Maps of Music

Down in the Groove (1988)

Where the lyrics of Down in the Groove take you, and where it was really made.

Recorded across five years of sessions, this 1988 album became one of the lowest-ranked entries in Bob Dylan's discography.

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Down in the Groove: the 25th studio album by Bob Dylan
Released in 1988 on Columbia Records
Mix of originals and covers; four originals in total
Two of the four originals were co-written with Robert Hunter, lyricist of the Grateful Dead
Guest musicians include Ronnie Wood, the hip-hop group Full Force, and members of the Grateful Dead
Single 'Silvio' was the only one; it failed to chart in the US or the UK

Followed Knocked Out Loaded (1986), which had been poorly received
Recording spanned five years, from the Infidels (1983) sessions to recordings made for this album in 1987
The album features several guest appearances for the first time in Dylan's work of this period

Rolling Stone critic David Fricke: release delayed for more than half a year
Track listing altered at least three times before release
Songs that made the final cut came from at least six different recording sessions over six years
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music states the album shares no single recording session

Artist Rick Griffin, known mainly for Grateful Dead logos and poster art, was commissioned to design the jacket
Griffin's drawing of a man playing guitar while riding a horse backwards was rejected by Columbia Records
Columbia used a photograph of Dylan instead

1	Let's Stick Together	3:09
2	When Did You Leave Heaven?	2:15
3	Sally Sue Brown	2:29
4	Death Is Not the End	5:10
5	Had a Dream About You, Baby	2:54
6	Ugliest Girl in the World	3:32
7	Silvio	3:06
8	Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)	2:56
9	Shenandoah	3:39
10	Rank Strangers to Me	2:57

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing, Minnesota.
Moved to New York City in January 1961 to pursue a music career.
Signed to Columbia Records after playing harmonica on Carolyn Hester's album; debut album Bob Dylan released in 1962.

Solo artist; backed over the years by bands including the Hawks/the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his touring band led by bassist Tony Garnier.

Breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); protest songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.
Went electric with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), provoking controversy among folk fans.
Motorcycle accident in 1966 led to nearly eight years without touring; Basement Tapes recorded with the Band.
Converted to Christianity in the late 1970s and released gospel albums; won Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind (1997).
Has toured since 1988 on the Never Ending Tour; won an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards; awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Rolling Stone critic David Fricke called the album's birth strange and difficult even by Dylan's standards
Fricke pointed to the long delay and repeated changes to the track listing
Robert Christgau, in his Consumer Guide column, wrote that Dylan had become forever professional, with every song simply 'Dylanized'
Christgau later called Down in the Groove a 'horrendous product'
Like Knocked Out Loaded before it, the album drew negative reviews and low sales

Both contemporary and retrospective reviews criticize the album as incohesive and scattered
Rankings of Dylan's work tend to place the album near the bottom of his discography
In 2007 Rolling Stone labeled it Bob Dylan's worst album
In 2017 the magazine said most people place the low point of Dylan's career around the time this album landed in May 1988
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music describes the tone of the album as swinging from raucous to pensive to sombre almost instantly

The Full Force collaboration turned out to be an old Infidels outtake, 'Death Is Not the End', with newly added Full Force vocal harmonies
Nick Cave covered 'Death Is Not the End' on his album Murder Ballads, with Shane MacGowan, PJ Harvey and Kylie Minogue as guests
'Silvio' was later included on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3 and The Essential Bob Dylan
Some copies of the record carry a gold 'For Promotion Only' stamp on the rear cover