Desire came out twelve days shy of a year after "Blood on the Tracks," but it wasn't a whole year without a new Dylan record, because The Basement Tapes came between them, though it was recorded something like eight years earlier. "Desire" is sort of new sound for Dylan as he is performing with the Rolling Thunder Review band and Scarlett Rivera's violin adds a haunting sound throughout."Hurricane" the lead off song marks kind of a return of Dylan to social commentary. Dylan did the song, because he was convinced of Mr. Carter's innocence. The song was first recorded with Emmylou Harris doing the vocal with Dylan, like she does on the other songs on the record, but apparently Colombia thought the song was libelous, so Dylan re-recorded it with Ronnie Blakely. I've heard both versions and the one used on the final release is a much better song. "Isis," is like a never ending story song that reminds me kind of "Idiot Wind." I love it, my favorite song on the record is "Black Diamond Bay." It tells a story of a Pacific Island that is destroyed by a volcano. The people on the island all react differently and when the narrator hears about it on the evening news, he gets up and gets another beer. He doesn't care and boy is there a lot of that going around. This is a superb record and one of Dylan's top sellers. Probably the reason for that is because it is so good.Ken Douglas, author of Dead Ringer, Desperation Moon & Running Scared.
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