Allen -- I would agree. I enjoy Dylan a lot, but less than I value him as as someone to study. Though there are times when I wish I had never watched DON'T LOOK BACK; he and Neuwirth could be so vicious.
My favorite Dylan remains NEW MORNING, a record which is a bit softer in the middle -- and the head, probably -- than those acknowledged masterpieces. On songs like "The Man In Me", "Went To See The Gypsy" and even "Sign In The Window", he does step into different personae, becomes people who might entertain the possibility of castigating themselves or regretting who they used to be.