My Top Twenty of 2020 #10

 

In 30+ years of compiling year end lists of favourite records, this is the first time I've ever included a Bob Dylan record.

Dylan purists will no doubt lament that fact, and also that I've chosen this particular disc to break my exile. It's not been his best-reviewed record in recent years, and a number of fans appear to have turned their nose up at it. 

But maybe I've finally reached the age where Dylan can speak to me. The last Dylan album I listened to as much as this was Blonde On Blonde, in my early 20s, when it was already getting on for thirty years old. And I only really did that in service of checking out Bruce's influences. 

It was Murder Most Foul that did it for me. 17 minutes in length, arguably Bob's own version of We Didn't Start The Fire (purists, irked: check), and yet I've heard this played on the radio at least 5 times now and each time I was enthralled. I mean, the rest of the album is pretty good, but this... this is just mesmerising.