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The 1980s |
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The 1980s
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 | 1981: Shot of Love, Dylan’s third and final gospel album, features the sublime “Every Grain of Sand,” but inexplicably leaves the fiery rocker “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Alter” for the B-side of the forgettable single “Heart of Mine.” (It is later added to CDs of the album.) The tour continues, with the bootlegged show at Avignon providing the best bootleg. | |
| 1982: No tour, no album. | ||
 | 1983: Infidels is Dylan’s best album since Desire, thanks in part to lovely guitar work from co-producer Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame). The outtake “Blind Willie McTell” takes on legendary status, and is eventually released on The Bootleg Series. | |
 | 1984: A March appearance on Late Night with David Letterman shocks fans: backed by a fiery punk band, he rocks through a three-song set that includes the blues classic “Don’t Start Me Talkin’.” The European tour that follows is nowhere near as satisfying, as the album Real Live verifies. | |
 | 1985: Empire Burlesque features some great songs, including the single “Tight Connection to My Heart” and the Watchtower-esque “When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky,” but overproduction dooms the results. Only the ballad “Dark Eyes” escapes the flood of synths. His appearance at Live Aid is a disaster, but he recovers with a great set at Farm Aid, backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. | |
 | The 5-LP retrospective Biograph, packed with outtakes, is released, reminding all concerned that Dylan is rock’s greatest artist. | |
 | 1986: A full-fledged tour with Petty and his band delivers professionalism, but little inspiration, as the HBO special Hard to Handle attests. The album Knocked Out Loaded has the same flaws, except for the stunning 11-minute epic “Brownsville Girl,” co-written by playwright Sam Shepard. Dylan secretly marries back-up singer Carol Dennis, and the couple have a daughter whose existence is unknown to fans until 2001. | |
| 1987: No album, and a movie (Hearts of Fire) so bad it doesn’t get a U.S. release. Can it get any worse than this? A summer tour with the Grateful Dead, in which Dylan is routinely upstaged by his so-called backing band answers in the affirmative. But a fall tour of the Middle East and Europe with Petty offers a large dose of inspiration, as the 5-CD bootleg set Temples in Flames proves. | ||
  | 1988: Down in the Groove is Dylan’s worst album since Self Portrait. The live record Dylan and the Dead is as bad as the tour it commemorates. But Dylan shows the old spark — and a surprising sense of humor — as a member of the Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup that also features Petty, George Harrison,Roy Orbison, and ELO founder Jeff Lynne. The highpoint of the band’s Volume 1 is a Springsteen parody, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man,” with Dylan’s fingerprints (not to mention vocals) all over it. In the summer, he hits the road with a hot new band on what is dubbed The Neverending Tour — he’s been on the road nonstop ever since. The year also marked his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. | |
 | 1989: Seemingly inspired by the Wilburys, Dylan returns to form with the eerie Daniel Lanois-produced Oh Mercy. On stage, however, his performances are wildly inconsistent, leading some fans to wonder if alcohol is an issue. |
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