Desire (1976)

Pistols shots ring out through the barroom night

Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall

She sees a bartender in the room above

Cries out 'my God, they've killed them all'

1. Hurricane (8:33)

2. Isis (6:58)

3. Mozambique (3:00)

4. One More Cup of Coffee (3:43)

5. Oh, Sister (4:05)

6. Joey (11:05)

7. Romance in Durango (5:50)

8. Black Diamond Bay (7:30)

9. Sara (5:29)

Total Running Time: 56:13

Review: Desire was Bob Dylan's 1976 follow up to his highly regarded Blood on the Tracks from the year prior.  As such, expectations were sky high.  The album delivers, as much as it could.  Nothing could match the brilliance of Blood on the Tracks, but Desire is a top tier Dylan album on it's own. 

The album opens with a some ominous minor key guitar chords, followed by bass and drums.  'Hurricane' is one of Bob's most well known songs.  The album leads off with a bang, just as 'Tangled Up In Blue' from Blood on the Tracks did a year before.  'Hurricane' is a song you might hear in the radio, and it is also a tale of racial injustice.  As I write this in 2020, the theme of this song, unfortunately, remains especially relevant.  In 1975, Bob was so eager to get this song out to his audience that he performed it at every Rolling Thunder Revue live show that year, and he released the song as a single.  This is a song that grabs your attention from the start, holds it through a captivating melody and achingly beautiful violin accompaniment, and demands further inspection on its hard-hitting lyrics. "Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties / are free to drink martinis and watch the sunrise / While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten foot cell / an innocent man in a living hell."  Those closing lyrics show that Bob, in 1975, was still concerned about social justice as he was in the early 1960s.  'Hurricane' is probably the latest in time Dylan song that is played on FM Radio.  

Next we have the wild adventure-western story song 'Isis.'  This was performed in 1975 but also stayed in the setlists through the 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue as well.  "It was then that I knew, what he had on his mind."  Well, aside from being an adventure involving an unordinary man, a tomb, a dead body, and a Goddess-like woman named 'Isis,' I don't really know what was on his mind.  This song was brought to life in its live arrangements, Bob practically frothing at the mouth at excitement over singing the song in 1975.  In 1976 it got a quicker, tighter arrangement, while Bob still gave it a passionate vocal.  Overall its a good song, but not one of my favorite on Desire.  

The next destination Bob takes the listener on is down to Africa, 'Mozambique' specifically.  This song is hated by some - it describes war-ravaged Mozambique not as a vicious land but as place Bob would like to spend some time, where "The sunny sky is aqua blue / and all the couples dancing cheek to cheek / its very nice to stay a week or two / and maybe fall in love..."  Ah, irony!  It turns into a pure love song by the bridge, ending with "Magic in a magical land!"  The song would not succeed if not for the tender melody.  Like the previous 2 songs, this was not performed live past 1976.  

'One More Cup Of Coffee' is, pound for pound, one of the best songs on the album, containing some of Bob's most impressive and enchanting singing he has ever done.  "Hebrew cantilever" I believe is what the poet Allan Ginsburg called it.  Hearing it now as I first did about 20 years ago, Bob's singing at the close of the first line gives me goosebumps.  Accompanied again by Scarlett Rivera on violin and Emmylou Harris on vocals (during the chorus), I loved this song from the time I first heard it, and it remains no less impressive.  The live versions, while nice, never lived up to the remarkable vocal performance Bob gave on the album cut.  It is, notably, a song that Bob kept in his setlists through 1978, and then retired it until the Never Ending Tour ("NET") started, performing it sparingly in 1988, 1990, 1993, 2007 and 2009.  The 1993 'Supper Club' performance is highly regarded, although the others are enjoyable as well.  

Onto 'Oh Sister.'  In terms of chord progression and melody, it sounds more than a bit like the Nashville Skyline version of 'Girl of the North Country' with a violin added.  Is it an ode to a nun?  To an actual sister?  To someone else?  Who knows, but in my book its another good song on an album full of them.  Bob gave it a radically reworked, stripped down take during the 1978 tour, then retired it for good.  "Time is an ocean but it ends at the shore / you may not see me tomorrow" is the closing line, which hearkens back to One More Cup Of Coffee's close of "But your heart is like an ocean / mysterious and dark."  This song lets us a catch a breather before we take on one of Bob's more controversial songs.

'Joey.'  11 minutes long.  "Joooeeeeeeyyyyyyy" repeated ad nauseum during the chorus.  The "glorification" of a gangster.  These are the arguments you will see against this song.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  This song is another of Bob's glorious extended story songs, a la 'Hurricane', 'Tangled Up In Blue,' 'Brownsville Girl, and 'Black Diamond Bay.'  It is a song about doomed mobster Joey Giallo (check out Scorcese's film The Irishman for a quick look at him).  I find the song to be an enjoyable piece of work.  My favorite part is the rhyming wordplay on display throughout the song.  It becomes quite poignant at the end of the tune: "I saw the old man's limousine heard back towards the grave / I guess he had to say one last goodbye to the son that he could not save" and "Someday if God's in Heaven overlooking His preserve / I know the men that shot him down will get what they deserve."  While it was not first performed live until 1987, 'Joey' got more live play afterwards than the rest of the songs on this album, during Bob's NET from 1988-present, which either delighted or enraged his audience members.  

Next we get the Spanish-flavored 'Romance in Durango.'  Gloriously performed during the Rolling Thunder Revue as a hoedown and revived briefly a couple of times in 2003.  Another tragic number, although the music is somewhat upbeat (entirely upbeat during the live RTR performance), with some ominous undertones throughout.  Our main character, in this song one and the same as the narrator (unlike the 3rd person 'Joey'), seems doomed from early on (like Joey).  "Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun / dust on my face and my cape."  In one line Bob sets the stage - our protagonist is out in the hot desert in the south, or the west, or the southwest.  The dust on his face gives us some signal that things will be ending for him sooner rather than later.  

 

'Black Diamond Bay' is held in very high regard by Bobcats.  Another story song, this one set to a pleasant, joyful, rollicking melody, featuring Bob soloing on harmonica at both the beginning and the end of the tune and featuring backup vocalist Emmylou Harris again during the chorus and at the end of each line in the verses.  Extending for seven and a half minutes, this song enjoys comparisons to the prior album's 'Lily Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.'  Its a shame he never performed it live (aside from one rumored uncirculating performance in 1976).  The band is tight, just the right volume, and the violin played counter-Bob is right on point.  The instruments are all doing their own thing, but they come together for a glorious backing sound.  Altogether this is one of Bob's finest tracks of the decade, maybe of his entire career.  His wordplay is clever and he tells a story about ... well, you just have to hear it to try to make some sense of it.  

The album closes with the heartbreaking ode to Bob's wife, 'Sara.'  The song opens as a rolling sea shanty, featuring Bob playing some of the most inspired and melodic harmonica of his career during the intro.  Bob reminiscences about his kids playing in happier marital times, as the violin sadly creaks and moans its way around Bob's voice.  I am reminded of Bruce Springsteen's title track from 'The River.'  Bob's song could have been titled 'The Beach', echoing similar themes of love lost and regret.  Indeed, the track brings the listener back to 'Blood on the Tracks' and the many heartbreaking songs from that album.  Bob performed this one during the 1975 RTR and then abruptly retired the track, perhaps because it is so intensely personal.  The closing appeal to his wife really makes his point clear: After much evocative imagery to describe his wife, and the use of a beach as a metaphor for the relationship, Bob closes with a plaintive "Sara, Sara, don't ever leave me, don't ever go."  The divorce was finalized in 1977.  

Rating: 10/10 **********/**********

Best Three Song Run: Romance In Durango, Black Diamond Bay, Sara

Song Tiers:

A+: Black Diamond Bay, Sara

A: Hurricane, One More Cup Of Coffee

A-: Romance In Durango

B+: Isis, Joey, Oh Sister

B-: Mozambique

(new) personal closing note: I first listened to this album in late 2001 or early 2002.  It was one of the first 3 or 4 Dylan albums I heard.  I feel in love with it immediately.  It was a "soundtrack" to hanging out with some of my college friends and playing video games together.  Thanks to Sully for introducing me to this one.