Expecting Rain

I thought with the upcoming release of a new studio Bob Dylan album (now looking like September, from what i've read here) it might be an interesting thread to talk about the first album you heard upon release (or, if applicable, maybe even a few weeks before the official date?)

For me, I remember songs from Blood on the Tracks and Desire being on the radio when those albums were new, but the first album-I bought on the first day of release (or perhaps the day after) was "Street Legal" from 1978. I remember at the time that that was the same week (must have been about June?) that I graduated from high school, and somehow looking back those events feel linked- that idea of 'ok, the usual moorings are gone now, and here's the new'. "Street Legal" was a very new sound for him, of course, having the r & b style backup singers, the larger band, the dense arrangements, etc. I remember particularly liking the opening track 'changing of the guard', as well as 'senor' and the last track 'where are you tonight (journey thru dark heat), but thinking this was a new and strange sound for him...

other recordings i remember going to the record store (remember those?) on the day of release where i remember something notable include shot of love (first thought- cheeziest cover of all time!- but somehow a friend of a friend had gotten ahold of the album before release, and , improbably, called me up and read me what he had written down of the lyrics, so I had some idea of what was coming), Infidels (first heard some of the outtakes actually before the record came out, i think?) .... hmm, what eles? the dissapointment (other then 'brownsville girl') of 'knocked out loaded', the positive feelings of 'wow, this is a return to form' from 'oh mercy', the relative dissapointment afterwords of 'under the red sky', that great hushed expectant listen to an recording on cassette tape of 'time out of mind' sometime before release, overjoyed at the majesty of it.. the same for 'love and theft'... and feelings somewhat in between those extremes for several of the releases since that..... anyway, what are your thougths and stories on that 'first listen' of a 'new' dylan album?

Oh Mercy for me, an album I still like.

I can remember Shot of love as a Christmas present at home, but I'm not sure it was just released. At least it was 4 months later. But I'm not even sure it was the year it had been released.

What I can clearly remember is the videoclip of Jokerman being on TV many times, and the one of Sweetheart like You too. I was 7. And later Tight connection to my heart, Emotionally yours and When the night comes falling from the sky.

I'm 99% sure I had no contact with or knowledge of Dylan or his music before 2009 or so.

First new Dylan album I bought after I became a fan was Shot of Love. I was 16 and dazzled by Lenny Bruce and Every Grain of Sand. The biggest Dylan fan I knew at the time said he missed the rave-ups like Saved & Solid Rock. When Infidels came out, I stood in line at a local record store to get a giant promo poster for the album, which hung in my dorm room all of freshmen year of college.

"Bob Dylan." 1962. I remember "In My Time of Dyin'" and "House of the Risin' Sun" - but I didn't buy my first Dylan album until 1965 - "Bringing It All Back Home"
(yes, I'm old!)

i have yet to buy and/or listen to a new album. but if i remember correctly, i did listen to the samples for Christmas In The Heart on iTunes when it came out, but i wasn't too impressed so i passed on it, until recently that is.

Slow Train Coming.

I was not a Bob Dylan fan in 1979. In fact, I didn't even know who he was--despite the fact that I had sung Blowin' in the Wind in my 5th grade choir. I was 14, maybe 15. Christian Radio was the only station allowed in our House. I Believe in You came on the radio and I asked my parents if I could have the whole record. They said I could if the Christian Bookstore carried it. They did.

A few years later I bought Biograph...ah, so that's the Blowin' in the Wind guy.

Now that is impressive! You've heard everything!

Love and Theft. None have matched the excitement of getting the album since then, but it's still fun.

Modern Times.
I had download 30 seconds samples of every songs from the album and I kept listening them over and over again until the album was finally released and I bought the "collector edition" with the dvd.
At the same moment, I saw Dylan in concert for the first time, this was very exciting days!
2006 is definitively my Dylan year.

I became Dylan obsessed only in recent years, so I guess that makes his upcoming album the first one I'll be getting upon it's release.

TTL

That's the highlight of my record-buying years too.

Aww, come on, it's not so bad!

My first new album after becoming a fan was Good As I Been to You. I loved this album and it was the reason I picked up a guitar. The only album I'd heard before that was Blood on the Tracks, so you can imagine my surprise after hearing the voice. I loved it though.

I told this story many times on here, but i'll tell it again;

My senior year of high school i asked my math teacher to let me leave early so i could sneak out and get the new Dylan album. He said sure..as long as i come back and let him know how it is by the end of the school day.

That album was "Together through life." I liked about 5 or 6 of the songs on it... now i like 7 or 8.

Tell Tale Signs was the first big new release I picked up as a fan.

Together Through Life was the first proper album, though.

I really got into Dylan during my sophmore year in college, shortly after MT was released. By the time TTL was announced, I was already a fan and had it on pre-order. The feeling of tearing the seal off a Dylan record hot off the press was ... priceless!

"Love and Theft" for me. I bought it the day it came out.

The problem was I had only very recently got into Bob and was still yet to buy some of the big albums. I put "Love and Theft" on the day I bought it, dug the sound, but in the ensuing weeks, months and years I think I neglected it by and large in favour of some of the other Bob albums I had just "discovered" - such little known efforts as Bringing It All Back Home and John Wesley Harding .

It was a couple of years of trying to absorb all of Bob's career before I got around to really giving "Love and Theft" a proper listen.

And when I finally did it blew my mind.

Could even by my number one Bob album today.

Blood On The Tracks - I bought it from an import shop in the Elizabeth Arcade in Brisbane. Import shops always got albums from the US a long time before they were released locally in Australia. It had the original album notes that referred to the all NY version of the album which created a bit of confusion.

I wore that copy out.

There it is. My story. My first album was "Unplugged" bought somewhere around 1998, but first new studio album I was expecting while being truly a fan of Dylan's music was "Modern Times".

They were playing New Morning when i was born.

I'm another from the Shot of Love generation!

Planet Waves.