Desire (Bob Dylan Album) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

On January 5, 1976, Desire was released, garnering a fair share of critical acclaim. Critic Dave Marsh would call it one of the "two best records Dylan has made since John Wesley Harding" and gave it a four-star review in the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide. Some critics were not impressed; Robert Christgau wrote: "Although the candid propaganda and wily musicality of "Hurricane" delighted me for a long time, the deceitful bathos of its companion piece "Joey" tempts me to question the unsullied innocence of Rubin Carter himself". He disputed their categorization as protest songs and mused that Dylan's songs about oppressed "heroes" may have been a reflection of Dylan's own feelings at the time. Christgau described Dylan's voice and rhymes as "viscous" and the strength of backing vocalists Ronee Blakley and Emmylou Harris as "distinctly kid". Christgau negatively compared these tracks with "Sara" and "Isis", before rating the album a moderate "B−".

Nevertheless, there was enough critical support to push Desire to #26 on The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1976. In 2003, the album was ranked number 174 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album also received a fair share of commercial success, eventually topping the U.S. Billboard charts.