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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Extra Star for Brownsville Girl, Where was Tom Petty? Band of the Hand?, September 2, 2005
This record came out in the middle of my (approximately) five year "Dylan Absorption Phase" when I was a high school / college student. So I listened to this a lot even if it was pretty lame overall.
The meager highlights here include his lyrical collaboration with Sam Shepard, Brownsville Girl. A very long stream of consciousness reminiscence, the music behind the words is just okay but the lyrics make it pretty magical. This is a good one to listen to through headphones in the dark. Pretty funny that Brownsville Girl was included on Greatest Hits III because I can assure you, in no way was this a hit single. Just a great album track.
The really disappointing thing is that this came out right around the time Dylan was touring with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band and those were really rocking shows. TP co-wrote one song here (the pretty rockin' and overlooked "Got My Mind Made Up") and the Heartbreakers play on the record a little but to no avail, the results are fairly sterile and boring.
Interestingly, right around this time, The Heartbreakers backed Dylan on a completely forgotten soundtrack single called Band of the Hand from a forgotten action movie of the same name. Band of the Hand rocks like nobody's business and is probably my favorite Dylan song from the 80's. Why it wasn't included on this hodgepodge record is a mystery but perhaps a bigger mystery is why Dylan has never added it to one of his rarities collections like Bootleg Series 1-3.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
certainly enjoyable, March 15, 2006
After reading reviews that this album and Down In the Groove are Dylan's worst albums, and still determined to collect all his albums, I find that this album is pretty enjoyable and a couple songs are my favorites. In my opinion, Dylan's worst albums are quality-wise at least as good as most other artists' best. There is just something about them. Also, they reflect the time and mood when they were made.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dylan's worst....with a notable exception...great title, though..., January 22, 2006
This is one of Dylan's worst albums (alongside Dylan and the Dead and Down in the Groove). Many of us Dylan fans like to argue which is worse, this one or Down in the Groove. This one is worse. A hodge podge of recording sessions hastily thrown together, it has a "let's get this f---er out and let the fans decide whether it's good or not" feel to it. There are only 2 songs that are really worth your attention. The first, "You Wanna Ramble", has a really good groove to it, but the second, Brownsville Girl, is a Dylan masterpiece. Brilliantly written (with Sam Shepard)and performed (with a great vocal by Dylan and the choir). It runs 11 minutes, and feels short, because it's so good. The song They Killed Him runs 4 minutes and feels longer than Gone With the Wind, which gives you an indication of how wretched the song really is. It does, however, have a great title, and the cover art is pretty good. Perhaps Dylan should have taken the best songs from this album and Down in the Groove, and made one album out of it. Here's a suggestion of the tracks...
Side One
1. You Wanna Ramble
2. Let's Stick Together
3. Silvio
4. Death is Not the End
5. Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)
Side Two
1. Brownsville Girl
2. Rank Strangers to Me
Just my 13 and a half cents...
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Bob Dylan: "'Ruby, My Dear' by Monk was another one. Monk played at the Blue Note on 3rd Street...I dropped in there once in the afternoon, just to listen--told him that I played folk music up the street. 'We all play folk music,' he said." Read more musical excerpts from Chronicles, Vol. 1 on our Music You Should Hear page.
is Bob Dylan's 
