Bob Dylan, Infidels (1983)
One of the first Bob Dylan albums I heard – and owned – I had the cassette tape first, graduated on to the CD. Never had the LP – until just very recently. But always loved this. Killer set of songs, amazing band, packed with legends – and it has the added benefit, these days, of being the best War on Drugs album too – just check out Sweetheart Like You, that’s everything War on Drugs aims for, sonically, but with the added benefit of being a song that sticks. Infidels could have been even better – there were great songs left on the shelf, but it arrived at an important time for Bob – the start of some secular songs again after his intense Christian/gospel/religious
period. That said there’s religion in here of course too – and it’s good. Bob does that so well. But there’s a spark here, an actual fire too. And some slow-burn within that fire too. Picked up a nice second-hand copy of this album just recently and listening to it in the Side A/Side B format once again is taking me back to the summers of my early teenage years when that tape was always in the Walkman, accompanying me wherever I wondered and wandered.
Sample Track: Sweetheart Like You
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown