the best in great songs like "Hurricane" (naturally), "One More Cup of Coffee," "Oh Sister," and "Joey."

"Sara" is Bob at his most emotional moment. Such a beautiful track that tells how much he loved his wife (who apparently was there when Bob recorded this track. That particular take is on the album). "One More Cup of Coffee" is my all-time favorite Bob Dylan track. Though a brief one, it tells a bit more about Bob's troubling relationship to his now ex-wife. Emmylou Harris is great when she sings along on the chorus. "Oh Sister" is also another track similar to these two.

"Desire" is one of Bob's very best albums. Creative, passionate, sorrowful, powerful, and captivating. Harris and Rivera truly brought out the best in most of these songs. And it's also my all-time favorite Bob Dylan album.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the performances here. I tried living with this for awhile, but most of it sounds too lethargic and too ragged. Every track sounds like a run-through or rehearsal, with one exception: the first track, "Hurricane." Not surprisingly, it was actually re-recorded at the last minute. The earlier recording of "Hurricane" circulates in bootlegs and some say it's better, but to me, the one here is so much better. It's tighter, faster, and rocks harder (it's actually an edit of two takes, and it even speeds up a bit at the edit, but when you get carried away by the song, you don't mind). The earlier recording feels like it's plagued by the same lethargy and raggedness as the other tracks on this album.

As for those other tracks, listen to the live versions on either the three-CD BIOGRAPH set or the two-CD BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 5: LIVE 1975, whichever you can find or borrow. Live, these songs smoke. The Rolling Thunder Revue rocks and propels forward in tight precision, and the wild mix of sounds really gels together live. It never does on DESIRE, and it may be because Dylan was using an ensemble this large for the first time in his career. His producer wasn't sure how to use them in the studio (hence the funny producing credit), and it's not until after the sessions during the fall 1975 tour (captured on those other CD's I mentioned) that they really nail these songs. Dylan's singing is also a lot better live, burning with a passion that is absent on DESIRE. Listen to "Oh Sister" on LIVE 1975: it's much more tender. Listen to "Isis" on BIOGRAPH: it rocks with a vengeance (the version on LIVE 1975 isn't as good, but still better than the one on DESIRE). "Sara" was never a favorite on mine, but to hear it on LIVE 1975, it's almost stirring. It's almost a cliché for someone to say the music is better live than on record, but this is one case where it's absolutely true.

I should add that two songs from DESIRE will not be found on those other CD's: "Black Diamond Bay" and "Joey." The former is a little obscure but is still fairly enjoyable, but the latter is terrible. Some may be offended that Dylan would romanticize Joey Gallo in song, but the track in general is very poor. One wishes he dropped it in favor of "Catfish": a pretty good track about Catfish Hunter, it can be found on the three-CD BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 1-3. One reviewer said "Abandoned Love" would've been, too, and I agree.

I do listen to this DESIRE for it's performance of "Hurricane," but you can get that in other places, including the GREATEST HITS VOL. 3 CD. The hybrid SACD reissue sounds better, especially the SACD layer, but not enough to recommend DESIRE over BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 5: LIVE 1975.

Allen Ginsburg's ridiculous liner notes for Bob Dylan's Desire, worthless as they are, do fit the album in a strange way. Coherent-if-pretentious liner notes, like Blood on the Tracks got, would be way out of place for an album like this. It's not every album, or even every Dylan album, that leads with an unabashed protest song (Hurricane, which is about the framed (?) boxer Ruben Carter), then follows up with an unabashed protest song, Joey, protesting in favor of an actual mob murderer and wannabe boss. It's really not a coherent album... unless, of course, it is.

One thing Desire unquestionably *is* is Bob Dylan's Great Adventure Album. Oh, sure, Dylan had written plenty of songs with either lovers or him sailing overseas, getting sent to jail, even getting killed here and there, but these are Great Adventures out of Jack London, or Ernest Hemingway, or Daniel Defoe, or H. Rider Haggard. There's Hurricane Ruben Carter, potential middleweight champeeen of the woooorld, instead of poor Hattie Carroll, maid of the kitchen. There's Klondike Bob, riding across the icy fields to get a gift for his past and future wife Isis. There's Tropical Bob, inviting a wife or a lover to Mozambique to see all the gorgeous people.

We get Bwana Bob, of unspecified relation to a smooth-backed meadowlark seer, in One More Cup of Coffee (one of his most sinister love songs, reduced to solo organ to wonderful effect on the eponymous debut of The White Stripes). We get Christian? Egyptian? Incestuous? Literalistic? Bob of Oh Sister, another candidate for "most sinister." We get the sad tale of a bloodthirsty gangster with a heart of silver, or maybe tellurium, in Joey, which may well be the most disturbing protest song ever written. We get a Romance in Durango, with the bloody faces, whispering ghosts, and ambushes common to any smart, ambiguous 60s western (do you know of any?). Finally, we get the apocalyptic shiver of Black Diamond Bay, which Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva Bob conjures, personalizes, and then destroys -- "there's not much happening there".

And floating on all the cooling lava, there's the most straightforward song Bob ever wrote. It's just Bob, it's just Sara, and he misses her so. He knows all the answers to his questions, he knows why she left, but he keeps asking them three years later. It's a pointless song and can't bring her back, but that can't stop him from singing it, later. He finally finds, in other words, that diamond he was searching for, back in Isis.

It's a weird slate of songs, as prickly and inaccessible and contradictory as the songs of "Blood on the Tracks" were inviting and mesmerising and coherent. Somehow, with the exception of Joey (BLECH), it works.

Wait-- this is an album, not a collection of poems. Well, musically, the collaboration of Jacques Levy takes Dylan in a new direction. As the outtakes that have been released since testify, it was a thoroughly rewarding direction, with interesting melodies and unexpected choruses everywhere. The backing... no, that's unfair, co-lead vocals of Emmylou Harris dull the sharp edges of Dylan's voice the same way that his old friend Joan Baez's used to, but the effect is much more suited to this album than to those old acoustic songs. His voice alone would be lost in the sprawling jungles of instrumentation created by his six-man band of... creative instruments (fiddle, Bellzouki, accordion, in addition to piano, guitar, drums, bass, and harmonica).

One final word, about Scarlet Rivera. Far from being, as has been suggested, one of Dylan's worse ideas, she practically deserves a co-artist credit, as her violin playing is the lead on nearly every track. Her work on Hurricane particularly sizzles, but she's great on everything. Not nearly as great, though, as she was live on the Rolling Thunder tour. The versions of Isis and Romance In Durango here, nice as they are, just can't hold a candle to the forest fires sparked by her bow live.

For Bob Dylan, following up the greatest album of his career (1975's Blood on the Tracks) must have been a daunting task. Did he try to top his previous album? Not at all. In true Dylan fashion, he did something completely different. He hooked up with a bevy of musicians including singers Emmylou Harris and Ronee Blakely and violinist Scarlet Rivera to record a batch of songs he'd cowritten with theater artist Jacques Levy. The sound of this album is completely unique in Dylan's discography. Scarlet Rivera's violin and Emmylou Harris' vocals (and Ronee Blakely's on Hurricane) give the album a completely distinct sound and feel, one that works incredibly well for these songs. The songs also deviate (with a few exceptions) from the intensely personal themes of the previous album, instead taking the listener to various locations around the globe with stories full of adventure and interesting characters.

The album begins on a high note with one of Dylan's best and most powerful songs of the 1970s, "Hurricane". "Hurricane" is an audacious song that returns him to the protest anthems of his early career. The lyrics are direct and potent hitting the listener like a ton of bricks and featuring some of the strongest language ever on a Dylan record (including a non-racist use of the N-word). Not to mention one of Dylan's most passionate vocal performances which is utterly convincing and completely sells the true story of injustice. "Isis" is another classic, an epic story-song which seems to come straight out of a western. Dylan sings "Mozambique" along with Emmylou Harris and it has a wonderful melody and lyrics with vivid imagery. "One More Cup of Coffee" was written solely by Dylan and it's one of the album's best songs. The lyrics are not Dylan's most brilliant, but the song has a haunting quality thanks to the moody melody and Emmylou Harris' vocals. "Oh, Sister" is a short yet touching song about a person reaching out to a lady, presumably a sibling. "Joey" is generally regarded as the weakest song on the album, and yes it's probably a bit longer than it needed to be, but it's a fine story-song reminiscent of "Hurricane". "Romance in Durango" is another highlight, a southwestern story song about two travelers. "Black Diamond Bay" offers more of the same, a nice melody along with imagery-laden lyrics that tell another lengthy story. Finally, we get to one of the most moving songs in Dylan's canon, "Sara". It's a return to the emotionally honest, confessional songwriting of Blood on the Tracks with Dylan reminiscing about vacationing at the beach with his wife and kids, and pleading for his wife to not leave him. The instrumentation is sparse compared to the rest of the album with only a couple of guitars, bass and drums backing up Dylan's passionate, longing vocal. It's a song that nearly brings me to tears every time I hear it. "Sara" is one of the best songs on the album, and maybe one of Dylan's best songs altogether.

Desire is a wonderful album full of excellent songs that belongs in any Dylan fan's collection. The music and lyrics converge to create an experience unlike any other in Dylan's catalog. It is an album that I'm sure you will want to come back to often. The songs will remain in your memory for a long time.

This is the one Bob Dylan album I have come to really love over the years. I have plenty of other Dylan albums, Hwy 61, Freewhelin, Blood On The Traks, Blonde on Blonde, and John Wesley Harding included, and though I like them all, this is still the CD I reach for the most. Indeed, while the other albums might represent Dylan's "sound" more accurately, many people, myself included, can't listen to Dylan day and night. His music is sometimes stark, ceaseless and can even drag. Not so with Desire. Desire is a reinvention of Dylan's sound. Two important elements that make this album special are the violin, and Emmylou Harris singing behind Bob. The singing is such that Bob Dylan will be singing the lead, but Emmylou Harris is singing almost simlutaneously in a less pronounced way. I say almost simultaneously because, in reality, she may hold a note for a little longer or sing in a slightly different manner. This effects to take the listener by surprise not only lyrically, but melodically. For example, on the song "One More Cup Of Coffee," Bob's voice is almost Arabian-esque, while Emmylou's voice is mournful-sounding, even reluctant, causing a perceptable delay when they both sing the refrain. The result is summed up in one word: taste. I couldn't ask for a better combination of singers or singing. That said, the violin is such a perfect compliment as a filler and lead instrument because the long sustain of the violin fits the sustain of the combined singers. It all fits so well. This album kicks off with the well known hit, "Hurricane," which threatens to be out of character with the whole album as far as tempo, emotion and overall feel goes. However, unlike Blood on The Tracks where this happened, all the tracks on this album fit with each other into the album very well.

The only reason I don't say this is Bob Dylan's best album is because it is very hard to rank his music, or to give an objective grade to any music for that matter. That's why I'll go no further than to say that Desire is my favorite Bob Dylan album, no questions asked.

Is music as art ever better? Using my own words I cannot do justice to this stunning and beautiful album. It is not enough to say "Desire" belongs at the very top of any rating of contemporary American music. "Desire" belongs at the very top of any rating of all music of all time. The pieces are consistently poetic. Back up vocals and instrumentation are thoroughly professional and perfectly executed. The songs -every one of them- are hauntingly beautiful. I can never forget these songs and their sheer emotive power.

bau

This is the first record Dylan recorded with a female vocalist. But unlike "Street Legal", "Empire Burlesque", "Down in the Groove" & "Knocked Out Loaded" he opted for folksinger Emmylou Harris instead of a Motown-like backup chorus. Then, to Columbia's horror "Hurricane", the track that was supposed to sell the LP, seemed libelous, so they had Dylan subtly rewrite some of the words and go back into the studio, only apparently Emmylou wasn't available, so they used Ronnie Blakely instead. I've heard both tracks and though I like Emmy Lou's voice on the rest of the record, Ms. Blakely adds quite a bit of punch to "Hurricane", or maybe Dylan was really on that day, because there is a world of difference.

Scarlet Rivera's violin gives the record a haunting feel, especially the terrific "Black Diamond Bay". What a song. What a story. And like on "Blood on the Tracks" Dylan delivers a punchy driving cowboy ballad as well. There is a lot to like here. "Desire" is one doggone good Bob Dylan record.