7. Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1974): Dylan's soundtrack for Sam Peckinpah's 1973 western Pat Garret & Billy The Kid is a spartan, haunting affair, and a strange and transporting listen. For one thing, four of the 10 tracks are different versions of the same song, "Billy," each one sounding a little more stoned and despairing than the last. It is also peppered with instrumentals, some very good, some a little stemwinding. But taken together, the release works startlingly well -- it is deeply atmospheric and doom-laden, autumnal and in certain spots a little frightening. Will Oldham probably should record this entire thing (if he hasn't already). As a sidelight, the most famous track here is "Knocking On Heaven's Door," which has been turned into a horrible classic-rock warhorse by a number of terrible individuals who should probably be prosecuted for what they've done to the poor thing. Here, in it's original conception, it is two and half brief minutes of subtle reckoning with awful mistakes and a life beyond salvation, and surpassingly lovely.










































