Desire

Desire followed the comeback success of Blood on the Tracks and found Bob Dylan writing for the first time at length with lyricist and theatre director Jacques Levy, who co-wrote all but two of the songs. The sessions, cut quickly in New York in the summer and fall of 1975, brought in violinist Scarlet Rivera, and her keening violin lines became the record's signature sound alongside a loose, road-band feel built around bassist Rob Stoner and drummer Howie Wyeth. The album opens with "Hurricane," a protest epic recounting the wrongful conviction of boxer Rubin Carter, and closes side two with the lengthy narrative ballads "Joey" and "Black Diamond Bay," reflecting Levy's influence in pushing Dylan toward long-form storytelling. "Sara," a plea to his wife Sara Lownds written as their marriage was unraveling, gives the record its emotional center and anticipated the breakup chronicled on later tours. Released amid the Rolling Thunder Revue, the touring circus Dylan led through small towns in late 1975 and 1976, the album became his second consecutive number-one record in the US and is regarded by critics and fans as one of the richest and most narratively ambitious albums of his mid-1970s peak. Its blend of outlaw ballads, political advocacy and intimate confession has kept it a touchstone of the singer-songwriter era and a frequent entry on best-of-Dylan lists.