Highway 61 Revisited

I really, really wanted to give Bob Dylan a fair shake, but by the time "Ballad of a Thin Man" hit its thirteenth fucking verse all of my goodwill was gone. We've all admitted that he can't sing for shit, but I am baffled by the claims that he's some great songwriter. Tiresome.

“Highway 61 Revisited” by Bob Dylan (1965) This album is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, for very good reason. It is. Bob Dylan’s poetry, both personal and prophetic, is set to music. But Dylan is careful to not let the music get in the way of the poetry, and that’s what makes it so hard for first time listeners to appreciate it. The only ‘hit’ on this record is the opening track, “Like a Rolling Stone”, but that says more about the people who define the ‘hits’ than it does about this album. The are many musical flaws here, from Dylan’s loopy, nasal, slurring, pitch-approximating voice with his sometimes laughably bad stylings, to Al Kooper’s amateurish rookie outing on organ (“Like a Rolling Stone”), to Mike Bloomfield’s painfully out of tune electric guitar (especially on “Queen Jane Approximately”), etc., etc. But the Columbia Records executives wisely let Dylan do his thing (even marketing an album with a monumentally uncommercial title). This could make you (and millions of others) hate this record. But you would be wrong. The album is the lyrics. They tell stories and weave images. They are ironic, humorous, piercing, counterintuitive, wide-angle, sometimes all of this at once, without being chaotic. They are highly referential, intelligent, evocative, and most importantly, they lead the listener to trust the poet, who embraces and expresses feelings and concerns that ring true in the listener’s soul. What the listener lacks in understanding, he makes up for in a certain compulsion to keep listening. Who hasn’t, at one time or another, felt the sneering mockery of “Like a Rolling Stone”? Who hasn’t had feelings of alienation, as in “Desolation Row”? Who hasn’t brooded over death while so much remains unexplained (“Tombstone Blues”)? What man hasn’t been grateful for plain old love from a woman (“From a Buick 6”)? Or felt like telling the woman you love to set aside what she wants and come to you for what she needs (“Queen Jane Approximately”)? You see, each of these songs is eminently relatable, inviting imaginative constructions to visualize Dylan’s little screenplays. And just when you think you’ve exhausted the visual possibilities of the song “Highway 61 Revisited”, listen to it one more time. Speaking of Highway 61, it helps to know that U.S. Route 61 is the old north-south artery from Minnesota to Louisiana, which intersected with east-west artery U.S. Route 66 at St. Louis, Missouri. It summarizes America. Westward expansion meets the struggle to unite a nation once divided by slavery. This the heart of the blues. Black people thinking, “Yeah, this ain’t slavery, but it still sucks.” White people thinking, “Yeah, I hear ya. Let’s experience this together, and maybe fix a thing or two.” The album is not about race. It’s about humanity. And Dylan is always aware of the background. The climax of “Desolation Row” (verse 9) reads: “Praise be to Nero’s Neptune The Titanic sails at dawn Everybody’s shouting “Which side are you on?” And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot Fighting in the captain’s tower While calypso singers laugh at them And fishermen hold flowers Between the windows of the sea Where lovely mermaids flow And nobody has to think too much About Desolation Row” Situational alienation and its preferred mode of expression (Pound vs. Eliot) become irrelevant at death’s doorstep. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Dylan’s facial expression on the cover is a cross between “Yeah, what of it?” and Jesus’ look at the sad rich ruler (as I imagine Luke 18:24). I keep going back and forth. After listening to “Ballad of a Thin Man” for most of my life and being puzzled (along with others) over the identity of ‘Mr. Jones’, I think I have finally figured it out—It’s me. Highway 61 Revisited is an album that will do profound things to you, over and over again. 5/5

The more I listen to Bob Dylan, the less I like him. He was very influential, but I do not like him.

Now we're cooking with gas. This feels like Bob firing on all cylinders - the music is great, the lyrics are wonderfully elliptical, there's a pulse and electricity that runs through this collection - magic stuff. I can see why boomers get so heated under their wigs about Dylan. Highlight for me is 'Ballad of a Thin Man', but stick the needle down anywhere at random and you strike gold.

Almost every single song on this album is too long. A slog to get through. Also let's play a harmonica full blast into the mic.

Glugging red wine all night to this one. Going to sound like a frog farting through his foreskin tomorrow. This one bent me over and fucked me up the arse.... no offence to any of you guys.

I like this more than I thought I would. I am glad that this album was selected instead of one of the folk albums, since I tend to not be a big fan of folk. "Like a Rolling Stone" is on this one, and it is the greatest song ever written, according to Rolling Stone (seems sus, but whatever). I'm more of a, "A Change is Gonna Come" guy myself. My personal enjoyment: 3/5 Did it belong on this list: 5/5

I dislike Dylan, immensely. I always have. His voice assaults my soul. I love many Dylan songs when they're performed by someone, anyone, else. The man should never have been allowed near a mic, and somebody really should be held accountable for that.

Dylan is probably the most overrated musician to exist. Can't stand that squeaky voice...

The genre is raggedy-ass beatnik blues rock, so progressive it’s being invented as it’s recorded. The only thing under full control is Dylan's voice. Outside that, the band careens around like a motorbike with a dodgy ticker, which is why everyone seems to think they’re playing lead. One second the drums are in charge, then the organ, then rhythm guitar, then someone hooks the harmonica up to the bike’s exhaust and gives it maximum revs. All while Dylan’s on stage with a stack of library books, ripping pages out at random and holding them up to a giant fan to send them flying over his audience at random. That's how we get Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting on the captain’s tower of a sinking Titanic. Jack the Ripper sitting at the head of the chamber of commerce. God pow-wowing with Abraham. It’s the ultimate high school reunion. Held together by glue that’s one part mystery and two parts the most voracious appetite for language in the history of recorded music, everything here is an outlaw song. ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Queen Jane Approximately’ are directed at fallen women. ‘It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry’ and ‘From a Buick 6’ are roundabout love songs. ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ is the king of map songs. In Dylan's version of that grand tradition, the dark side of the American psyche is delineated by one of the country’s artery roads, where MLK was assassinated, Elvis lived, and Bessie Smith had her fatal crash. The siren whistle marks America as a circus of horrors. The drunk-driver rhythm signifies how wild and unsteady the country’s foundations are. ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ trolls squares who try to force sense from nonsense. It’s eerie and unsettling, built on the shifting sands of a wild organ. And then there’s ‘Desolation Row’, where mystery and outlaw life come to a world-historic head. Against an improvised melody from guitarist Charlie McCoy that sounds like it's existed forever and shows no sign of stopping now, it’s thirteen-minutes of Dylan wrestling catch-as-catch-can with a crazy, unknowable world. Characters real and mythic are pitted against each other in an epic drama he wants no part of. He'd prefer to live on desolation row, the only place he feels there’s truth. That’s what this shakes down to—his aspiration to strip away everything so that he can reinvent himself again and again. To never be pinned down. If that means tearing up history, literature, language, and popular music in the process, so be it.

I guess I'm not a real music lover. Bob Dylan is nails on a chalkboard for me. Except that, when I was 13 and I wanted to get over that horrible feeling whenever the teacher would make a mistake and drag the chalk down the board in that particular way, I stayed after school under the pretence of cleaning the erasers and dragged my fingers down the chalkboard for an hour until I could do it without making myself cringe with sensory overload. I was able to do that. I conditioned myself out of literal "nails on a chalkboard". There is no amount of aversion therapy that can acclimate me to this. Dylan's harmonica work is a hate crime. Yeah, it captured the zeitgeist of a generation. Whoop. This whole album is pretentious as hell.

I fucking hate Bob Dylan.

The lyrics are great but Dylan can't really sing. He just end ups half-screaming words and the music is pretty generic and grating (too much harmonica is a thing). The one star is entirely for Like a Rolling Stone.

I'm a bit cold sitting next to my window and listening to Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan. I'm not sure I have much add to many words dedicated to the career of Bob Dylan. I do enjoy this album, and have listened to it from start to finish many times over the years. It goes down easy and it makes me wish I had something artistic to contribute to the world. Bob just released a well reviewed album in his 80s I think, and it came out in 2020. Which is just a crazy thing to be doing when you get older. How does Bob Dylan even come up with an original song these days? Like the Beatles, he has been so influential, that you can hear them in so much popular music over the last 50 years. Maybe Bob doesn't listen to a lot of new music. Though I think there is a lot of great music to be found in all corners of the world. Anyway, this is not my goto Dylan album - but it's quite a milestone and I'm happy to hear it on this random Monday.

One of the greatest albums ever made. Dylan has shaken off the folkies and is now busy redefining pop/rock. Songs stretch way over the traditional 3 minute mark and Dylan spits his lyrics knowing that we were all trying to keep up and failing. Not a duff track on it. BT: Like A Rolling Stone, Tombstone Blues, Desolation Row

Not something I would listen usually. Liked 2-3 songs on the album.

In highschool, 2 years before this album, in 1963, a friend asked me to go with her to see this poet songwriter at the Arie Crown Theatre in Chicago. She said, he's philosophical, spiritual, and revolutionary. We sat down and watched this small person come out on stage with only a guitar and harmonica. He sat down on the lone wooden stool that was on the stage and proceeded to mezmerize us. That was my intoduction to Dylan and I've been in awe ever since. This album was the second one of his I bought. Almost as hard hitting as the first that I bought, "Bringing It All Back Home". On this album, among my favorites is "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (also, listen to Judy Collins version). His unique voice contributes to the power of his lyrics.

Oh my goodness. I cannot give this a 1 bc the instruments were good (with one exception) so it’s better than Leonard Cohen (but only marginally). HOWEVER, this album is still buns and Dylan is arguably the most overrated artist of all time. His voice remains like nails on chalkboard. He just flops around from word to word like a stoned fish out of water. His lyrics are STUPID. He’s like Beck but worse because everyone thinks he’s some sort of poet who captures the essence of America. HE’S NOT HIS SONGS JUST DONT MAKE SENSE AND YET EVERYONE ASSUMES THAT MEANS HE MUST BE A GENIUS. HE’S NOT. Also I mentioned this earlier and now will come back to it, the instrumentation was pretty good except for one instrument, the harmonica. It’s only natural that an artist as whiny and stupid sounding as Dylan would have a harmonica prominently featured on this album (and most of his others too). The harmonica is the most whiny and painful sounding instrument and Dylan doesn’t even play it well so it sounds even worse. This was a painful album from a wildly overrated artist that I never want to hear again in my life.

I. Just. Don't. Like. His. Voice. Can I just listen to the music without lyrics?

Heard first time at around 17. One of the greatest album of all time.

The greatest songwriter of all time remade his image with this album, going electric for the first time in album format. It feels like you could write a thesis on each song, and probably somebody has, but they're also just a joy to kick back and absorb. This one will be high on my "Best of" list for sure. Best track: Like a Rolling Stone

So I’ve never been a big Dylan fan – though he really has written some exceptional songs, and I respect his contribution to music over the years… That said, my issue has always been his singing… In fact, I enjoy many of his classics – just the versions performed by other artists (i.e. “All Along The Watchtower” both the Jimi Hendrix, and the U2 versions, etc.) Truth is, I never listened to any of his albums from start-to-finish, so this was a good exercise for me… “Like A Rolling Stone” was an exceptional way to start the album, and his vocal style – really suits that song quite well… Unfortunately, that vocal style would continue for the rest of the album, and after about 5 or 6 songs in, I was like – really??? Musically however, I enjoyed most of the compositions, and having Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper on guitar didn’t hurt, and I’ve always had mad love for harmonica – which also worked quite well with this collection of songs… I probably need to spend more time with the lyrics – as I’m sure that’s what kicks this album into another gear for most Dylan fans – but in my book, quality songs are a combination of outstanding instrumentation, excellent lyrics – which are delivered vocally in a style that fits the music… Unfortunately – a vocal style with absolutely no variation whatsoever, and one that is pretty annoying to begin with, really holds the listening experience back… I guess if you just accept his limited vocals – it probably works, and as I said – his vocal style is perfect for the songs “Like A Rolling Stone” & “Blowin’ In the Wind”, but not for every god-damned song… Also enjoyed “Highway 61 Revisited” – except for that damned whistle-thing, whatever that was – totally ruined the vibe for me, and have NO idea why artistically he felt that was needed… Anyways – I get the historical significance of this album, but the best I can give this is a 3…

This album starts with exactly that annoying voice that makes me think of Bob Dylan as a bit. Having said that, due to circumstances I was extremely in the mood for sad and annoying which made me see a bit of value in Uncle Bob and that earns this album a passing grade.

Happy 800. My 7th (!) Bob Dylan album on this list. I've come to realize that I think that Bob is INCREDIBLY overrated. His voice is truly awful, and his songs are simplistic boomer garbage. But a few of his songs are absolutely undeniable and this album features a bunch of them, so I guess this is a wash.

This album was only slightly less annoying than the previous Dylan we listened to - only 5 more Dylan albums to go, FML. Death to harmonicas

Less harmonica, for the love of god.

A culturally loaded album locked in 60s USA. From a folk and blues standpoint, it holds water, yet you can't shake off the feeling of missing the joke most of the time.

Just stop listening after the first song. It doesn't get better and the rest of the album will make you rethink that first song was good. This was a grind to get through.

I get why Dylan is so well regarded. Like a Rolling Stone is Great. I’m not huge into his other tracks on this one.

To explain this album and rating I will use a baking analogy. Bob for some reason decides to bake with three ingredients eggs, flour, and milk. He decides to put the eggs in without cracking them and putting them in whole. Then he puts in stale milk because he wants to and he forgot the flour so he serves you this unbaked milk egg thing. The flour represented sense because it didn’t make sense. The egg represented his harmonica because it was atrocious and he didn’t know how to use it. The milk was his voice which has expired.

My favourite Dylan album which makes it, by definition, one of my favourite albums of all time. Each song a classic - the absolute definition of all killer no filler. The album finds Dylan at his absolute peak of his gift for stream of consciousness lyricism. My favourite is Tombstone Blues, but not far beind...Ballad of a Thin Man and the title track. Like A Rolling Stone, the song that defines this album is actually my least favourite song on the album...that's how strong a collection of songs Dylan has put together here. The easiest 5 stars I'll ever give!

My acknowledgement of the force of Dylan’s oeuvre started from grudging at the outset of this project, passed through grovelling, and has reached the “of course” stage. H61R seems effortless, sounds like it was recorded in my head, lacks the freakiness of Blonde on Blonde, but has the most pulse-accelerating opening with Like A Rolling Stone. I’ll repeat with some variation an earlier thought: his best word-images don’t make rational sense, but act on a deeper, more emotional and primal level, dreamy or nightmarish depending on his mood. Apt that Ezra Pound makes a guest appearance at the end, as his intimidating maze of references and images is comparable, as is Basil Bunting’s commentary on Pound’s Cantos: “There are the Alps. What is there to say about them? They don't make sense. Fatal glaciers, crags cranks climb, jumbled boulder and weed, pasture and boulder, scree, et l'on entend, maybe, le refrain joyeux et leger. Who knows what the ice will have scraped on the rock it is smoothing? There they are, you will have to go a long way round if you want to avoid them. It takes some getting used to. There are the Alps, fools! Sit down and wait for them to crumble!“

This one is the first Dylan album I really loved, once I figured out how to appreciate the endless poetic verses as a critical part of the incredible music (if that makes sense). Furiously fantastic from the opening snare through to the cyanide hole. I feel a bit seen by Ballad of a Thin Man, especially the 5th verse. It Takes A Lot... has to be the pinnacle of the 12 bar blues form, right? Plus, "the cops don't need you and man, they expect the same" Dylan is always surprising, here just casually sculpting so much of contemporary music at a ridiculously young age. Just how the fuck did he do this? 6mo earlier: "..Back Home", 6 mo later: "Blonde.." Hope Mark isn't fatigued giving 5* to every breathtakingly excellent Dylan masterpiece upon first listen? I am quite jealous!

Dylan goes electric! Man, the boomers were so triggered for some reason. Dylan is a very polarizing artist. You either love him or hate him. I love everything about this record. It almost seems proto-punk at times. Cool as fuck.

...and you say, "What does this mean?" and he screams back, "You're a cow! Give me some milk or else go home" The meaning of these songs are mostly beyond me but the words are always beautiful.

After giving 5 Dylan albums 4 stars it felt weird not to have one in my highest rated albums. While not my favorite of Dylan’s work (that would be Desire) this one felt worthy. Like a Rolling Stone is a top Dylan song and Queen Jane is probably my second favorite song on the record.

I mean, obviously this is an easy 5 star record, if not for Like A Rolling Stone alone. That is possibly the greatest song written in the 20th Century. Lot of good contenders in that category, but Bob in his heyday really knew how to write about and speak to the human condition like no other. This whole album is effortlessly masterful but it's also a hell of a lot of fun! Bob's voice is perfection, his delivery is still folksy, yet rock infused in all the right ways. And I'm giving him props for his surly motherfucker attitude on the cover, too! Makes me laugh. This cantankerous looking little hipster so full of wisdom and soul, but ready to wield an acid tongue against any and all poser/scenester buffoonery. He's the GOAT for a reason. Love you, Bob!

A timeless, perfectly accurate depiction of the human condition. An undisputed classic.

Desolation Row is the best set of lyrics ever written, change my mind.

With the sound of the snare, rock and roll changed forever. Bob Dylan had been on a upward trail ever since he captured the imaginations of every disillusioned man, woman and child with his takes and imaginings of the world that was rapidly unfurling from its rigid position. But there can be so many times you can strum your acoustic guitar with the harmonica around your neck and sing about how fucked things are. You have to light the match and start anew. Don't look back. With Highway 61 Revisited, that's was Bob did. Across nine tracks, the world not only was stopped in its tracks but was spun again in an entirely new fashion. The revolutions per minute were so many and so voluminous and it didn't need actual bloodshed and gun smoke to get the points across. I find it funny that, not long after this, greatest hits collections were compiled of Bob because this is a greatest hits album in one succinct package. The stories contained within these songs are enough to start novels. One wouldn't be surprised to know if this is many people's favorite Dylan album, for this is the perfect distillation of the chameleonic man and his many forms; a complete unknown with no direction home.

Even if I didn’t enjoy this album, which I do, the lyrics themselves get it to at least a four out of five as being an album that acts as a voice of a generation. The range of melancholy, to spunky funk, to soft rock, to downright depressing, and so on while always remaining folk makes it possibly the best folk album of all time. I understand peoples complaints with the seemingly endless verses, but the album accomplishes what it set out to to do. Bobby Boy sings everything he wants to sing and I can’t argue with that. 5/5

A couple of notes before I get into the review of this album, Bob Dylan has had an amazing career both in terms of creativity and influence due to the vast amount of artists that he has inspired and inspired to cover him. Additionally, I prefer the other take of "From a Buick 6". This album is pretty heavy on the harmonica which is nothing that we shouldn't expect to see from Bob Dylan at this point in his discography; however, the mix is a little heavy handed which I didn't notice on my vinyl copy, so it could just be the Spotify version of it. This album is also really heavy on story-telling and bluesy tones. You can really hear the box riff (I'm sure it has a proper name, but if you know what the box riff is, you know what I'm talking about), but that isn't to say that it gets too repetitive. My favorite aspects of this album come from those bluesy sounds and the stories told, specifically the stories in tracks 1, 5, 6, and 9. Bob Dylan has an incredible way of bringing a story to a song and these tracks really highlight them. It saddens me a bit that Dylan sold his discography to a big label for them to do whatever they want with it (and that may not be exactly correct), but it excites me that it could allow new artists to cover his songs and breathe some new life into them. Highlights: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9.

This is, in my opinion one of the best rock and roll albums of all time. And from when I first heard some of the songs on it about as a teenager 30+ years ago, it is still growing on me. It keeps giving, and I keep getting more out of it. That’s the thing about Dylan. There are untold layers and his body of work is a tapestry of art that is virtually unmatched in any artistic realm.

I don't listen to this album very often, but every song is a classic. Is it because they are that good, or because Dylan is the patient zero of smart rock and roll? This album in particular, where he has moved past folk and truly into rock and roll (this is his first all-rock record), really is a template for soooo much that comes afterwards. It is no surprise that Hendrix was obsessed with this record, and plays Like a rolling stone at Monterey to (re-)introduce himself to America. I love the immediacy of the playing, that really becomes a blueprint for so much rock to come. Recorded quickly, it has genuinely rocks, and the lyrics are still fresh all these years later. Fave tracks: tombstone blues, highway 61 revisited.

Desolation Sound is my favourite song. I frequently play it on guitar and sing all the versus except one. The chords are simple, as they are in most of Bob’s tune, and the lyrics are among his most cryptic. I feel that if I sing a song like this I have to have something lucid to say if asked about the lyrics. So if someone says, for example, “why the fuck are Cinderella and Romeo in the same verse?” I can’t say that Romeo was out looking for Juliette, took the wrong turn at Albuquerque and ran into Cinderella. Fortunately, there is lots of good (and bad) analysis of these lyrics on the internet so rather than saying the nonsense about Albuquerque I can say that Cinderella is Stalin and Romeo is Hitler. Stalin kicked Hitler’s ass in Russia and at the end was the only one left to sweep up the mess. I don’t have a clue what the verse with Casanova and Phantom is about so that’s the verse I don’t sing. That’s a lot of verbiage dealing with the one acoustic song on the album best known for Dylan going electric. I don’t really get why so many were pissed that he went electric. Like a Rolling Stone is just barely electric. It’s not like anyone would mistake it for a Who song. The album is full of excellent songs and they are played with many different styles. Some bluesy and some country. I guess electrification was a new toy for Bob and he wanted to try lots of different styles. Every song on this album is excellent. Songs such as Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man and the title song have been my favourite song on the album at one time or another. Desolation Row will probably be my fave for the balance of this incarnation.

Pretty incredible to me that an album that is closer to 60 years old than 50 is this prescient. The lyrical work is still top notch and very relevant and relatable. The blues rock deployed on the album is incredibly infectious and has some of the best energy of his canon. And lastly the album never has a real dip, it is incredibly solid from its insanely famous opener through to the last track. The quality is unrelenting, the brillance of Dylan on full display.

Dylan is the man :)

Unfathomable

Classic

This was a joy to listen to

Top stuff from Bob

I think this is my favorite of the trilogy of 1965/66 albums by Dylan. Classic, 5 stars.

dylan....

This was also a really really good album

This album is excellent.

I would say 4.5. I wouldn't listen to folk all day but this is a solid album.

Absolute gem

i mean.. "how does it feel" is on this album so.. yeah..

Already knew this record, please stop giving me 60s folk. My music taste is more diverse than this

like i don’t fw history music but i felt like i was back to the 60s pretty good i wouldn’t mind listening to it again

Pretty overrated. More noteworthy than actually great, this one ends up being significant mostly because of some boomer mythology about guys getting mad bc a guy played a new kind of guitar. Like a Rolling Stone is obviously a great song, the star is the organ part, but I never need to hear it again. For all the electro-furore, the rest is surprisingly basic folk blues cowboy chord stuff - high energy and well performed but musically not that creative. The slower moodier and atmospheric Ballad of a Thin Man is a nice change of tone that sounds way ahead of it's time, anticipating dozens of dark balladeers to come. Queen Jane Approximately is another great organ part combined with a busy lead guitar arpeggio part hinting at a surf sound. Tom Thumbs Blues has a woozy feel from the barroom piano and vibrato sweet sixths guitar slides. Overall, the lyrics and distinctive singing are the real featured elements - they're an effective combination and he has some great acerbic lines but there had to benin these endless verses. I've never thought they're worth the detailed parsing that's sustained the Dylan industrial complex...

Bob Dylan est extrêmement talentueux, cela va sans dire. Il chante incroyablement bien et joue de la guitare comme un dieu. Seulement, un énorme point noir se glisse dans la prestation de Dylan. En effet, Bob Dylan possède l'un des horcrux du générateur. Nous avions déjà découvert le premier horcrux du générateur à l'écoute de deux albums des Doors, avec le désormais célèbre orgue de Manzarek. Ici, c'est l'harmonica de Dylan que nosu croisons sur notre chemin. En effet, les horcrux du générateurs sont des objets qui, lorsque utilisés par leur possesseur, ont le pouvoir de détruire tout plaisir musical. Ici, l'harmonica de Dylan est absolument inaudible. Il vient nous fracasser les oreilles a de multiples reprises en fin de chanson, après de longues minutes de plaisir passées à écouter la voix de Bob Dylan avec sa seule guitare. Je tiens également à corriger par avance les potentiels commentaires me signalant que j'oublie un horcrux déjà rencontré: non, le portail de Nico n'est pas un horcrux, il s'agit d'un objet certes très puissant, mais bien loin de la puissance totale des deux objets sus-cités.

My favourite Dylan album as far as I've listened. Still got no idea what he's talking about but the cryptic style kind of lures you in after a while, almost to the point it makes you think you know what he's trying to say/tell you but then you think about it more and lose it again. I like the youthful/ earnest sound in his voice too. Desolation Row is such a great track and a perfect album closer.

Great lyrics but the music itself isn’t my thing. The kids couldn’t cope with the harmonica when I was listening in the car haha! It is hard to give it a fair listen as I don’t have the time/space right now. Listens: 1 Fave Track: Like A Rolling Stone Rating: 3

Every time Bob Dylan comes up on here I generally like the music and dislike the vocals, and this was no exception. It's an acquired taste that I can't seem to acquire. 2.4

Immer nur eintönige Melodien. Ich weiß nicht, warum Bob Dylan so groß ist/war.

Music is not defined by poetry. Everyone who is honest with themselves confesses that Bob Dylan is not a great musician. This is a list about 1001 albums of MUSIC that we should all hear at least once. By the definition that I just laid out this is not a great album of MUSIC and it is a matter of perspective and opinion whether it is even an okay, or great album of poetry. I really did not enjoy this. Listening to his music is a slog. That harmonica is murder on the ears. Occasionally his songs sound better when someone else performs them, but more often than not they always fall flat. "Like a Rolling Stone" is bearable as quality folk. The rest is just tedious. Bob Dylan is quite possibly the most overrated American artist ever. A part of me wants to give this one star, but I confess that the performances by the other musicians, the engineering, and the production is deserving of more. The only problem here is Bob. So, two stars it is.

It’s ok. Enjoyed the instrumentals but bob dylans voice sucks 2/5

Contrairement à une idée répandue, Bob Dylan n'est pas un artiste solo mais bien un duo de musiciens. Il est composé d'un auteur-compositeur, Bob Dylan, et d'un interprète, à savoir son énorme pif. La relation entre les deux membres est pendant longtemps plutôt bonne, ceux-ci entretenant des rapports très cordiaux et professionnels, mais se détériore nettement au début des années 2020. D'un côté, Bob Dylan, profondément antivax, refuse de recevoir la moindre injection pendant que son proéminent tarin lui confie à maintes reprises sa réticence à l'idée de se faire traverser par un coton-tige tous les quatre matins. L'année 2021 marque la fin du duo. Une fin idiote pour un groupe qui a su marquer toute une génération.

One of the greatest!

judas!

great album

Dylan goes electric, and I'm in the kitchen with the tombstone blues.

Not a bad song on this album. Ironically, the best one in my opinion is the only acoustic song on the record. If there was any question why he is a Nobel laureate, one only needs to point to this album. Favorite song: Desolation Row Least favorite song (I use that term loosely): Queen Jane Approximately

His best.

There is so much to unpack in this album, WHERE TO START. The blues highway, Route 61 that goes from Minnesota (where Bob is from) then carries on down south by the Mississippi. The first album where Bob has no songs on it where it is just him and his guitar but now we have the new Bob where he is electric, he sings the blues, he has a band and he honestly doesn't care. So much of this album is about changes, what they mean to him, what they mean to where he's come from and then, most interestingly, how he views the changes he is seeing around him in the land of the free; and his opinions are not glowing reviews. Musically, there is not much to talk about from this record. There are some great moments; the slightly off beat organ of Like A Rolling Stone, the limping piano of Ballad of a Thin Man and why not some nice Spanish guitar in Desolation Row. This album, though, is not for the music it is for the lyrics and it is why Dylan is thought of as one of the best songwriters of the 20th century, maybe the best. 1965 - the clean cut 50s are now firmly in the past. Revolution and unrest is a feeling that is growing, sex liberation, anger towards racial inequality and a yearn to break out of the confines that people had before is coming. Bob had his own confines he has broken away from, a few weeks before the album came out he was at the Newport Folk Festival where he played electric and got booed, he is no longer the folk messiah and a lot of people are very angry with him (go read An Open Letter To Bob Dylan published in Sing Out! 1964, written by the editor Irwin Silber.) So Ballad of a Thin Man - who is Mr. Jones? Is this the america of the 50s? The suburban, white, entitled middle class man who only knows one way of life and Dylan mocks this man who has been too cowardly and comfy to ever question it. But not only does this man not know how to change, he judges the change and angry at the loss as his grasp is not strong enough to keep hold of it whilst it slips away, only vexing Dylan more. 'You raise up your head and you ask, \"Is this where it is?\" And somebody points to you and says, \"It's his\" And you say, \"What's mine?\" and somebody else says, \"Well, what is?\" And you say, \"Oh my God, am I here all alone?\" But something is happening and you don't know what it is Do you, Mr. Jones?' The judgement of this out dated quaint judgemental America carries on in 'Queen Jane Approximately' but now we're looking at the women and class is now being brought into it. Old fashioned, bourgeoisie, Queen Jane. Dylan is the town maverick, the one with the wacky new ideas who is being snubbed by the elite, by his own Marie Antoinette but he is coming to her to again almost warn her of the change that is coming and that this life she has been living is no longer sustainable and for her to join him. 'Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned Have died in battle or in vain And you're sick of all this repetition Won't you come see me, Queen Jane? Won't you come and see me, Queen Jane?' Bob is laughing, mocking and can't quite believe the stupidity he is seeing in his fellow men around him and none of this is as clear as how he puts it in his masterpiece, and without it this album would not matter, 'Like A Rolling Stone'. To these 'people' that he sees from the past, who snubs him, who can't and won't change, who don't want to change, who want to bury their head in the sand he has just had enough. Without even delving deep into a lyrical analysis the chorus says it beautifully enough: 'How does it feel, how does it feel? To be without a home Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone' From the first verse, the narrator goes straight in talking of our first character who 'once upon a time...dressed so fine' but now he 'don't talk so loud' or 'seem so proud' because he now has nothing, and because of who he was before he has no one to help him, he is alone. After the first chorus we then meet Miss Lonely (is this another Queen Jane?), another aristocrat who's life has changed and she is alone. However, he isn't as scathing to Miss Lonely as he is to the other characters but more just is showing the pointlessness of it all. This woman who went to the best schools and now she is on the streets, insinuating working the streets where she meets 'mystery tramps' and now she is selling the only thing she has looking into his gaunt eyes asking if he wants to make a deal? Miss Lonely is alone, with no home, but she came from somewhere very different. So what is the point of it all?? Power thirsty, class rivalry, callously thrown judgements, no love, no kindness when you are at the top and now you have nothing. And how does it truly feel. And Bob has no sympathy, you should have seen and you should have done something but you didn't. When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal. His frustration bleeds out of these songs with such force. Dylan is shouting out, wanting to shake these people and yell at them WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? YOU ARE IDIOTS. The album title song even has comedic whizz circus noises just thrown in there, to drive home the point IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED I AM LAUGHING AT YOU. The power of Bob's words are not in his anger, but in his pure nonchalance now to these he is writing about, he got it all out (apparently Like A Rolling Stone started out as just that, him just writing his thoughts down on everything in one session on 30 pages), he takes them down a fair few pegs, and then walks away to never think of them again as their importance is so small they are meaningless now.

I don't know if I would consider myself a Bob Dylan fan, but it's impossible to deny the excellence of this album. It feels, even all these years later, like a giant step forward for music with lyrics like poetry and "pop" songs that could go on for 5 minutes+. I like basically every song on this album and no minute feels wasted. It flows and moves with that classic Bob Dylan nasal whine but you can feel how influential it became with every note. "Ballad of a Thin Man" & "Queen Jane Approximately" are two underrated gems for me (I love a song where I know the words but don't know why or how I do), but I also love the epic "Desolation Row." This might be Dylan's masterpiece.

One of these greats in music history and absolute milestones for the culture as a whole. Some of the greatest lyricism of 20th century in music combined with the most versitilie, colorful and engaging soundscape Dylan has conceived up to this point. Like a Rolling Stone makes an unbelievably strong case for being the best written rock song of all time. Ballad of a Thin Man in some ways feels like groundwork for everything Lou Reed would write over the next decade. Desolation Row is one of the most enticingly captivating storytelling cuts of Dylan's career. It's not flawless, but damn if its not having some unbelievably powerful moments.

Very good. Loved.

The apex of the mountain of popular music in the second half of the 20th Century of American music. Dylan as poet, writer, singer, composer, and trend-setter sealed the deal with some of the finest music and the greatest song ever written on this album. 5/5

It is a stone cold classic. No arguments.

Another iconic album by Dylan. A true favourite of mine

Absolutely incredible album, a serious contender for the best album of all time ! Dylan going electric for all to enjoy forever !

Each Bob Dylan album this playlist is giving me is having him grow on me more and more. His songwriting feels like watching a 3 act movie, they are full stories. There were several songs here I really enjoyed, like Ballad of a Thin Man and Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues and I found the mix of blues and rock particularly effective in this album.

Absolutely perfect

One of my fav Dylan albums. Absolutely love it

Was between a 4 and 5 here. But as far as a Dylan album goes, this is pretty fantastic.

Still revealing its secrets

This project is certainly full of surprises for me. I have always had an aversion to Bob Dylan due to the association of his music with a dark period in my younger days. But in keeping with the spirit of this project, I broke my vow never to listen to his music when this album showed up as my daily offering. And, surprise, surprise, I really enjoyed it. It could even be said to have been a cathartic experience. In fact, I liked this album so much, I'm going to give it five stars and add it to my Tidal library.

Perfect album. Like a Rolling Stone is a masterpiece.

Some albums are mythic in their musicianship and influence. I present example #61. Side note: I find Dylan’s keening harmonica annoying on other albums, but not this one. The balance must be right - possibly that’s why it’s such a classic disc.

My third Bob Dylan album! So far he's three for three with those 5 stars, but this one is at least a 10/5. What an incredible lyricist. Besides the classic Like a Rolling Stone, my favorites are Tombstone Blues, Ballad of a Thin Man, and Desolation Row, but every song is great. I could spend hours dissecting the songwriting.

Great album. Early days of his switch to electric, which apparently put off some fans, but I like both versions of Dylan. From Like a rolling stone to Dedication Row it makes it a too classic.

Bob Dylan's best!!

Such a great album. Love Bob Dylan.

If only I could've been alive in this era to see this Bob. I've seen him live twice and the versions of these songs are almost unrecognizable. And his voice is nothing but a harsh croak at this point. God said, "Where do you want this killin' done?" Out on Highway 61.

An excellent album start to finish. It is both historically significant, marking the beginning of the electric era, and very strong musically. This is probably Dylan's best among many great albums.

I was introduced to Bob Dylan as a kid by my Uncle. I have so many fond memories of him playing guitar and singing Dylan tunes. While many loathe his vocal abilities, his sound transports me back to the times of listening to my uncle sing and play. Highway 61 is truly a classic with its bluesy-rock sound that accompanies Dylan’s lyrical genius. This album sucks me in and holds tight from the first mote to the last. A definite 5/5 for me.

Album 569 of 1001 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965) Rating : 5 / 5 Good way to start the day when a big favorite pops up as album of the day. This has long been at the top of my list. It could likely take the spot of favorite from the list, when that time comes. Awesome from beginning to end. Released the year of my birth, it has aged much better that I.

Not really much to say, just a phenomenal album, not a bad track 9/10 Fav tracks - All of em Least Fav - n/a