A Bunch of Bob Dylan Greatest Hits Albums (Volume 1/Volume II/The Essential Bob Dylan)

Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits Albums

1967

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35  2. Blowin' in the Wind  3. The Times They Are a-Changin'  4. It Ain't Me Babe  5. Like a Rolling Stone  6. Mr. Tambourine Man  7. Subterranean Homesick Blues  8. I Want You  9. Positively 4th Street  10. Just Like a Woman

A collection of all the Bob Dylan songs you've probably heard 10 billion times already...As I listened to this, I realized I'm no longer capable of consciously hearing "Blowin' in the Wind"...It's become refrigerator hum to me...A lot of this suffers from "Stairway"-itis...Don't get me wrong, it's all fantastic stuff, but I just don't pull this from the record shelf too often except to hear "Positively 4th Street" (an awesomely bitter song that doesn't appear on any of his proper albums...God, this Dylan guy sounds like a real asshole...Ever seen that "Don't Look Back" movie? ASSHOLE!! But he's an amazingly hilarious asshole, so he gets a pass from me)...



Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits Volume II

1971

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Columbia Records

Track Listing: 1. Watching the River Flow  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right  3. Lay Lady Lay  4. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again   5. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight  6. All I Really Want to Do  7. My Back Pages  8. Maggie's Farm  9. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You  10. She Belongs to Me  11. All Along the Watchtower  12. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)   13. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues  14. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall  15. If Not for You  16. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue  17. Tomorrow Is a Long Time   18. When I Paint My Masterpiece  19. I Shall Be Released  20. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere  21. Down in the Flood     

Now this is a greatest hits album! Compiled by ol' wheezy himself, it's absolutely perfect...If I were to put together a Dylan greatest hits album, this is pretty much what it would have looked like...And as a bonus there's a good EP's worth of new material on here (mostly re-recordings of Basement Tapes material, which hadn't been released yet), which is where you can find the banjo-y version of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" with the alternate lyrics that bust on Roger McGuinn for fuckin' up the lyrics on the Byrds  version...One of the few instances where the new studio tracks on a greatest hits album actually live up to the hits...This album gets my highest possible recommendation...





Bob Dylan: The Essential Bob Dylan

2000

Columbia/Legacy Records

Format I own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: Disc One: 1. Blowin' in the Wind  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right   3. The Times They Are a-Changin'  4. It Ain't Me Babe  5. Maggie's Farm  6. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue   7. Mr. Tambourine Man   8. Subterranean Homesick Blues  9. Like a Rolling Stone  10. Positively 4th Street   11. Just Like a Woman  12. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35  13. All Along the Watchtower  14.  The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)  15.  I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Disc Two: 1. Lay Lady Lay  2.  If Not for You  3. I Shall Be Released  4. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere  5. Knockin' on Heaven's Door  6. Forever Young  7. Tangled Up in Blue  8. Shelter from the Storm  9. Hurricane  10. Gotta Serve Somebody  11. Jokerman  12. Silvio  13. Everything Is Broken  14. Not Dark Yet  15. Things Have Changed

 A CD-era double disc monster that mashes up Volume 1 and 2 and puts them in chronological order and then delves into the post-1971 wasteland of Dylan albums...It's still not as listenable as Volume II, since the early stuff is overly-familiar and the post '71 stuff gets spottier and spottier as it goes on..."Jokerman" is a fucking incredible adult contemporary pop single though...God, I love that song...Honestly, I bust this out for "Jokerman" every now and then, but I can imagine if you're a newcomer to Dylan, this compilation might blow your mind (and also drive you away from post-"Desire" Dylan)...

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Albums Part 3 (Planet Waves/Blood on the Tracks/Desire)

Here's part 2 in a series of quick rundowns of the scattered Blob Dylan albums I own...I did zero editing on this post, so let me know if it's too screwed-up...




Bob Dylan: Planet Waves

1974

Asylum Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. On a Night Like This  2. Going, Going, Gone  3. Tough Mama  4. Hazel  5. Something There Is About You  6. Forever Young  7. Forever Young  8. Dirge  9. You Angel You  10. Never Say Goodbye  11. Wedding Song


Bob Dylan teams up with the Band again to kick out the mehs...This is the dictionary definition of a meh album for me...Dylan doesn't have anything particularly exciting to say (his most vivid writing is all the "Sweating pussies on bar stools" poetry on the back cover), so we're treated to imagery like, "Today on the countryside it was a-hotter than a crotch!" Uhhh...okay...

I'm also not a huge fan of the Band's trademark clavinet/wah/country/funk/rock sound...The first couple of tracks sound great but right around "Tough Mama" I just can't take anymore...The Band gets too Band-y for me and I feel like I'm in dusty record hell...Plus odd choices like putting two versions of 'Forever Young" back to back doesn't help...Still, if you find this cheap (and it's always cheap) there are a few must-have tracks, "Going, Going, Gone" and "Dirge" wallow in some really delicious despair...Also don't miss the slow version of "Forever Young" since it features some of my favorite Dylan vocals (especially at the end of those "may you always do for others, and let others do for you..." lines) (I'm still trying to determine if the Rod Stewart song from the 80's is a cover or just the most blatant rip-off ever written)...Definitely not bad, but not too great either...



 Bob Dylan:Blood on the Tracks

1975

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Tangled Up in Blue  2. Simple Twist of Fate  3. You're a Big Girl Now  4. Idiot Wind  5. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go  6. Meet Me in the Morning  7. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts  8. If You See Her, Say Hello  9. Shelter from the Storm  10. Buckets of Rain


Intensely personal singer/songwriter fare was extremely popular during this era and Dylan tries his hand at the genre and unsurprisingly blows away all the competition...In fact, he's never made an album anywhere near this good ever again (I mean, who knows...Maybe in a few months Bob will pump out an album that makes "Blood on the Tracks" sound like "Planet Waves" but I wouldn't hold my breath for too long)... To be super honest, it's not my favorite Dylan album (I prefer my Dylan a little more mysterious) but I can see why a lot of people consider this his best...It's packed with sharp storytelling ("Tangled Up in Blue"), heartache ("If You See Her, Say Hello") and unforgettable imagery ("Idiot Wind") ...By the way, you cannot miss "Idiot Wind," which is possibly my favorite track the man ever wrote...Just the most brutal, bitter take-down of an ex ever penned (sample lyrics: "You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies, One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes,  Blood on your saddle...Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth, You’re an idiot, babe, It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe...), but don't feel too bad for the girl, Bob gives himself a proper beatdown in the final chorus...I especially recommend this album to folks who don't like Bob Dylan...None of the usual hurdles that trip people up are here...He sings beautifully and clearly, the lyrics and imagery are immediate, and the instrumentation is crisply professional...James Taylor albums sound really empty after you play this thing...




Bob Dylan: Desire

1976

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Hurricane  2. Isis  3. Mozambique  4. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)  5. Oh, Sister  6. Joey  7. Romance in Durango  8. Black Diamond Bay  9. Sara


If you're anything like me, you'll probably be blown away by your first couple listens to this album but then kinda never play it again...It's great stuff, but again, I prefer my Bob to have a bit more mystery...I can only listen to the long-form Get Out of Jail Free card of a song "Hurricane" so many times...It's like re-reading a police report over and over...The first time is the most interesting...Still, I haven't heard it in about five years and this fresh listen gives it back some of its original sparkle...But holy fuck, does "One More Cup of Coffee" rule...Now that's the sense of mystery I've been looking for...A sort of mist-filled, pitch black gypsy ballad about drinking a last cup of coffee before heading to the valley below...All of Side One is pretty flawless...I do find that the incessant violin starts to give me a headache somewhere in the middle of Side Two...Still, a very cool record filled with good stories, an old world music feel, and great melodies...I feel like I'm being overly critical...People usually love this record...

No Records, Just Comics...

Anybody that knows me, knows that I love comics just as much as I love records...Sometimes as I dig through the longboxes that take up at least half of my bedroom, certain covers flood me with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia...I've gathered together a partial list of  some of the covers that do that for me...Keep me in mind, I don't consider theses the greatest covers of all-time based on any objective criteria...These are just the comic covers that burned a hole in my mind as a kid...And still do...

The Amazing Spider-Man #181: I can still remember where I was when I first read this...I was coming back from an epic trip to West Branch where I managed to score some GI Joes and this comic...Standout moment: My Dad listening to 102.5 FM and hearing U2's "With or Without You." His reaction? "Something about this song (wistfully)...really pisses me off..."

The Thing #25: Loved this comic. I still bust it out all the time for pure comfort reading...The plot consists of The Thing finding a barn full of beer and hanging out with Leprechauns...This comic made me want to drink beer sooooo bad as a kid...And I can tell you, that I have more than accomplished that childhood goal...Still haven't seen any leprechauns though...

Uncanny X-Men #222: I can still remember the moment I bought this comic...I was at the Meat Quarters, checking out their spinner rack and saw this particular issue... It was so damn blue and brutal that I couldn't get my 3 quarters together fast enough! I had picked up a few issues of X-Men previously but this was the one that made it a monthly must buy...I never ever ever missed another issue of X-Men until...oh, 2009...

I must have read this and the previous issue a zillion times...I have a deep obsession with Star Wars and these early Marvel comics probably have a lot to do with that...

(the preceding issue)

Howard the Duck #23

Even though Howard the Duck was a bit before my time, I had this and many other issues thanks to Jellybean's in Flint, MI...

These are distant memories were dealing with here, but here's what I remember...Jellybean's was a store that had used records, books, and comics comics COMICS!! I rarely got to go there, but when I did, I would trade in a stack of new comics for a slightly smaller stack of 70's comics...That's where I became fluent in Howard the Duck, the Man-Thing, Devil Dinosaur, Kirby's 2001, Marvel's Godzilla, and many others that I'm forgetting about at the moment...I think this is where my lifelong Kirby love first bloomed...I would buy all his 70's stuff not even knowing they were done by the same guy...There was just something about his work that jumped out to me as a kid...Here's a few old Kirby covers that enthralled me...

Devil Dinosaur #3 

C'mon! It had a caveman wearing a Triceratops head using another dinosaur as a damn club! If anybody ever doubted Kirby's genius, doubt no more...

2001 #9

Mister Machine! It's hard for me to think of too many other underused characters that had such great designs...I loove me some Machine Man...

Super Powers Vol. 2 # 2

I still consider this one of the Kirby's greatest covers..And that's some pretty high praise...He's done about 30 or so of my all-time favorite covers (the others aren't on this list only cos I didn't see them as a kid...This is pure nostalgia, remember?)

ALF Annual #1

See the Sacred Things post for another example of ALF on Mount Rushmore...King-Size annuals are another sacred thing that should have been on that list...The "Evolutionary War" trade dress carries a lot of nostalgic weight for me...It reminds me of the summer of '87...Holed up in my bedroom pouring over X-Factor annuals...

X-Factor Annual # 3

...Like this one...

Dareveil #196

I found that off-model Wolverine with the claws coming out of his wrist so damn compelling that I remember actually passing up a magazine that had Yoda on the cover just to buy it...

Who knows...It might have been this magazine...This is the only magazine I can find from 1983 (the year the Daredevil comic was published) that had Yoda on the cover...Remember, I didn't end up buying the magazine, so memories get especially hazy...

Transformers #1

I remember winning a poster drawing contest when I was 7 years old and walking away with the $5.00 cash prize...And $5.00 was a big deal back in 1984! Here is a list of the items I purchased at the Hale Drug Store with that five bucks:

. the above-pictured Transformers comic

  This exact E.T. action figure

...and a candy bar...I can't remember the exact candy bar, but my go-to's back then were either a Mars Bar...

...or a Hershey Big Block...

Oh, man...Looking at those candy bars is making me hungry...I might have to go down to the candy machine...Let's resume this another time...What are some of the comics that bring back memories for you guys? I want you to think long and hard about this one and bring me a 20,000 word essay, typed, single-space on Monday...

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Albums Part 2 (John Wesley Harding/Nashville Skyline/New Morning)

Here's part 2 in a series of quick rundowns of the scattered Blob Dylan albums I own...



Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding

1967

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. John Wesley Harding  2. As I Went Out One Morning  3. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine   4. All Along the Watchtower  5. The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest  6. Drifter's Escape   7. Dear Landlord  8. I Am a Lonesome Hobo  9. I Pity the Poor Immigrant  10. The Wicked Messenger  11. Down Along the Cove   12. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight


It actually took me awhile to really get into this one...On first listen only the title track, "All Along the Watchtower," "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" really stood out...The whole thing is sparse, dry, grey and has this vague sense of impending biblical doom...Like the lyrics are etched in a slab of granite...Real sober stuff...But after listening to it for years I've discovered it's a mood that no other record in my collection has, so it's become a go-to album for certain weighty, overcast days...When you need a good, ambiguous moral lesson...Right around the point where you hit "Down Along the Cove" and "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," there's almost an odd sense of relief, like you've finally emerged from the brimstone and hellfire and all the suffering is gone...Like he's suddenly just stumbled onto Side One of "Nashville Skyline"...Definitely a weird album but interesting as hell...




Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline

1969

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Girl from the North Country  2. Nashville Skyline Rag  3. To Be Alone with You  4. I Threw It All Away  5. Peggy Day  6. Lay Lady Lay   7. One More Night  8. Tell Me That it Isn't True  9. Country Pie  10. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You

I liked this album so much more than I thought I would... Dylan's voice suddenly changes into a sweet, croon and he does a gentle, slick, good-natured country-pop record...This contains the only successful Bob Dylan duet where he teams up with Johnny Cash for a re-recording of "Girl from the North Country"...When they stop trading verses and finally sing together there's a slight bit of stumbling but it's 75% smooth...Either Johnny was quick on his feet or Bob was taking it easy on Johnny...I'm almost thinking the latter (contrast this with ever other duet he's ever done ever)...Man, I hate those old fogey duet records, but I would loooooovve it if Bob suddenly did one. Can you imagine Bob tripping up Lady Gaga or Josh Groban? Anyway, "Nshville Skyline" is fluffy and slight (with a 27-minute track listing) but I'm saying these attributes are virtues in this context...I don't know if I could make it through 45-50 minutes of this style but 27 minutes is incredibly perfect and refreshing...This would be a great Bob Dylan album for folks who don't like Bob Dylan... "Tell Me That it Isn't True" kinda rules the universe...



Bob Dylan: New Morning

1970

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. If Not for You   2. Day of the Locusts  3. Time Passes Slowly  4. Went to See the Gypsy  5. Winterlude  6. If Dogs Run Free  7. New Morning  8. Sign on the Window  9. One More Weekend  10. The Man in Me  11. Three Angels  12. Father of Night

Is it wrong that I rank this right up there with "Blonde on Blonde"? This record absolutely blows me away...I cannot even begin to understand why this album is considered minor Dylan...I consider this album to be Dylan's greatest vocal performance, where there's hints of the classic Dylan voice, the sweeter Nashville Skyline style and a new third variation that I can only describe as a sandblasted soul man...Listen to "Sign on the Window"...That part where he sings "That must be what it's all about..." is one of the best deliveries I've ever heard...The way his voice cracks and scrapes just punches you right in the friggin' beergut...I love the ultra-dry recording, all the mic popping, the stumbling pianos...The title track and "Day of the Locusts" are still my two favorite Dylan songs...There's a few filler-ish tracks ("Three Angels," "Went to See the Gypsy," "If Dogs Run Free") but honestly, even the filler is fascinating...

Alright...We'll pick this up later this week, with a batch of albums that I like significantly less than these ones...Oh, boy!
       

Sacred Things Part 1

Here is a partial list of things that are sacred to me...It's a crazy world, but these items bring a sense of profound calm to me whenever I see or think of them...They are my happy place...There's definitely a  pattern, since they're mostly related to childhood in some way, other things are just totally random....I'm leaving out any glurgey items (true friendship, your wedding day, the first time I boned your mother...). We here at the Friday Night Record Party are staying true to our rigorous belief in shallow materialism...

Anyway, here is the first list of things that are sacred to me...

GPK #  113a: Alice Island

 Taco Night

The Five Doctors

 
The 2011 Samuel Adams Harvest Collection (special mention: Bonfire)

 Actual bonfires (particularly bonfires of the"King Horse" variety where Neil Young is playing in the background )...

3-Comics in a plastic bag that you used to be able to buy at the grocery store

The Origin of Teela (See also: Munchkins hatching from eggs in the Wizard of Oz (not pictured)

Bright red Princess Leia T-shirt

Faygo (in particular the Cranberry flavor they used to put out around Christmas in the 90's...)

The Ramones

 

Walrus Man

Spiral Notebooks

 

The Miser Brothers

Sifting through piles of used records (If I'm at your house, I will spend the entire time sifting through you music collection...Your privacy/personal space is not a sacred item on this list)

ALF on Mount Rushmore

Kurt Vonnegut books with the big "V" design on the covers... 

Those little catalogs that used to come in Star Wars toys...
 

Kiss Alive! (It's mandatory that it's played on vinyl...Kiss Alive! on CD, while still good, is not sacred...)

Iron Maiden Album Covers (Same deal as Kiss Alive!...Vinyl Only...Although Iron Maiden cassette tapes certainly have a large amount of charm to me...)

 Grainy, non-remastered, pan and scan versions of Godzilla Vs Megalon

Mix Tapes (see also: Those big bricks of blank cassettes you'd get for Christmas that you couldn't wait to fill with Black Sabbath or the Misfits)


There...I'm feeling strangely at peace again...I'll abandon the list at this point, but I may resume it at a later point when the world feels overwhelming...What are your sacred items? The things that open a gateway to your happy place?

A Bunch of Bob Dylan Albums Part 1 (Times They Are a-Changin'/Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61 Revisited/Blonde on Blonde)

I remember right around this same time last year, my goal was to finish the Bob Dylan section by the end of 2014...As is the case with most of my goals,  it didn't happen...But know what? I'm doing it this year! However,  I've been kinda dreading the Dylan section. It's the same feeling I had when I was about to tackle the Beatles section...Here's an artist who's been discussed to death!!! (Yes, the official cause of death for all four Beatles and Bob Dylan was determined to be endless discussion...)

So what could I possibly contribute to the conversation that everyone else hasn't? My opinions on Bob Dylan are basically the same as everyone else...I think the early stuff's great! Big surprise! When I read other record review sites I always skip the Beatles and Dylan sections...There hasn't been a single new or novel thing said about either artist in decades!!! But I didn't want to skip the Dylan section because it goes against the prime directive of this blog...To listen to all the albums I own in alphabetical order...So I decided to just do a very quick rundown of each Dylan record I own...Maybe a few rambling sentences that lets you know what I think of each one (spoiler alert: I think they're great!)...

Oddly enough, I don't own the first few Dylan albums from his acoustic folk period. Why? This will probably sound blasphemous to most music fans but I'm just not really that interested in acoustic folk...Not even by Bob Dylan...Plus I've heard most of the songs 10 thousand times!!!!! If I loan out a copy of "Freewheelin'" and don't get it back, it's not a biggie cos I can replay the entire album in my head...So without any further ado... Here's the first in a series of quick rundowns of the scattered Bob Dylan albums I own...



Bob Dylan: The Times They Are a-Changin'

1964

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. The Times They Are a-Changin'  2. Ballad of Hollis Brown  3. With God on Our Side  4. One Too Many Mornings  5. North Country Blues  6. Only a Pawn in Their Game  7. Boots of Spanish Leather  8. When the Ship Comes In  9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  10. Restless Farewell

I find this album kinda tedious...The title track is Earth-shakingly fantastic, but the rest of it is the most dour, preachy acoustic folk meanderings I've ever heard... As monochrome as the cover...I found a vinyl copy of this in the dollar bin at Eastside Records and rarely put it on...And when I do I usually skip around a lot...This could have been a good 45 though! Imagine the title track backed by "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" (where he rhymes "table" with "table" a record three times!!)?  I'd also accept a follow-up single containing "One Too Many Mornings" b/w "Boots of Spanish Leather".... Skip it unless you live in a coffee house and have no sense of humor whatsoever...        


 Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home

1965

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Subterranean Homesick Blues  2. She Belongs to Me  3. Maggie's Farm  4. Love Minus Zero/No Limit  5. Outlaw Blues  6. On the Road Again   7. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream   8. Mr. Tambourine Man  9. Gates of Eden  10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)  11. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Now this is where I really get into Bob Dylan. This and the next two records are among my all-time favorite albums...He really hammers home that he was the greatest lyricist on the planet at this point ...The album is split between acoustic material and electric judas material and both forms are equally powerful..He's equally adept at humor ('Subterranean Homesick Blues" and 'Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" (which is one of my favorite Dylan tracks) as he is at the serious stuff (the absolutely stellar "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding")...And "Mr. Tambourine Man" is one of the few Dylan songs in the "overplayed" category that I can still listen to...It still contains a world of mystery after my 10,000th listen...That's serious craftsmanship...I consider this and Highway 61 to be the best introductions to his vast discography...Do yourself a favor and just buy 'em both on the same day and binge binge binge..



Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited

1965

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Like a Rolling Stone   2. Tombstone Blues  3. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry  4. From a Buick 6  5. Ballad of a Thin Man  6. Queen Jane Approximately  7.      Highway 61 Revisited  8. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues  9. Desolation Row  


I love the hell out of this album...It's almost all electric and it has this wiry energy, where the band is just sloppy and cracking as Dylan blows his harmonica recklessly and delivers reel after reel of motormouth poetry...There has never been a better cross-country driving record....Personal favorites: "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"...One thing that's rarely mentioned  is how damn funny Bob was at this point..."The sun's not yellow, it's chicken!" is one of the best lines in any song ever...End of discussion...




Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde

1966

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1.  Rainy Day Women #12 & 35  2. Pledging My Time  3. Visions of Johanna  4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)  5. I Want You  6. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again  7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat   8. Just Like a Woman  9. Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine  10. Temporary Like Achilles  11. Absolutely Sweet Marie  12. 4th Time Around  13. Obviously 5 Believers  14. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

Epic double album. It's weird, because although it's often lauded as his best album, I don't personally know a single person who worships this album as much as I do...To me, this is easily his best, but I'm somewhat hesitant to recommend it until you're absolutely foaming at the mouth for more Dylan after becoming addicted to "Bringing it All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited"...I could get lost in this album for hours...Every song is a whole little city that I want to live in...Is "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" too long? I don't know. I never want it to end, so the answer is no...So many favorites here: "Visions of Johanna," "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)," "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," " Absolutely Sweet Marie ," " 4th Time Around"...All drop dead classics.  It should be noted that this is where the "generic Dylan" voice first occurs as far as I can tell...The nasal, breathy, rising "hehhHHH heh heHHHH..." that you do when you're imitating Bob Dylan... I will admit this album has a few songs I actively dislike such as the dumb "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and the repetitive blues joke "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"...But everything else is of such staggering quality that the low points aren't really worth a mention...

Well, that's all the Dylan I'm willing to talk about today...We'll check out another handful in the next post...