Maybe it’s one of those pesky intangibles that comes into play when you’re trying to extrapolate your opinion or quantify the unquantifiable. But Bob’s sense of humor is an integral part to his songwriting, and no matter how inarguably great these songs are, I think the lack of this attribute might play a part in my opinion of the overall record. Hell, even as I type this, I’m admittedly having a hard time imagining where something subtle à la “Who Killed Davey Moore?” would sequence on this album. I’m not implying in the least that he could or should have written anything humorous about the decisively unfunny tales of Hollis Brown, Medgar Evers, or Hattie Carroll, and I’m not advocating for any of these songs to be re-written with a snappy punchline. It honestly may be that this is one of the extremely few Bob albums where there’s nary a trace of humor to be found. Secondly, and perhaps more pragmatically: as much as I cherish all of these songs, both on a subjective and objective level, the album as a whole lacks a particular flair that’s present in almost every other Dylan release. Many of you have probably thought this at one point or another throughout the course of this ranking exercise, and feel so especially now that I’m ranking this album at #16 when it’s most likely rightfully in your top 10, so let’s celebrate in me coming to terms with my own stupidity. Upon much consideration, I can surmise two potential hypotheses. How could I rank an album that I thoroughly enjoy 80% of - while not actively disliking the other two songs, either - just below my top tier or two of Dylan records? Especially when it’s immeasurably important to his catalog, legitimately significant to the Civil Rights Movement, and harrowingly relevant almost 60 years later? When I made a playlist of my favorite Bob material a few months back, I didn’t hesitate to include eight of the ten tracks from Times, which further drove me crazy. I’ve always really liked it, but never second guessed that it was my least favorite of the three all-original acoustic records.