Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (CD 1989)

Am updating all my Dylan albums from vinyl and tape onto CD format.Starting at the beginning of his career and moving towards the present day.had to buy this cos it was cheap and in good condition.Lovely to hear it again!

Bob Dylans High 61 Revisited was in my opinion the first of his great albums. It marked the transition from acoustic folk to going electric which at the time angered many of his fans. For me it was the turning point towards greatness. There isn't a bad track on the album. "Like a Rolling stone" the single from the album which clocks in at 6m 13s was ground breaking in that it was the longest single ever released at the time. The final track of the album "Desolation Row" is an astounding 11 minute epic. But it's not just the length of the songs that makes this a great album, it's the kaleidoscope of images and ideas. Desolation Rows nightmare journey through a world thoroughly steeped in cynicism and despair, "And something is happening, but you don't know what is it, do you Mr Jones?" of "Ballad of a Thin Man" Dylan mocks a music journalist who has lost touch with popular culture. Now forty three years after it's first release Highway 61 is still fresh, still eminently listenable. It remains one of my personal all time favourite albums.

This album is pretty much faultless, some of Dylans best songs played by a band who rose spectacularly to the occassion. The telecaster of the late Michael Bloomfield is at once cutting and chewy but extremely musical, witness those bends on tombstone blues, the fills in Like a Rolling stone , pure country blues. Years ahead of what we call Americana this is one of the albums that inspired it. An essential album and a good introduction to the force of nature that is Bob Dylan.

I decided to buy this album simply because of the reputation Bob Dylan has in the music world. I've never listened to much Dylan before now so I decided to get a couple of his albums. I bought Blonde on Blonde and thought it was a good album, and then decided to see what Highway 61 was like.

Both are highly rated in any music magazine and anyone who knows (or at least CLAIMS to know) about music always states Dylan as being one of the biggest, best, most important artists ever. I, however, disagree.

Maybe you had to be around at the time of release, in the age of the protest song, but for me Dylan presents a number of issues. Firstly, he does have a way with words but I find his tone too preachy to pay much heed. Secondly, the ubiquitous harmonica just gets too much - once in a while it sounds good but the word 'overuse' doesn't even come close.

Obviously, track number 1 is a classic but for me, the album fades after that and, with my already established dislike of Dylan, I just don't see how it can be called a classic album. Dylan's just not for me.