If was an unapologetically intimate affair, is unwieldy and messy, the deliberate work of a collective. And while directly addresses his crumbling relationship with his wife, Sara, on the final track, is hardly as personal as its predecessor, finding returning to topical songwriting and folk tales for the core of the record.

• Bob Dylan Desire Album Cover

If Blood on the Tracks was an unapologetically intimate affair, Desire is unwieldy and messy, the deliberate work of a collective. And while Bob Dylan directly.

It's all over the map, as far as songwriting goes, and so is it musically, capturing at the beginning of the Rolling Thunder Revue era, which was more notable for its chaos than its music. And, so it's only fitting that fits that description as well, as it careens between surging folk-rock, Mideastern dirges, skipping pop, and epic narratives.

It's little surprise that doesn't quite gel, yet it retains its own character - really, there's no other place where tried as many different styles, as many weird detours, as he does here. And, there's something to be said for its rambling, sprawling character, which has a charm of its own.

Even so, the record would have been assisted by a more consistent set of songs; there are some masterpieces here, though: 'Hurricane' is the best-known, but the effervescent 'Mozambique' is at his breeziest, 'Sara' at his most nakedly emotional, and 'Isis' is one of his very best songs of the '70s, a hypnotic, contemporized spin on a classic fable. This may not add up to a masterpiece, but it does result in one of his most fascinating records of the '70s and '80s - more intriguing, lyrically and musically, than most of his latter-day affairs.

Bob Dylan Desire Album Cover

Get the embed code Bob Dylan - Desire Album Lyrics1.One More Cup of Coffee Lyrics2.Hurricane Lyrics3.Isis Lyrics4.Mozambique Lyrics5.One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below) Lyrics6.Oh, Sister Lyrics7.Joey Lyrics8.Romance in Durango Lyrics9.Black Diamond Bay Lyrics10.Sara LyricsBob Dylan Lyrics provided by SongLyrics.com Note: When you embed the widget in your site, it will match your site's styles (CSS). This is just a preview!