A double-disc set released for the holiday season of 2000, The Essential Bob Dylan is a fine choice for the casual listener that just wants all the songs they know on one...
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This is easily one of the finest albums made by a 60-year-old rock 'n' roll musician. David Crosby should be so lucky. But hoopla aside, it's exactly that and helped along...
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The only official documentation of Dylan's legendary gypsy sideshow-like Rolling Thunder Revue available until now were some scenes from the otherwise unwatchable Renaldo &...
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The biggest criticism of The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975 -- the third installment in Columbia/Legacy's excavation of the exhaustive Bob Dylan vaults (the...
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It's hard to overestimate the importance of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the record that firmly established Dylan as an unparalleled songwriter, one of considerable skill,...
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If Highway 61 Revisited played as a garage rock record, the double album Blonde on Blonde inverted that sound, blending blues, country, rock, and folk into a wild,...
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Circulating as a decently recorded bootleg for years, this Halloween 1964 concert now sounds incredibly clear. Dylan was in good spirits for this “hometown” show and his...
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It does seem strange, very strange indeed, to be hearing an official release of this historic concert, which has been available as a bootleg for decades. The Halloween gig...
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Hard Rain is a snapshot of Bob Dylan's fabled Rolling Thunder Revue, a traveling circus that was more notable for its excess and character than the music. There are some new...
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Columbia reissued two of Bob Dylan's early albums, Bob Dylan and The Times They a-Changin', as a double-LP set in the late '60s. This isn't necessarily a bad way to acquire...
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Taking the first, electric side of Bringing It All Back Home to its logical conclusion, Bob Dylan hired a full rock & roll band, featuring guitarist Michael Bloomfield, for...
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While it doesn't take many chances, the U.K.-only Best of Bob Dylan is an adequate collection of familiar items -- "Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They Are a-Changin',"...
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Time out of Mind was a legitimate comeback, Bob Dylan's first collection of original songs in nearly ten years and a risky rumination on mortality, but its sequel, Love and...
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Say what you want about Empire Burlesque -- at the very least, it's the most consistent record Bob Dylan has made since Blood on the Tracks, even if it isn't quite as...
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It is difficult to determine a "best-of" Bob Dylan collection. He was never comfortably a singles artist, even though his hit from the summer of 1965, "Like a Rolling...
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There has never been a clearer attempt to shed an audience than Self-Portrait. At least, that's one way of looking at this baffling double album, a deliberately sprawling...
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Volume III contains a lot of the original album material in poor mono fidelity. The sound quality certainly lessens enjoyment of "Sign on the Cross," Rick Danko's wonderful...
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Oh Mercy/Time Out of Mind/Love and Theft is part of Sony's "collection" series, in which the label repackages three complete albums together in one box. It's difficult to...
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Bob Dylan's first greatest-hits album was released in 1967, and his second in 1971. Twenty-three years later came his third, and it's a reasonable compilation of the...
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This show, taped for MTV, finds Dylan turning in an 11-song set, with eight of the songs dating from his 1963-67 heyday, including such standards as "The Times They Are...
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Sony repackaged and re-released Bob Dylan's first three albums of all original material -- the extraordinary The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin' and...
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Sony repackaged and re-released three of Bob Dylan's country-rock albums from the late '60s -- John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline and New Morning -- as a slip-cased box...
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It's been seven years since Bob Dylan released an album of self-penned brand new originals--the longest stretch his Bobness has ever taken to deliver. Time Out Of Mind is...
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After spending much of the '90s touring and simply not writing songs, Bob Dylan returned in 1997 with Time Out of Mind, his first collection of new material in seven years....
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The most famous bootleg in rock history, with the possible exception of Dylan's own Basement Tapes, finally makes its official appearance 32 years after the event, and...
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Allegedly released by Columbia Records to anger Dylan, this peculiar collection of songs--which includes "Big Yellow Taxi" and "A Fool Such As I"--actually sounds...
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Commonly regarded as the worst album in Bob Dylan's catalog, Dylan is a collection of nine outtakes from the Self Portrait album Columbia assembled after the singer briefly...
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Bob Dylan's first album is a lot like the debut albums by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones -- a sterling effort, outclassing most, if not all, of what came before it in...
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Dylan's second album, unlike his first, was bursting at the seams with original material. Among the best known songs were "Blowin' In The Wind" and "Don't Think Twice,...
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It's hard to overestimate the importance of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the record that firmly established Dylan as an unparalleled songwriter, one of considerable skill,...
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If The Times They Are a-Changin' isn't a marked step forward from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, even if it is his first collection of all originals, it's nevertheless a fine...
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An incredible collection of early Dylan at his peak. Included are "My Back Pages," "Chimes Of Freedom," "All I Really Want To Do," and "It Ain't Me Babe," all of which...
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The other side of Bob Dylan referred to in the title is presumably his romantic, absurdist, and whimsical one -- anything that wasn't featured on the staunchly folky,...
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Certainly one of the very best of Dylan's '60s efforts, Bringing It All Back Home may be most notable for the sheer number of songs on it that other people have...
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With Another Side of Bob Dylan, Dylan had begun pushing past folk, and with Bringing It All Back Home, he exploded the boundaries, producing an album of boundless...
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The other true masterpiece in Dylan's vast discography, this would be notable alone for its inclusion of "Like A Rolling Stone"--the song which, as clichéd as it may...
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John Wesley Harding suggested country with its textures and structures, but Nashville Skyline was a full-fledged country album, complete with steel guitars and brief, direct...
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Rightly regarded as one of the finest pop albums of all time, Blonde On Blonde features Bob Dylan at his absolute best, and some of the finest songs in all of rock 'n'...
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A surprisingly restrained affair when this emerged, it signaled a coming stylistic change for Dylan--and offered some superb new material, including "All Along The...
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Bob Dylan returned from exile with John Wesley Harding, a quiet, country-tinged album that split dramatically from his previous three. A calm, reflective album, John Wesley...
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Self Portrait 1/1/1970, Yahoo! Music, Dave DiMartino
Unjustly slagged upon its arrival, this 2-LP set is one of the more revealing albums in Dylan's catalog--as its title implies. A variety of songs, both original and...
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New Morning 1/1/1970, Yahoo! Music, Dave DiMartino
After the poorly-received Self Portrait, this seemed a welcome return to form for Dylan--at least as far as critics of the time were concerned. Included are "If Not For...
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Dylan rushed out New Morning in the wake of the commercial and critical disaster Self Portrait, and the difference between the two albums suggests that its legendary failed...
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A fine live document of Dylan's much-heralded Rolling Thunder Revue, this features guitarist Mick Ronson and includes performances of some of Dylan's more interesting...
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The soundtrack to Sam Peckinpah's film is split between instrumentals and full-fledged songs, including the repeated "Billy." This essentially is mood music, and it's quite...
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Planet Waves 1/1/1974, Yahoo! Music, Dave DiMartino
Dylan's first No. 1 album, this was recorded with the Band and initially released on David Geffen's Asylum Records label. Sturdy stuff, including "Forever Young," "You...
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Reteaming with the Band, Bob Dylan winds up with an album that recalls New Morning more than The Basement Tapes, since Planet Waves is given to a relaxed intimate tone --...
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Probably Dylan's finest live album, this double-CD set--recorded with the Band--includes many of Dylan's finest songs, acoustic or otherwise, performed electric-style....
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Bob Dylan and the Band both needed the celebrated reunion tour of 1974, since Dylan's fortunes had been floundering since Self Portrait and the Band stumbled with 1971's...
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A stunning return to form when it emerged, Blood On The Tracks is the most substantial Dylan album of the '70s by far. Contained within are the classics "Tangled Up In...
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Following on the heels of an album where he repudiated his past with his greatest backing band, Blood on the Tracks finds Bob Dylan, in a way, retreating to the past,...
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The long-bootlegged sessions Dylan cut with the Band in upstate New York--at the house called "Big Pink"--were legendary; when Columbia finally opted to release some of...
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The official release of The Basement Tapes -- which were first heard on a 1968 bootleg called The Great White Wonder -- plays with history somewhat, as Robbie Robertson...
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Extremely successful--and spending five weeks at No. 1--Desire was greatly helped by Dylan's much-publicized Rolling Thunder Revue of the time. Somewhat thin-sounding, but...
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If Blood on the Tracks was an unapologetically intimate affair, Desire is unwieldy and messy, the deliberate work of a collective. And while Bob Dylan directly addresses his...
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Using a big band assembled for a world tour, Dylan presents a group of songs, some of which are as imagistic -- and as bitter -- as his mid-'60s material. Particularly...
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This three-disc box set is what Dylanphiles have been waiting for, sitting patiently for years, even decades. And, even after its 1991 release, it retains the feeling of...
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A two-disc accounting of Bob Dylan's 1978 world tour during one of its early stops. The songs have again been rearranged in a style many found too grandiose, but the band is...
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A very strange album, this puzzled many long-term fans upon its arrival--largely because of its overtly religious themes and Dylan's apparent belief in a vengeful and...
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Perhaps it was inevitable that Bob Dylan would change direction at the end of the '70s, since he had dabbled in everything from full-on repudiation of his legacy to a quiet...
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A vastly underappreciated celebration of the faith with traditional black gospel approach on original Dylan songs that, along with the exclusively gospel concerts he was...
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Shot of Love finds Dylan still in born-again mode, but he's starting to come alive again -- which isn't as much a value judgment as it is an observation that he no longer...
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The best Dylan album of the '80s, this captures the singer-songwriter at a very peculiar time--when his politics, both personal and otherwise, were beginning to puzzle...
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Infidels was the first secular record Bob Dylan recorded since Street Legal, and it's far more like a classicist Dylan album than that one, filled with songs that are...
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It may be his first live album in six years, but Real Live still is his fourth live album in ten years, and, as such, it still feels a little redundant. Nevertheless, it...
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A hodgepodge of tracks recorded between 1984 and 1986, some written by others, some in collaboration. Mostly dispensable, it is saved from a "Poor" rating by the rambling...
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If the diffuseness of Knocked Out Loaded was excusable due to its collaborators and various recording sessions, Down in the Groove has less of an excuse, since it's...
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Oh Mercy was hailed as a comeback, not just because it had songs noticeably more meaningful than anything Bob Dylan had recently released, but because Daniel Lanois'...
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Dylan followed Oh Mercy, his most critically acclaimed album in years, with Under the Red Sky, a record that seemed like a conscious recoil from that album's depth and...
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Given the acclaim of The Bootleg Series and the perceived disappointment of Under the Red Sky, it seemed like it was time for Dylan to bounce back with a convincing album of...
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A fascinating return to roots--just as was its predecessor Good As I Been To You--this folk equivalent to David Bowie's Pin Ups seems deeply felt and remarkably...
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If Good as I Been to You was a strong traditionalist folk record, World Gone Wrong was an exceptional one, boasting an exceptional set of songs given performances so fully...
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Where Dylan's first Greatest Hits took its title literally, Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 is a greatest-hits album only in the loosest sense of the term. While the double album does...
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Arriving in 1967, Greatest Hits does an excellent job of summarizing Dylan's best-known songs from his first seven albums. At just ten songs, it's a little brief, and the...
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Featuring two of the most influential rock records ever released and one great comeback album, this set of three discs is a wonderful way to inexpensively buy this great...
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Time Out of Mind was a legitimate comeback, Bob Dylan's first collection of original songs in nearly ten years and a risky rumination on mortality, but its sequel, Love and...
more >
The other side of Bob Dylan referred to in the title is presumably his romantic, absurdist, and whimsical one -- anything that wasn't featured on the staunchly folky,...
more >
Infidels was the first secular record Bob Dylan recorded since Street Legal, and it's far more like a classicist Dylan album than that one, filled with songs that are...
more >
If Blood on the Tracks was an unapologetically intimate affair, Desire is unwieldy and messy, the deliberate work of a collective. And while Bob Dylan directly addresses his...
more >
Taking the first, electric side of Bringing It All Back Home to its logical conclusion, Bob Dylan hired a full rock & roll band, featuring guitarist Michael Bloomfield, for...
more >
If Highway 61 Revisited played as a garage rock record, the double album Blonde on Blonde inverted that sound, blending blues, country, rock, and folk into a wild,...
more >
With Another Side of Bob Dylan, Dylan had begun pushing past folk, and with Bringing It All Back Home, he exploded the boundaries, producing an album of boundless...
more >
Not exactly the “soundtrack” to Martin Scorsese’s Dylan documentary, No Direction Home is actually a companion piece, featuring 26 previously unreleased tracks among its...
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