Track Listing

1. Hurricane
2. Isis
3. Mozambique
4. One More Cup Of Coffee
5. Oh, Sister
6. Joey
7. Romance In Durango
8. Black Diamond Bay
9. Sara

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #841 in Music
• Released on: 2004-03-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dylan shows an unlikely innocence and a greater sense of the world around him on this 1976 follow-up to the more cynical and introspective Blood on the Tracks. Working with lyricist Jacques Levy, Dylan offers a work with rougher edges and greater urgency that is distinguished by the prominence of Scarlet Rivera's melancholy violin and Emmylou Harris's bare harmonies. The album features two of Dylan's famous wrongly accused-and-misunderstood-criminal sagas but truly peaks elsewhere. Exotic imagery meshes with simple melody on "Isis," one of Dylan's most appealing rambles. The droning piano and plodding drums propel a mystical journey that contains some of his most insightful (and most ridiculous) lyrics about paranoia, trust, betrayal, and, of course, desire. ("What drives me to you is what drives me insane.") In the end Dylan shows no signs of being jaded by love's fickleness. Delicate and heartbreaking, the finale "Sara" is a gift to his ex-wife that eloquently recounts the wonders of a relationship, perhaps in an attempt to revive it. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Masterful
For those who don't know, and yes, maybe there are some, as time goes by, this is the second of Dylan's classic double-header of releases in the mid-seventies. Following on from the laid-bare emotion and often stark, basic musical soundscape of the mighty "Blood On The Tracks", Dylan emarked on the "Rolling Thunder" tour, using a veritable cornucopia of musicians in a kind of "travelling musical circus" style. He attempts, laudably, to recreate that feeling on "Desire", offering up a gutsy, "almost live" feel to the sound with multi acoustic guitars (far more vibrantly used than on "Blood On The Tracks" however), a strange almost muted drum sound and Scarlett Rivera's manic violin always well to the fore. Emmylou Harris offers folky backing vocals effectively throughout, notably on "Hurricane" just a split second behind Dylan.

Kicking off with the iconic and controversial (at the time) anthem to wrongly imprisoned boxer Rubin Carter in "Hurricane" the tone is set, aurally at least. Lyrically we are taken on a roller-coaster of a journey to baking hot Mexico in "Romance In Durango", to Africa in "Mozambique", hints of Egypt in "Isis", New York's mean streets of Little Italy in the narrative "Joey" and the good old Chelsea hotel in "Sara". "One More Cup Of Coffee" utilises middle Eastern music in a way Dylan had not done before and "Black Diamond Bay" is packed full of imagery backed by an intoxicating groove. The lyrics on "Desire" are full of cinematic images - "hot chili peppers in the blistering sun" and less of the cryptic nature of Dylan's sixties work. Characterisation is strong and the visual images one receives when listening stay for many years, thirty and more in my case. I see the same Joey, the same Sara, the same "barroom night" in "Hurricane" and the same sun-blasted, dusty streets of Durango that I saw back in 1976.

It may be just me, but I get the feeling "Desire" just may have been a little forgotten about in recent years. That should never happen. Up there in the top seven or eight, in my opinion.

Washing the blood down the drain
After the obliqueness of his mid 1960s work and the personal sketches of 'Blood on the Tracks', 'Desire' ranks as one of Dylan's surprises. Firstly, probably because most of the material is co-written, the lyrics are far more direct and accessible, if less intriguing. Secondly, Dylan rediscovered the importance of the music. Melodic and exotic, 'Desire' enjoys colour missing from the over-rated 'Blonde On Blonde' and 'Blood...'

'Hurricane' is an example of both developments, consisting of a straightforward, rambling, though vivid story against an epic soundtrack. In this song, you can hear where Mark Knopfler got his musical vision from, though where Knopfler would riff on his guitar, Dylan employs violin. What is also noticeable about 'Hurricane' (also 'Joey') is that it's something of a rant, which isn't Dylan's usual line. Perhaps, though, it's misleading to label 'Hurricane' as typical, as each track has its own flavour. While the outraged content of this and 'Joey' tend to draw most attention, all of the other tracks deserve some acclaim. In Particular, 'Isis' and 'Sara' are beautiful, while 'Black Diamond Bay' is a wonderful piece of storytelling.

'Desire' isn't a typical Dylan album, but it's well worth hearing.

Don't read reviews
I don't normally write reviews, but I couldn't help it reading what some people think about this album. So, if you don't like Dylan, don't understand the greatest songwriter of this (or any other) generation, then don't bother listening to this album, don't buy it and DON'T, for goodness' sake, write reviews!
Listen to Romance in Durango, listen to Black Diamond Bay (Yes, Hurricane, Joey, they are all great) and hear the master storyteller at work. Follow the story in "Durango" and if you fail to shiver as he sings "I feel a sharp pain" then you are made of stone.
Fail to smile as you are taken to Black Diamond Bay where all the characters show up almost af if leftovers from Desolation Row and you have no sense of humour. Then hear Joey and don't sympathise with a nasty criminal? Go on, I dare you, open your ears and LISTEN!

Now it's up to you, for me this is one of the top 3 Dylan albums, and possibly his very best.