Bob Dylan, explored
‹ The '80s
Cover of Down in the Groove

1988

Down in the Groove

The '80s · 1983–1990

Listen to the album

Why it matters

Made up mostly of covers and leftovers, it was among the weakest-selling albums of his career.

Down in the Groove was released in 1988, just before Dylan began the touring that would become known as the Never Ending Tour. It gathers covers and outtakes from several years of sessions, cut with very different casts, from Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler to members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Two songs, "Silvio" and "Ugliest Girl in the World", were written with the Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, and members of the Dead sing on "Silvio", which became a regular in Dylan's concerts. The rest leans on rhythm and blues, country and folk, ending with a quiet reading of the Stanley Brothers' "Rank Strangers to Me". Because the tracks come from scattered sessions, the album has little shape, and critics treated it as a low point. Even so, his plain, worn singing on the folk and country songs points toward the traditional albums he would make a few years later.

Track list · 10 songs

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

Where its songs lead

Death Is Not the End · Covered byDeath Is Not the EndNick Cave and the Bad Seeds · 1996Nick Cave turned the Down in the Groove song into the closing ensemble piece of Murder Ballads.Death Is Not the End · Same theme asLone Pilgrim1993Both are hymn-like songs of consolation that tell mourners death is not the last word.Death Is Not the End · Same theme asWhen He Returns1979Both offer religious consolation, one in the gospel years and one soon after.

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