Many people would say his first brief, moderately dry spell came after John Wesley Harding ('67) and lasted until he dropped Blood on the Tracks in ('75). Following the blinding brilliance of his run up to that point, the albums he released in that timeframe were pretty pedestrian, even if the period produced some undeniably classic songs (Forever Young, Lay Lady Lay, Knocking on Heaven's Door).

(With that said, even though Nashville Skyline ('69) is slight by Dylan's standards, I fucking love that album.)

I happen to be a big fan of Desire ('76) and love some of the songs on Street Legal ('78), but after that he had a pretty rough stretch for almost 20 years until the much lauded Time Out of Mind in '97.

I will admit to not being super well-versed in his 80 and 90s material, though, mostly because the majority of what I've heard from then has been tough to listen to. I'm sure there are some gems sprinkled throughout, but it seems like it'd be a chore to find them...