Is Bob Dylan the only artist to rank in 5 or more decades in the artist category? Not only does Bob rank in 5 different decades, but in 4 of those he is in the top 40 artists. Amazing!

Yes, he is the only one. I'm thinking Neil Young might join him with the release of Chrome Dreams II, but maybe the album is ranked too low on the EOY-lists to give him a spot in the 00s ranking.

You know why this is? Cause he's the best

You know why? Because Dylan ignores trends and just does whatever he feels like at all times.

We need more artists like that.

The question is how many of Dylan and Neil Young's albums from the last three decades actually deserve their acclaim? A few for sure; especially Young's 90's output ...I don't know about the rest. The past 25 years of Dylan has just been ok to me. He can still write a song but they don't sound all that different than when they were fresh 50 years ago. It seems like critics are just patting him on the back for continuing to put out decent music.

Even with all his 5 decades he can't beat the Beatles seven years and that is domination. Sometimes the gushing over Dylan is bad as the Beatles fans

I'd hate to see the critical gushing that would take place if mediocre Beatles albums were being made today. McCartney doesn't count people. Although Rolling Stone still likes to swoon over him.

Why is it every time Paul McCartney releases a new album, critics all say "THIS is the album where McCartney finally stops being bubbly and twee", and then it turns out the album is bubbly and twee?

I think Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times all rank in the best five or ten albums of that year. They're certainly not as good as his 60's and 1975 output, but they're still really good.

The Beatles may have quit a bit to early but since they did their legacy is secure with great and influential songs. Dylan even with the Band backing him was still no match for the Beatles. You may insult McCartney but as a overall musician he blows Dylan in the wind. I knows this a pro Dylan or Velvet Underground forum here so I won't go further.

McCartney isn't making any great music because he isn't even trying. And hasn't been trying for a long, looong time.

And I wish Bob hadn't released albums that were total crap. I'm really glad he's great again, though, and I hope he releases at least one more album as good as Modern Times.

He released those because they were total crap.

Nope.

Except for Self Portrait maybe.

I quote Dylan:

"I released one album (a double one) where I just threw everything I could think of at the wall and whatever stuck, released it, and then went back and scooped up everything that didn't stick and released that, too."

Now, I personally don't think they're pure crap at all. I even quite like Self Portrait.

Aaaalll the tiiired hooorses iiiin theeee suuuun...
How am I supooooooosed to geeeet aaaany riiiiding doooone...

You have to be kidding me.

That song is hilarious. It's brilliant that he can release an album with songs like that and still get it to go gold. Quinn The Eskimo and some other songs are not all bad though.

I'm thinking that half of the people who bought it were fans who were expecting something else. >_>

Ah, the infamous Self Portrait. I have to confess I, like most people out there, absolutely hated the thing to begin with. But last year I decided to revisit it. I wondered if perhaps there was a good single album hidden within the muck. Here's a post I made to another site after the exercise:

Try this, as I did, burn yourself this disc made up of half the tracks from this double album. I think you'll find it fits right in with John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline and The Basement Tapes. In fact, it also has some similarities to Bob's 90's covers albums as there are quite a few traditional tunes in there as well.

Self Portrait - The album within the album:
Alberta #1
Living The Blues
Little Sadie
Woogie Boogie
Days of '49
Copper Kettle
The Mighty Quinn
Minstrel Boy
Alberta #2
Early Mornin' Rain
It Hurts Me Too
Wigwam

On a sidenote, are you the Sinder Velvin of those Oblivion parodies?

Neil,

That's a cool idea.

I made a similar CD putting all of the Beatles hits from 1967 onto one cohesive album, imagine how good Sgt. Pepper could have been with Strawberry Fields, I Am The Walrus, and Penny Lane stuck in there? (Unfortunately I've since lost track of it.)

I'm a fan of both Dylan and The Beatles, but I love Dylan a lot more. Plus, there was only one of him. The Beatles had three superstars, so they should have three times the output.

Yes, Neoptolemos...

I wrote those when I was 13, more than a year before the game came out.

Anyway.

John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline and The Basement Tapes are good.

Self Portrait, though, even when cut in two, is just a bunch of generic "ta da da dee" folk/country/nonsense. I think it only fits with his other albums if you're very inebriated.

That's putting it mildly.

Did anyone listen to the lyrics? You should.

Wigwam:

"Ta-da-da-da-duh
Ta-da-da-da-da-da-duh
Ta-da-da-da-daaaaa
La-la-la-liiii
La-la-la-la-la-laaah
La-la-la-la-la-laaaaaa
Ta-da-da-da-da-daaaaaaa
Ta-dadadadadiiii"

...