No one songwriter/poet has meant more to the music of any era than Bob Dylan.Dylan coalesced and inspired a generation with his music. Before Dylan, it was the beat or the 'hook' in a song. With Bob Dylan it was, " listen to the words". To see Dylan in concert is to see an icon doing what he has always done; to hear his songs- no matter how many times you may have heard one- is to be transported to a different time and mind set and to immerse one's self in his music is to accept the possibility that once again, all things are possible. This album is not unlike other Dylan collections as they are all reminders that conscience matters and his music, the music of a generation, is new every time you hear it.
So, I love Dylan, and think he's an awesome writer, and a pretty decent musician. I own the bulk of his albums (yes, as in vinyl), and have a lot of concert bootlegs (not his officials). Here's Dylan's problems and what makes collections like this great both for hardcore fans, and for newbies. It's accessible. A lot of Dylan's albums have a fair amount of schlock on the in between (See John Wesley Harding for an example). When he does it right, he does it right, when he does it wrong, he does it really wrong (see Through this Life). Just because it's Dylan doesn't mean it's great.
How can anyone expect a complete retrospective on one album? Yes- I'm a huge Dylan fan and have the majority of his albums, but these 16 great tunes in one place why it's,"driving music", sing along and don't care who notices. $4.99 saved me a few hours if I did this myself- and not much else on eMusic worth it just now.
Dylan's music is too complex and evolved too much to make a single disc compilation of his entire career to be of much use. This single disc is filled with great music but is too superficial to be useful. Greatest Hits 1, 2, & 3 are a far better choice. It's like a self-made boxed set. If by some means you happen to find yourself falling in love with the music of Dylan you can then go back and download Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing it all Back Home, and Blood on the Tracks his top four albums of the Rock Era. Don't miss out on his two great albums of the new millennium "Love and Theft" and "Modern Times".
There are a lot of reasons why someone would want to purchase a "Best of" album. There are plenty of casual Dylan fans who like his more popular songs which are compiled very nicely here. Also, for any younger people who are just beginning to listen to Dylan, this album is a great place to start. There are people who may be die-hard fans but don't have money to spend on buying every album of Bob's. This is just one fabulous collection for any Dylan fan, causual or die-hard!
I don't like his music. I downloaded it for my wife.She said it's very enjoyable and listened to it several times.So,I guess a Dylan fan would like it.
"Singer/songwriter" has gradually come to be applied to nearly everyone who both writes and performs songs, especially if they happen to play guitar and are billed under their own names rather than as members of a band. But it used to have a particular meaning, in some cases, that was a little more specific: a singer who performed self-written songs that were meant for other people to sing, too. That's a tradition that's not nearly… more »
Half a century into his career, Bob Dylan's amassed a gigantic catalogue of original material. He's released a string of greatest-hits albums, and his touring repertoire is well over 100 songs. But he's also got some remarkable songs that have been overshadowed by their companions - songs that, in anyone else's career, would be high points.
In honor of the release of his 35th(!) album, Tempest, we invite you to listen to these overlooked gems in… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
Bob Dylan didn't get to be the greatest living songwriter by repeating himself. He's reinvented his style and technique with nearly every record he's made in the course of his half-century career; he's been the political spitfire of The Times They Are A-Changin', the mysterious joker of The Basement Tapes, the domestic ruminator of New Morning, the indignant holy roller of Slow Train Coming, the aging Romeo of Time Out of Mind. The only constants… more »
