Ranking Bob Dylan’s 39 Studio Albums- #36- Christmas In The Heart [2009}

Countdown so far- 39- Dylan- 1973, 38- Down In The Groove 1988, 37- Knocked Out Loaded-1986 and now- 36- Christmas In The Heart-2009-Dylan’s 34th studio album- give it a 2 stars. Again- unless you are a Bob completest you might want to pass on this one.

When I first heard over a decade ago that Bob Dylan was releasing- a Christmas album- my first reaction was it had to be a joke. Turns out it wasn’t a joke. This is my least listened to Dylan album- for a couple reasons- there are no Dylan originals here, it’s a Christmas album- I am not a huge fan of Christmas music I have probably listened to this album once a year since it’s release.

The album was successful- it went to #1 on the Billboard Holiday Album chart- and #23 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. This was a charity album- Bob gave all the proceeds to Feeding America in the U.S. and the United Nations World Food Programme and Crisis in the UK received royalties overseas- so it was a worthwhile project.

The album isn’t horrible- my favorite song is “Must Be Santa” which Mitch Miller first released in 1960- love the video to this one-

Dylan performed the songs in a straightforward style. Out of the fifteen songs on the album- the most successful are- “Must Be Santa”, “Christmas Island”,”Christmas Blues and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” to name a Mount Rushmore from the album. He is less successful in singing the Christian carols- O’ Little Town Of Bethlehem” and “Hark The Harald Angels Sing” are real howlers.