Highway 61 Revisited

Probably the easiest five star so far. Gave my copy a spin and let it run as I played Pokemon White. I still remember listening to it for the first time. His folk approach into making what is now “rock music” changed the idea of songwriting, and has really influenced my own lately. Plus, “Ballad of a Thin Man” has gotta be one of my favorite songs out there. Though the album could’ve excelled even further had he chosen to put on “Positively 4th Street” in place of something else, it’s still easily one of my favorite albums of the decade and possibly of all time.

Imperious. Impeccable. And occasionally impish

Not much I can say on this one, a desert island album for me. The reviews saying he can’t sing are missing the point, and they should remember that Bobby got his big break not because he was an exceptional songwriter but because he was an exceptional performer. His voice and stage presence doing covers in Greenwich Village was what turned heads long before Blowin in the Wind, which shows that the power behind that voice was exceptional. Not something which would’ve happened if he ‘couldn’t sing’. Rant over. 5/5

Going quick but fantastic album ‘The sun isn’t yellow it’s chicken’ great line Ballad of a thin man my favourite need to properly relisten

One of the best albums ever

This is my favorite album of ALL time. It’s perfection in every way and I never tire of. The music is so tight but also has a natural looseness to it which creates a swagger. While Bobby is weaving in and out of that with a mystical touch. Lyrically we have some of his most abstract and brilliant moments. Every song a 10 with a couple songs reaching legendary heights including, Desolation Row, Tombstone Blues, Just Like Thom Thumb Blues, Ballad of a Thin Man and of course one of the most important songs of all time Like A Rolling Stone. If Dylan wasn’t already the GOAT by this point this cemented him as such. Everyone should listen to this masterpiece at least once. It’s the definition of an all timer

Shockingly beautiful songs that reach deep and connect to a rebellious and a humorous humanity

Amazing album. The best Dylan album by far.

Amazing album. Not my favorite Dylan but an easy 5 star nonetheless love the electric style

Awesome album

Feels like a 5 on first listen, generational run from Bobby in 65

This is and probably will always be my favorite Dylan album. It builds on the shifts introduced with the previous album, the shift to a full band and the almost surrealist lyrical approach and creates a more accomplished version of those initial experiments. The songs are fantastic and the arrangements are as well. I can listen to this album over and over again.

Bien.

Rating: 5.0/5 Short Review: Sharp, surreal, funny, angry, and endlessly quotable. This is Dylan kicking the door open and redefining what rock music could say. Every song feels like it’s operating on multiple levels at once. Favorite Track: “Desolation Row.” Eleven minutes of chaos, poetry, history, jokes, nightmares, and beauty. Somehow it all holds together.

I love the longing weary blues, the surreal poetry word salad, the sense of humor, the aching sadness, the incisive outrage. The band is loose, on, fun. Apex level white hot genius.

One of my favorite albums of all time

Best Song: Like a Rolling Stone This album has always been a bit of an odd juxtaposition for me. When it's good, it's some of Dylan's best. Other songs are very forgettable. Overall, the good wins. 5/5.

Masterpiece, prob my favourite of Bob's

it’s great. still going electric.

Dylan is a genius. Not much more to say. A great storyteller, a master of the song. Able to achieve fluid and comprehensive storytelling without needing to shoehorn in a word or a syllable. As a performer too, so what he isn’t the most athletic singer. He is a perfect storyteller.

First day of the album challenge, and naturally I get one of my favourite albums of all time. It’s a testament to the incredible sonic and lyrical depth of this album that, even on my upteenth listen, I’m still finding brilliant new details I never noticed before. Yet so many of the sounds and lyrics on this album swim around in my consciousness such that hearing them feels like visiting a friend who’s been hiding the whole time. I shake hands with the opening drum signature on “Like a Rolling Stone” as it summons up memories of being in the car with my Dad; of travelling on a school bus with this album for company; of the myriad times I’ve been fed up with everything only to feel a sense of whiplash as that soaring organ regales me its a tale of squalid freedom. I’ve memorised all the lyrics; Spotify says it’s my most played song of all time. The level of polish on each facet of the production is astounding—the counterpoint between the plink-plonk piano and the ringing chord tones of the fender electric—it’s something you can chew and savour or gulp down whole; both making for an entirely pleasurable experience. I should mention that there are four songs on this album that would make my shortlist for the greatest of all time. “Like a Rolling Stone” I’ve already mentioned, but the proceeding “Tombstone Blues” is about as good. The thwacking pulse of a beat on that track would be unorthodox even today; the chugging guitar on the chorus followed by those savage, bending fills. It’s totally manic; and the lyrics… “Put jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves”, “The geometry of innocent flesh on the bone”, “to win friends and influence his uncle”. Just brilliant—simultaneously a mind-bending exploration of what can be done with words and their phonetics, and a searing, though subliminal, indictment of the Vietnam war that applies just as well today. Seriously, just listen to it and tell me that it doesn’t perfectly capture the crazed surrealism of the world today—and written in 1965! The use of imagery is just astounding, and continues with what may be Dylan’s magnum opus, “Ballad of a Thin Man”. We all have this experience no one’s ever articulated: you go into a room (could be anyplace), and you don’t know what you’re doing there. You don’t know what anything is or what your place is; people give you clues and they seem fine, but you know it’s far from normal, and it gives you the shivers to think you’re the only one who’s noticed. Or alternatively, maybe you’re entirely at home. Maybe there’s an invader—a stray Mister Jones come to talk his way into being a part of your world—somebody you don’t know and never met, and who you really wish would just leave you alone, but who nevertheless insists on talking at you all night long and won’t let up until he hears what he’s looking for—some magic word or phrase that you don’t know and may never find. Few songs express what you’re feeling (few songs that I’ve encountered, at least), and it helps that the production is as ragged as the lyrics; that the piano looms over you like some hag or ghoul swinging from the gallows as it slowly descends to take its place in the ground; that the organ, which was so bright on “Like a Rolling Stone”, has become gloomy like it’s mourning something it never lost but recently found. It’s a brilliant song, and words can’t express how much I love it. Then “Queen Jane Approximately” (once known to me as “that flowery song which comes on after ‘…Thin Man’”) is in many ways a continuation of the sentiment expressed by the evergreen “Mr Tamborine Man”: the desire to be whisked away from your daily monotony by some romance found in the sound of a tambourine or the embrace of a queen. It may be the most relatable Dylan song to me, if just for the first verse alone. I’ve already banged on so long here that I hardly feel there to be time to discuss the rest of the album, but suffice it to say that “It Takes a Lot to Laugh…”, “From Buick 6”, and “Highway 61” are some brilliant blues/folk infusions into the track list. “Highway 61” especially is chock-full of the absurd and wily application of the folk vernacular that makes a song like “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” as ridiculous as the aforementioned “Tombstone Blues” is biting. There’s a confluence of sounds and influences here that will never be replicated—everything from the Duke Ellington to T.S Eliot to Machiavelli is in the cauldron, and it’s brilliant to see a master alchemist recombine it all into a new and distinct brew. Desolation Row is a ten minute ballad in the make of what Dylan went on to do on Blonde on Blonde with tracks like “Visions of Johanna” and “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”. These songs seem impenetrable to me—they demand so much of you, and are so dense that it feels like reading Kant’s interpretation of some arcane philosopher. The next step in my Dylan-fandom will have to be to really sit down with these songs and pour over them in the way I have with his more digestible work. I tried that to an extent with this listen of “Desolation Row”, but was somewhat distracted and didn’t make much progress in my new project. I’ll have to try again tomorrow.

Bob at his gnostic best? 5*

Phenomenal, one of Bob’s best in his great 1960’s run.

Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited is one of my favourite albums of all time, and one that I genuinely consider to be among the greatest ever made. I’ve spent years listening to Dylan—over 10,000 minutes according to my Apple Music Replay in 2025—and this is the album I keep coming back to. Every listen reveals something new. It begins with “Like a Rolling Stone,” a song I consider the greatest ever recorded. When I first heard it in high school, I knew it was important but didn’t fully understand why. Over time, learning more about music history, I’ve come to appreciate just how revolutionary it was. In 1965, it sounded like nothing else. The rawness, ambition, and sense of possibility are still there today, and its themes of lost innocence and hard-earned experience remain timeless. What makes Highway 61 Revisited so special is Dylan’s writing. Whether it’s the surreal humour of “Tombstone Blues,” the haunting mystery of “Ballad of a Thin Man,” the reckless energy of “From a Buick 6,” or the literary journey of “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” these songs demand your attention. Dylan’s lyrics aren’t diary entries—they’re poetry, storytelling, absurdist art, and social commentary all at once. They say something without ever being obvious. Musically, the album feels unleashed. The bluesy swagger of the title track, the warmth of “Queen Jane Approximately,” and the epic acoustic collage of “Desolation Row” all contribute to a record that feels both completely of its time and decades ahead of it. Dylan was taking risks, reinventing himself, and refusing to follow anyone’s rules. That’s ultimately why I love this album so much. It’s raw, authentic, and fearless. It reminds me that great art comes from taking chances, embracing change, and never becoming stagnant. More than sixty years later, Highway 61 Revisited still feels alive, still feels dangerous, and still feels like a doorway into discovering something new.

That’s a great album, very different that I had listen before but definitely I will include this music in my playlist.

controversial, increible, folk, rock, dylan.

Its Dylan at his best. Not much to say 5 stars.

ONE OF THE GREATEST ALBUMS EVER WRITTEN!!!!!!! Bob Dylan is soo fucking badass for making this album. Absolutely amazing.

After Bringing It All Back Home, which kickstarted the electric era with a bang, Dylan doubled down and affirmed himself as a musical genius. This is not my favourite Dylan album, but it's basically perfect. Famously, there is a revolving door policy when it comes to musicians that back Dylan on his albums, but this is, in my opinion, easily the most distinguished and talented group he has worked with (if we exclude The Band from the conversation, obviously). Mike Bloomfield's guitar work is absolutely mesmerizing in particular and he has great chemistry with Al Kooper, which will be showcased further on the absolutely brilliant Super Session (well, on half of it, at least). I'll take this chance to recommend the album to all of the blues and jazz enjoyers that haven't given it a listen yet. It's all produced perfectly as well, designed in such a way to make everyone stand out. Some of the choices made in this regard are downright inspired. Tombstone Blues sounds ahead of its time by at least a couple of years. Queen Jane Approximately is completely off key and it still somehow completely works, that's just incredible. It's not the first time it has happened on a Dylan track, to be fair, but it was never this obvious and definitely never this charming. Dylan's voice is great here, maybe the best it's ever been, along with his short-lived switch-up on Blood on the Tracks and Desire. He sounds incredibly bright throughout and the energy is just blasting through the speakers. His almost trademark sarcastic tone is perfect, not a single emphasis wrongly placed. Along with Blonde on Blonde, these are the definitive Dylan lyrics. Let me make it clear, that is incredibly high praise for an artist with such an incredible lyrical portfolio. He switches from surreal to direct, from emphatetic to scathing, from sarcastic to sincere, all with frightening ease. You can take any of these tracks as an example of brilliant writing, but the crown has to go to Desolation Row. The fact that such a brilliant piece of poetry even exists in popular music still does my head in to this day. Favourite track: Ballad of a Thin Man

Class

One of the best albums ever

So good, Dylan at his best

oo yay :) like revisiting an old friend 5 stars easily; so great to listen to again

One of the best.

5 for like a rolling stone alone

Bob’s best one

🥞

Sometimes, when the moon is in the right house and the summer wine is flowing, it’s the greatest album ever made.

This album rules

god this rules

Praise be to Nero’s Neptune.

Remove the lead guitar on Desolation Row and it’s a perfect album.

After this dropped everyone had to stop going electric and switch to acoustic guitars because they knew they could never compete

liked it

what even has to be said about this album. bob dylan as a musician, as a storyteller, as a singer, as a composer, he is unique in every way. He really is the most influencial musician of all time. This album, even though isnt not my favorite from bob dylan is perfect as a whole, it keeps a style, all the music is there and it tells a story, about the movement in that era and many of those songs could still be applied to modern issues. The lenght of the songs isnt an issue as in all the songs Dylan could go on forever telling that story and it keeps each songs reaches a unique flow. The harmonica in every song is the cherry on top. Phenomenal album overall. Top three for me: Like a rolling stone Desolation row Queen Jane

All time classic. I mean, come on. People are still discussing this one today and trying to dissect these songs.

All timer, no doubt 5 stars.

Bomb

"Once upon a time you threw the bums a dime in your prime. Didn't you?" "I ride a mail train, Baby. Can't buy a thrill." "There's something happening here and you don't know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones?" "Won't you come see me, Queen Jane?" "God said to Abraham, 'Kill me a son.' Abe said, 'Man, you must be puttin' me on!'" "They got some hungry women down here that'll really make a mess outta you." "They're selling postcards of the hanging." To borrow a phrase from A Christmas Story, some artists work in clay or in oils... Bob Dylan worked in words. Lots and lots of words. His use of rhyme and metaphor were pretty much unparalleled. With the skill of the best Beat poets and the instinct of a boxer, he could strike his target and return to back to his guard position before the target even knew how badly he'd been hit. He worked social commentary into his music -- hell, he practically TRAFFICKED in it -- better than anyone at the time or since that time, and became world famous for it. And when the world waited for Dylan to share his next opinion, Dylan turned his back because he got bored with the world. Regardless, if an artist (any artist) had written one or two of the above lines in their career, it would have been enough. Bob Dylan wrote those lines during the sessions for ONE RECORD in 1965, but had a string of indelible songs on a fantastic string of albums that really showed what he was capable of: 1964, The Times They Are A'Changin' 1964, Another Side Of Bob Dylan 1965, Bringing It All Back Home 1965, Highway 61 Revisited 1966, Blonde On Blonde Five all-time great albums released in less than 2 1/2 years. I'm not sure that pace and that level of creativity will ever be matched. It's why everyone wanted to hang out with Dylan. It's why people wanted to know, "Was that song about me?" It's why the Beatles (THE FREAKING BEATLES) and Hendrix were awed. The semi-legendary 1965 Newport Folk Festival took place in between the first and second recording sessions for this album. So this album can almost be considered a document to the time Dylan Went Electric... Tough songs with tough sounds, electric guitar and keyboards and driving drum beats on some, this was a definite departure from the Folk movement, and they reacted. And he didn't care. He just went on being Bob Dylan, and that was the point. I have listened to the album multiple times in the past, but critically this time around. I've now listened about half a dozen times since. And it's art. Yes, Bob Dylan will never enter the Harmonica Players' Hall Of Fame. And his voice makes some people cringe. But the lyrics, the sheer volume and power of the words, the actual physical message that lie at the heart of these songs makes me stop and wonder in amazement. I don't know that he has ever been as good since this period, but he's still here. He's still singing and playing. He's still touring, And yes, he's still punching.

(5) this album is classic…

There is definitely a difference in the art of writing songs compared to poetry and other genres. And with that, I completely understand the controversy that surrounded giving him a Nobel prize. But listening to a good Dylan album is like a collection of short stories. And this is one of those such albums.

Damn good album. Funny, the electric is hidden behind lots of other raucous instruments.

Lyrically brilliant from Bob. He doesn't put a foot wrong here

Another true enduring classic

Highway 61 Revisited is one of those records where eventually you stop asking “is this good?” and start asking “what exactly happened here?” because it feels less like an album than a cultural pressure system suddenly rupturing in public. The accepted story is straightforward enough: Dylan goes electric, rock grows up, the future arrives wearing sunglasses and carrying amphetamines. But sitting with the record properly, what struck me most wasn’t the modernity alone. It was the instability. The whole thing sounds like a civilisation halfway through changing its operating system while still trying to host the old software. “Like a Rolling Stone” still leaves me genuinely conflicted. I understand perfectly why it matters. Rock is abruptly dragged into adulthood. Songs can now be six minutes long, verbally dense, psychologically cruel and structurally untidy. The old pop rules are over. Yet there’s something genuinely vicious in it too. Dylan weaponises the privilege of song. The bile level is extraordinary. Al Kooper’s organ and those staggering piano figures save it from becoming merely hectoring. The whole thing lurches forward like a drunken public-address system announcing the death of social certainty. It sounds tiny and tinny in that very mid-60s way too - like hearing the future through a transistor radio before the culture has fully worked out how to record it. “Tombstone Blues” broadens the target from individual humiliation to institutional sickness. This is where the album starts feeling genuinely prophetic. Doctors, medicine men, authority figures, inherited social logic - all of it feels contaminated. America becomes a travelling carnival of compromised systems and exhausted explanations. Yet the music itself remains rooted in deeply physical American forms: blues, jump rhythm, bar-band propulsion. That’s the genius balancing act throughout the album. Dylan’s language destabilises reality while the band remain planted firmly in the soil. The lyrics fling linguistic crypto-bombs in every direction while the groove just keeps moving. Then comes “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”, which may secretly be the emotional centre of the whole thing. The album exhales. Suddenly we’re in a different America entirely: humid rail yards, tired movement, half-lit companionship, emotional fatigue. Dylan drops the carnival bark and briefly becomes human-scale again. “I went to tell everyone but I could not get across” may be one of the defining lines of modern cultural exhaustion. Cassandra without heroic certainty. Not “winter is coming” but “winter is coming and I genuinely don’t know what you expect me to do about it.” What increasingly fascinated me throughout this listen was Dylan’s relationship to authority. He invents the possibility of rock as prophecy while simultaneously distrusting prophets. He opens the throne room and then repeatedly refuses coronation. Yet other songs flirt dangerously close to exactly that role. “Queen Jane Approximately” especially becomes much more moving if heard not as guru seduction but as reassurance inside an existing relationship. “When the masks become unbearable, come home.” The repeated invitation stops sounding messianic and starts sounding quietly humane. Home as the place where you don’t have to perform explanation any more. “Ballad of a Thin Man” remains the album’s most unsettling song because it captures the counterculture discovering its own power in real time. Mr Jones is often misread as merely establishment stupidity. He’s more tragic than that. He’s somebody stranded between symbolic systems, dimly sensing that the old postwar moral vocabulary no longer explains the emerging world. The sword-swallower verse is particularly nasty because the humiliation has already occurred before Jones fully understands the transaction. The song’s real horror is asymmetrical literacy. Everyone else understands the codes. He doesn’t. It’s the moment the 60s stop merely being youthful cheek and become epistemic warfare. And yet the album repeatedly undercuts its own grandeur. “From a Buick 6” is practically Ray Charles Americana. Cars, movement, secular joy, bodily life, roadside rhythm - the whole glorious vulgar bloodstream of American popular music. Dylan understands instinctively that America’s symbolic life doesn’t emerge from pure intellectual tradition but from highways, diners, bars, churches, radio stations and improvised social spaces. The title track pushes this even further. Highway 61 itself becomes the dumping ground for America’s helter-skelter subconscious. Biblical stories, commerce, hustlers, violence, jokes, insurance men, drifters - all routed onto the same endless roadside strip mall. At some point during this listen I realised the album’s emotional geography resembles those bizarre liminal spaces like late-night Edinburgh Fringe bars or roadside Americana attractions. Greenwich Village, Edinburgh in August, Juárez in “Tom Thumb’s Blues”, the Church of Elvis in Portland - places where: * everybody is performing * everybody is exhausted * absurdity and sincerity coexist * symbolic identities soften after midnight * temporary communities form around knowingly shared nonsense That’s the atmosphere of “Desolation Row”. Not apocalypse as wasteland, but apocalypse as overcrowded cultural quarter still serving drinks at 2am. The breakthrough for me was imagining the song not as literary symbolism but as the last open bar at the Edinburgh Fringe: * intellectuals still arguing * drag queens too tired to remain catty * washed-up performers holding court * future geniuses beside total frauds * everybody trapped in the same late-night republic of symbolic debris Once viewed that way, the song becomes strangely tender. Dylan no longer sounds like prosecutor or prophet. He sounds like a weary correspondent calmly documenting civilisation’s subconscious district. “If Ginsberg was a journalist” became my shorthand for it. Eleven minutes simply wash over you. No climax. No revelation. Just endless symbolic coexistence under soft acoustic guitar. And GOOD LORD he’s singing a song. A genuinely melodic one. After all the tannoy surrealism elsewhere, “Desolation Row” drifts with this almost lullaby-like grace. The melody humanises the grotesquerie. The music itself reassures you that the symbolic overload remains survivable. The great achievement of the album is that Dylan never places himself outside the carnival. He’s simultaneously: * critic * huckster * prophet * clown * witness * salesman * weary traveller * roadside mystic Cassandra as carnival barker. The warnings may be real, but they’re still delivered through performance and amplified showmanship. And somehow that makes them more believable rather than less. That instability is why the album still feels alive. It doesn’t present a solved worldview. It presents modernity becoming conscious of itself through noise, movement, exhaustion, humour, distrust and late-night human companionship.

lol his voice sounds bad 🤣 harmonica loud 😂😂 give me 50 thousand likes please

This is an album that I've been enthusiastic to listen to for 35 years.

Like a Rolling Stone is titanically great, and the title track is close behind. The rest are mere classics. Easy 5.

5/5 - I've listened to this record more times than I can count since I was 16 or 17. It's perfect. No notes.

Dylan is a master songwriter, and this album shows it. He runs the whole gamut: serious, biting, mournful, inspirational, accusatory, even simple storytelling. He is an artist that benefits from having the liner notes lyrics out while you listen for the first time. Still not a huge fan of his singing voice, though.

Bob Dylan reminds me a lot of my grandpa sometimes you just scratch your head and you’re like are these stories true and if they are, they’re simply legendary if they aren’t well at least you’re spending time with your grandpa. This is such a great album and one of the few Bob Dylan was where you can understand everything he’s saying and he’s not mumbling on his words an album you can dissect from 1965 to 2026 and still not figure out what he’s trying to mean absolutely love this album.

El disco más controversial de Dylan, creo. Tremendo! Buena recomendación

Just really good. Lyrics amazing. The playing is good. The tunes are good. The vocals are the best you're going to really get from him, let's be honest. Just classic after classic. Still holds up. Brilliant album.

I gotta give the generator credit, I had wanted to get into more of Dylan's music and it is helping me accomplish that goal. This is my 3rd Dylan album in the first 200 albums (out of the 7 on the list) and so far its my favorite. It helps that two of my favorite Dylan tracks, the title track and "Like a Rolling Stone" are on this album, but the other blues driven tracks don't slack either. I could take or leave "Ballad of a Thin Man" and I do prefer the shorter, punkier MCR cover of "Desolation Row" (but I don't hate the original). Those are really the only bad things I have to say about it. 4.5 rounded up to a 5/5

"Yeah, I hated him. I thought he betrayed us. I was a fucking idiot." - my screenwriting professor who was at Newport Folk in 1965

Second dylan on the list and first of his classic albums. Y'all can hate on his voice and anything else you like but it doesn't matter at the end of the day. This is an easy five stars. If I wanted to be very very nitpicky, the version of Desolation Row on No Direction Home is better than this version. But that's not going to drop any points

Dylan really leaning into his electric folk. He is not gonna be called the greatest singer of all time, but his voice really pairs well with this style and these songs. From the great opener Like A Rolling Stone to Tombstone Blues and Ballad of a Thin Man this album has a great diversity and the songwriting is some of the best ever done. This is a no skip album, even the "throw away" tracks are really good.

Bob Dylan fully becomes Bob Dylan and sheds the remaining folk purists.

They’re saying it’s one of my favourite albums for a guy like me

Not sure if this or Blonde On Blonde is the best Dylan ever got, but this is very much his sweet spot. I love how you can hear how influential this was in all sorts of places, from Nick Cave in “Ballad of a Thin Man” to Bruce Springsteen in “Desolation Row”. Several Dylan albums are overrated, but not this one.

I don’t think I could say a bad word about this album. I think today is a bummer and I’m listening to this album for this first time and I’m grateful for it. I miss my mom. All that to say, 5/5

The Gnostics had (have?) a set of ideas about the fundamental untrustworthiness of the image of the world as commonly perceived via the senses. They conceived of a false reality - ubiquitous, brash, forever distracting, forever entertaining. And underneath that reality, the true one - quieter, fuller, hidden and yet insistent. To me, *that* is what Dylan is about, and he's about it most fervently on this album full of juxtapositions, illusions, ghosts, charlatans, entertainers (same difference). *Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones.* Yet beyond and underneath the various veneers - of conformity, of convention, of certainty - there is a real world, and the people who inhabit it are desperate and wounded and bent and broken and strong afterwards in the broken places. Desolation Row, we might call that place, and its chronicle is eleven minutes long, and it could be eleven more and I'd keep listening.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ett riktigt bra album från Dylan där han tar steget från folk till ett mer rockigt sound. Öppnar superstarkt med Like a rolling stone sen följer ett pärlband med bra spår, tycker inte det finns något dåligt spår. Dessutom växer många av spåren av några lyssningar på raken. Vet att jag haft den känslan tidigare när jag lyssnat på det här albumet, att det är bra men inte riktigt fattar hajpen men sen med några spelningar så fastnar spåren. Det får bli en 5a. Bäst är Like a Rolling Stone, Tombstone blues, From a Buick 6, Highway 61 revisited, Just like Tom Thumb's blues, Desolation row.

Bob Dylan at his best, with an album that combines his iconic harmonica with more of a rock-oriented sound, and some of the greatest songwriting of his career. 10/10 [KEEP]

Really cool!! Totally dug it. Never gave Dylan enough time.

Classic

Love this... maybe my favorite Dylan?

Full of energy and imagination.

Dylan can barely sing, the harmonica isn’t a musical instrument and his guitar skills are average. Yet his music somehow comes together so well and is so powerful

Such a great-sounding album for 1965. It's why it is one of the best ever. The long final track was a bit interesting but also a bit too much when trying to finish it.

mucho tectoy

One of the best albums ever… Like a Rolling Stone!!! WOO HOO

Glad I “revisited” this album. Younger me didn’t like Dylan because of his raspy voice. But now that I have a more trained ear, I can hear the nuance, appreciate the musicality, and the amazing poetry. One of the greats!

When I was in college I had a beloved journalism professor who was also a big Dylan fan. He worked quotes from his lyrics into everything. His favorite was “The words that are used for to get the ship confused will not be understood as they’re spoken.” But number two is a more acerbic line from this album: “When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke?” As a gift for this guy I created a magnetic poetry kit of Dylan lyrics (full of lots of his weird phrases like “carpenters’ wives” and proper nouns like Hollis Brown and the Grand Coulee Dam). A friend of mine, kind of a Dylan hater, observed that this mixing and matching must be the way Dylan writes his songs. I don’t think she was entirely wrong. The Dylan we know now is such a cloud of oblique images and references that you often have no idea what he’s talking about. I think that starts here. I think of Highway 61 as the album where Dylan becomes Dylan, not just because he went electric, but because he fully embraced the sounds and lyrics of a crazed run-down carnival. I think it’s easiest to see on “Desolation Row,” where various boldfaced names of the 20th century become aliases for street people and the repetition eventually makes you forget what the difference is. Similarly, you can trace the indignation of “Like a Rolling Stone” or “Ballad of a Thin Man” to conflicts with fans or the press, but Bob’s lyrical style makes them into existential disputes. As a small-time newspaper editor I had a poster by my desk that said “Don’t be Mister Jones” because I thought the song did such a great job of capturing the painfully detached worldview of some reporters and some people. This type of stuff isn’t hard to find in a Dylan song if you’re looking for it. Do I think Dylan’s style eventually became a kind of self-parody? Yeah, I do. Even though I enjoyed, say, “Love and Theft,” I think by then Bobby was mostly golfing around. But for all its obscurantism Highway 61 is still painfully sincere in a way the straight-ahead folk albums never were. The best Dylan anti-war song was never “Blowin’ in the Wind” or “Masters of War” but “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” which like the songs of Highway 61, may not be about any specific subject at all. But it became about nuclear war when that’s what people needed it to be about. Anyway, I still need this album in that way. I don’t listen to it nearly as often as I did in school and less often than “Blonde on Blonde,” but when you need to summon an electric Old Testament prophet for any reason, head down that way to Highway 61.

While I can understand while some people might not like Bob, I love him. And this is my favorite album of his. It rocks. Deal with it, Clara.

What a great album, truly a 10/10 in my books, this is the first time I hear a bob dylan album and all I can say is that I hope I listened to this earlier in my life

One of the greatest from one of the greatest. Poetry to music.

This has always been my favorite Dylan album. This was when Dylan was at the peak of his lyricism but also possibly a low point for his vocals. I don't mind his vocals but I know they can be divisive, I don't think this album will be the one to win those folks over. There really is no one who can paint a picture with lyrics like Dylan and when Like a Rolling Stone is the weakest song on the album you know it's one of his greatest albums.

Ось і Боб)))

Album #129 Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited One of my absolute favourite albums of all time, and in my opinion, the most important album of all time. The obvious instinct is to say The Beatles, for their sheer cultural impact and influence, as well as their very obvious transition from standard pop to experimental music, but in my opinion, that transition doesn’t happen without this album. The Beatles would be the first to tell you that their songwriting had to evolve after this album came out. Bob Dylan penned 9 poems that could have won prizes in literature on their own, and accompanied them with some electric guitar and harmonica, and what you get is one of the most awe-inspiring albums of all time. I’m rarely ever in awe at someone’s creative work. I can definitely appreciate quality content, but only a few pieces of media have ever floored me to the point where I consider the creator a genius; this is one of those rare moments. I can never write as well as Dylan, so instead of proving my point, I’ll just provide my favourite line from each song: Like a Rolling Stone: You used to be so amused At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used Go to him he calls you, you can't refuse When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal Tombstone Blues: John the Baptist, after torturing a thief Looks up at his hero, the Commander-in-Chief Saying, "Tell me, great hero, but please, make it brief Is there a hole for me to get sick in?" The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry" And dropping a barbell, he points to the sky Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken" It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry: Now the wintertime is coming The windows are filled with frost I went to tell everybody But I could not get across Well, I wanna be your lover, baby I don't wanna be your boss Don't say I never warned you When your train gets lost From a Buick 6: I got this graveyard woman, you know, she keeps my kids But my soulful mama, you know, she keeps me hid She's a junkyard angel, and she always gives me bread Well, if I go down dyin', you know She's bound to put a blanket on my bed Ballad of a Thin Man: Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you and then he kneels He crosses himself and then he clicks his high heels And without further notice, he asks you how it feels And he says, "Here is your throat back, thanks for the loan" And you know something is happening but you don't know what it is Do you, Mr. Jones? Queen Jane Approximately: When all of your advisers heave their plastic At your feet to convince you of your pain Trying to prove that your conclusions should be more drastic Won't you come see me, Queen Jane Highway 61 Revisited: Now the rovin’ gambler he was very bored He was tryin’ to create a next world war He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before But yes I think it can be very easily done We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun And have it on Highway 61 Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues: Up on Housing Project Hill, it's either fortune or fame You must pick one or the other, though neither of them are to be what they claim If you're lookin' to get silly, you better go back to from where you came Because the cops don't need you, and man, they expect the same Desolation Row: (Bonus points for inspiring Watchmen) Now at midnight all the agents And the superhuman crew Come out and round up everyone That knows more than they do Then they bring them to the factory Where the heart-attack machine Is strapped across their shoulders And then the kerosene Is brought down from the castles By insurance men who go Check to see that nobody is escaping To Desolation Row Witty, poignant, historical, political, the number of adjectives that can be used to describe Dylan’s lyricism is endless. And of course, not everyone is going to feel this way, just as not everyone is going to like his voice, but if these words click with you, there really isn’t anything else like it. Also Desolation Row has to be the greatest song of all time that isn’t even the best song on it’s album. Utter Masterpiece. Best Songs: Like a Rolling Stone, Desolation Row, Tombstone Blues Worst Song: None Score out of 10: 10

I love Bob Dylan

Great! Liked Desolation Row

Foaaaarte bun, îmi place mult sound ul

It's a good sign that I was already listening to this album when it was suggested to me. Few albums launch in such an iconic way as Highway 61 does with 'Like a Rolling Stone', but it also ends on a high with 'Desolation Row'. In between is filled with Bob Dylan at his finest. Not to everyone's tastes, but definitely to mine

I'm a dilettante when it comes to Dylan, but this one is pure genius.

classic

tombstone blues, Queen Jane

Already one of my favorites.

4.56

One of the World’s Greatest Artists EVER. THE WORLD’s Most Talented storyteller 🙏🏻❣️

Personal enjoyment: 5/5 Relevance to this list: 5/5

This could be another 6 star one for me. I'm a Dylan nut so the whole story of this time in Dylan's career makes this album extra special. The bravery to move to electric guitar after being held up as the greatest acoustic folk player is amazing. The band are on another level and Dylan's lyrics are at the peak of anything ever recorded. Stunning from start to finish

I think my favorite Dylan album, so many awesome songs I had never heard before.

A few years back I finally got around to reading "Watchmen." I was also really into the song "I Don't Live Here Anymore" by The War on Drugs. Both of these mention the song "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan. I had never really listened to any of his music, so I thought I may as well start there. I was blown away by the song, and it started me in down a whole Bob Dylan phase. I had always thought it strange that somehow an American musician would win a Nobel prize for literature, but I get it now. Eventually my enthusiasm for his work waned, but it will never entirely disappear. I'll admit that some of Bob Dylan's singing and production doesn't quite work, but his songwriting is great and his enigmatic lyrics never cease to captivate me. Favorite track(s): "Like a Rolling Stone," "Ballad of a Thin Man," and of course, "Desolation Row"

I started listening to this album late into my shift, having ready listened to two albums straight; I figured I would have to break this one into a few session, starting it on my walk and finishing it on my drive home. I listened to it in one go. Bob Dylan was one of my most anticipated artists on this list, as I have heard two things about him: he's one of the greatest folk artists of all time, and his voice can be incredibly polarizing. I was incredibly happy to discover that the first point was very true, and as for the second, his voice was way less weird than I anticipated; I would never behave even thought to criticize it personally, it's so full of character and energy. There is a looseness to the vocal rhythm which compliments the busy and chaotic energy, blending folk sensibilities with shredding guitars; I particularly love the prominent feature of the harmonica. This album sounds like I'm sitting around a campfire with a jug band in a movie, and I have so much respect for Dylan's ability to boil important issues down into such succinct and poetic lyricism. For an artist who can be as musically divisive as Dylan is, I'm incredibly glad to land on the side of being a huge fan. Highlights: Like a Rolling Stone, Tombstone Blues, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, From a Buick 6, Ballad of a Thin Man, Highway 61 Revisited, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, Desolation Row

This one runs deep for me, having grown up with it is probably not the best Dylan album, but I think it's the one I always reach for.

I listened to this a lot when I was living in Duluth for school, so I have a nostalgia bias. First of all, I’m glad I have the gene that allows me to enjoy Bob Dylan’s voice. I understand why that would be a sticking point for many. It’s one of the most recognizable voices in music, for better or worse. (I think it’s for better!) The passage of time has sanded off the explosive nature of this one; there’s a bit of a had-to-be-there thing going on. I was leaning towards a four but I forgot how good the 11-minute closer “Desolation Row” actually is; whenever a double digit track flies by I have to clap and cheer. Also, I think he wrote “Like a Rolling Stone” primarily to and about himself, but maybe that’s just me.

one of my fav dylan records

fantastic album bob dylan has a specific voice

My partner and I have a shared playlist on Spotify which I “ruined” when I started this project. He recently made a static version with his favourite songs that used to come up on it. He sent it to a friend who enjoyed it but "noticed a running theme [...] we both like bands with male singers who can’t really sing.” On a completely unrelated note, I loved this album. I thought this one worked a bit better with his voice than Blood on the Tracks but I think I prefer the songs on that album – maybe because they’re so sad, maybe because they're folkier. My biggest complaint with the album is the whistle sound on Highway 61 Revisited. Other than that I really liked it. The harmonica is maybe a little intense at times, but I love the harmonica. I hadn't listened to much Bob Dylan before this project, most of his songs I knew from other people singing them, but I will definitely keep listening. Fav song: Ballad of a Thin Man Least fav: Highway 61 Revisited

One of Dylan's best. Hard to beat a record that has "Like A Rolling Stone" on it. Highlights: "Like A Rolling Stone", "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Desolation Row"

Loved it!!!!! Great lyrics and sound. Ballad of a thin man blew my brains

Great album. A small revolution in folk music.

Phenomenal album, lyrics and rhythm.

I think this beats out Bringing It All Back Home. Legendary, but it never feels repetitive or irritating. And I only go that far because of the way Dylan's image has been parodies and pastiched into oblivion. I still loved the dude.

Maybe not my personal favorite Dylan album, but hard to argue that it isn’t is most transformative and influential work. It’s a masterpiece. Changed the trajectory of music as we know it.

Easily a Top 10 album all-time for me. Just a masterpiece, every track hits, Dylan is at his best in energy, lyricism, and musicality here. Not saying he doesn't have other works with all of those as well, just got my money, this one tops them all.

It's Bob Dylan. A Nobel Prize winner. What else do you need to know?

How To Do An Impression of Bob Dylan I like to think that I can do a fairly good impression of Bob Dylan. If I'm being fair, it's a serviceable stereotypical Dylan. Long slow unintelligible yet brilliant nonsense. If you want to improv while doing Dylan, quite simply talk in run on sentences & tell a story that has a point but takes forever to get to said point. All in a weird sing songy prose that can be reminiscent of Shakespeare. This prose that speak of is in almost all of his songs. Springsteen does the same thing but it's slightly different. This album, Dylan's singing voice is actually quite pleasant, not good, but does the job. Andy Sandberg looks like Bob Dylan.

Not for all the Grateful Dead covers. Ok fine maybe bc of that

Bob Dylan!!

a classic "something is happening and you don't know what it is, do you, mr jo-ones?" is what i say whenever i'm confused and do not know what is happening. hmmm. iconic album, emblematic of dylan's eclecticism. weird lyrics that only sometimes make sense, with social commentary interwoven amongst nonsense. instrumentals match that style, with the organ going hard etc. album has a mostly plugged except for one unplugged track (desolation row; a classic). of course the folk revivalists were less than pleased about this development, but it's good music so i don't mind. i'm giving it a 5/5, but that is an openly biased rating. if i wasn't raised on bob dylan, i would probably give it max 4/5.

I'd probably give this a 4.5, as I think it is a solid album, and it does have a couple of his big songs and hits that would have had a large impact at the time. I can totally see how an average of 4 stars probably would be most appropriate to account for those that may acknowledge the strengths of the album but may also feel like it is mostly a "good folk rock album." I think, however, that for 1965 and what this even did for Dylan, it has the impact for me to bump it up to a 5 for this list.

A great album from the master of words.

What more can I say about this record that hasn’t been said a million goddamn times already? It’s Highway fucking 61! This is like one of the biggest cultural touchstones in all of 20th century popular music, you don’t need me, of all people, to tell you it’s good!

Some albums get better and better every time you listen to them.

The opening snare alone deserves five stars

A classic in my eyes. I’m firmly in the pro-Dylan camp when it comes to this list

Already knew this album well, never listened to it in full before, great experience 👍

Desolation Row could have been half as long, but overall that was excellent. Might even be purchase-worthy.

The black keys are ruining a lovely streak

My view of Bob Dylan is extremely biased. He was my dead dad’s favorite artist. Even if I didn’t love this stuff, I’d probably gaslight myself into liking it. But I like it anyway, so it’s not necessary. Makes sense considering how much of my music taste comes directly from him. Okay, that’s enough feeling bad for myself. Bob Dylan is interesting, because he’s not the kind of artist whose music you’ll fully “get” on your first listen. You might like the music, and you might even pick up on some of the poetry in his lyrics. But you WILL miss something, and that’s what makes his stuff so good. I’m by far a music-first listener (as opposed to a lyric-first one), but sometimes the words are just so intricate that they draw me in. Not to say the music itself is bad; the music is incredible in its own right. It’s fun, mostly upbeat, and I personally really enjoy his voice. The thing that works so well about Bob Dylan’s best work is how the two elements work in tandem. Of course, a lot of the best musicians out there are trying to find this balance; it’s not a unique thing. But Dylan’s stuff is special. He does it so well, but it’s also different. Nobody sounds quite like Bob Dylan. Nobody writes quite like him either. This album is 50 minutes of Bob Dylan in his prime. I have to give it a 5. Also, he uses a slide whistle on the song “Highway 61 Revisited,” and that’s pretty funny.

The great one.

My second Bob album where I have felt his passion and had an emotional connection to the tracks. Complex lyrics including the opening track’s “How does it feel” coupled with the Ballad of the Thin Man’s talk of “somethings going on and you don’t know what” is powerfully blended with a mix of styles, including blues, rock n roll and singer songwriter. I love the album cover, sitting there holding his sunglasses, it’s like he has been captured after being told “man, take off the glasses Bob, look at the world you are writing about”, and this time I feel his gaze.

I've been writing notes but honestly I've fallen so in love with this record I'll write an actual review. I get the Bob Dylan hype, this is hopeful, it's depressing, it's rock n roll, it's blues, it's country, it has plenty of harmonica. It's the first record from this app that actually gave me inspiration to make some music of my own. tho this is the 2nd record from the 60's i've rated 5/5 so far, so I might be a hidden boomer despite being roughly a third of the age of this record

Bobby is amazing

(V) Brilliant songwriting and I feel so lucky to have seen him live

Very good! Feel like there was a lot of symbolism in the lyrics of these songs, definitely worth more than one listen!

Re listen and I still find it fun to listen to

I’d drive that road any time.

Bob made me appreciate music and songwriting. This album punches you in the gut from the first second to the last.

For each of my perfect albums, I pick one word to describe the entire album with and for Highway 61 Revisited I decided to pick the word Composed. The definition of composed is "having one's feelings and expression under control; calm" and that's a pretty perfect way to summarize how I feel about this album. Highway 61 Revisited is fining out the minor details missed on Bringing It All Back Home to make this arguably Dylan's sharpest cut ever. This man was on a roll that not a single person could stop and the only person who knew how to conduct this train was the one and only Bobby D. Every single song here does not miss, it's amazing, charming, and even more fun then the last I really don't know how he does it but I am in awe. I don't think there is much I can say about the music itself that isn't walking over conversations that have already been made but the music gave me such a heart warming feeling that for the entire 51 minutes a smile never once left my face. The whimsical and goofy but also to the point and well thought out music helps make this such a fantastic time to listen to. It's a perfect start and end and doesn't fear from being itself and being a bit goofy all at once. Every single track on this album is pure musical gold and I don't know how anyone could not enjoy this album. Highway 61 Revisited is for this good days where this vibes are immaculate from front to back, and this album encapsulates that feeling so perfectly and it's the reason why I want to give this a perfect score. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy Bob Dylan's music before I started checking him out and I am more then happy I did as this album will always have a part of me for as long as I live.

A perfect 1960s album. Captures the flashpoint of rock, folk, blues all with a Kerouac prose style.

Masterpiece. Rolling Stone’s my favorite Dylan but everything here is good to great

I think this is probably a 5 from me - not a slam-dunk but I do think it gets across the line. This bluesy jamming version of Dylan is probably my favourite, and he still sounds/feel young and vibrant here. Definitely there is a lot to like.

His voice sucks, his harmonica playing is worse, yet this album is still amazing.

First listen to a Dylan album all the way through, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you look in the encyclopedia under "genius" they have a picture of this album cover next to it. Some editions they use Blonde on Blonde.

Bob. Dylan.

the more i read and familiarize myself with the literary world the stranger Dylan's Nobel becomes. i don't suppose any other songwriter would be as deserving though. what a writer! the lyricism here is so potent and poetic. Bob Dylan's voice? I'm kinda partial to the rambly nature of his singing. fits well with the more literary approach lyrically. and he goes electric on this one! this album sounds so alive. Tombstone Blues is a real banger. one of my favorite albums of the 60s for sure. i'm not as partial to the other electric albums from the time, but we'll see if they'll grow on me when the time comes. deserves to be one of the 1001? obv yes

Icónico!

Duh.

Goat.

Sturlað verk. Hittarinn geggjaður og rúllar vel í gegn. Textasmíðin í algjöru hámarki hjá Bobba. Hjartað á réttum stað þarna.

Hvað er hægt að segja um plötu sem ræsir á Like a rolling stone. Meistaraverk. Besta heildarplata Dylan finnst mér.

Loved this album!! Favorite Song: Like a Rolling Stone - this sounds like something that would be in a romcom!

Love

There's so much going on musically on opener 'Like a Rolling Stone" that it's easy to overlook that this supposed generational anthem is mostly just Dylan being pissy about Edie Sedgewick. 'Ballad of a Thin Man' targets everyone less hip than Bob, the melodramatic melody and arrangement struggling to match Dylan's spleen-venting. Still, this is as essential an album as your grandparents claim, with less celebrated tunes such as "From a Buick 6" and 'It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry' are raucous and funny and delivered with a sneer that easily turns into a snarl. Also - Side 2 is damn near perfect.

Picking a favorite Bob Dylan album is like picking a favorite child. Highway 61 revisited was my introduction to Bob Dylan and... damn, what a fucking incredible work of american songwriting. Desolation row is a serious contender for one of my favorite songs of all time and it's easily the best album closer I've ever heard. I love how it blends Dylan's existing contemporary folk with elements of rock that are just so damn good and timeless honestly.

Bob Dylan's absolute peak. An apologetically raucous, rock-focused banger of a blues record that opens with one of the best songs ever written, and still manages to sound interesting and varied for the remaining 8. Just A+ songwriting, vivid imagery and lyrics delivered with gusto.

bob dylan sucks i hate him and his stupid music

Just an absolute banger. Dylan goes electric. Track one is maybe his greatest work. Not my all time favorite Dylan album but it’s close. Bobs lyrics are impeccable. The sounds of is album is fun, great to hear a him evolving away from straight folk. This guy was on a tear in the 60s, just non stop top tier music and songwriting, he basically put out an album a year and they were all top tier. This pairs nicely with the other 1965 album “Bringing It All Back Home” too. Pretty incredible.

Having gone for an essentially even split of acoustic and electric on his previous album, Dylan here almost totally embraces the raucous rock sound, with the epic closer ‘Desolation Row’ the sole exception. Some of his best work is here (‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ being my two favourites) and the arrangements are brilliantly ragged and ramshackle. Dylan’s voice divides opinion, but for me he sounds fantastic delivering his cryptic and poetic lyrics. This isn’t my favourite Bob Dylan album, but I give it 5 stars without hesitation. It's an all-time classic for good reason.

Dylan writes well, but I think what really sets Highway 61 Revisited apart from his other albums is the instrumentals to tie everything perfectly together.

Really like this album - I think it’s a definite 9/10 - will give 5 as don’t often and I could happily listen to regularly which I think is the test - like a rolling stone up there as one of his very best

Wieder ein Stück Musikgeschichte. Gehört nicht nur, aber besonders wegen „Like A Rolling Stone“ in die Liste!

<3

Duplicate. Dylan at his peak. 5 stars

All but Ballad of a Thin Man

10/10 No notes

I borrowed my first copy from a friend in 1983, copied it to a cassette, and became rather obsessed with Dylan’s lyrics on this album to the point where I wrote them out longhand and then typed them out later. Since added three CD editions (one the hybrid SACD and the last part of the complete albums CD box) and a repress of the mono edition to my collection. Simply put: this album is part of my DNA.

This is an absolute classic top to bottom.

Easy 5 star review for me. I’m a big Dylan fan, and this is my favorite Dylan album.

I prefer electric Dylan and this was at the start of a great period. II mean, it has Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man and Desolation Row on it. But the rest of the album is pretty enioyable musically and lyrically too. A pretty easy 5.

This is tremendous. Even when you feel he's just stumbled onto some surreal lyrics to get a song written even his surreal imagery seems to add to the tracks message. I prefer bringing it all back home if this Dylan era, but I can't fault this, I put it on twice back to back and it is just brilliant. Maybe there is a slight drop off in the second half but I think it's just cos I had to follow my daughter out of the room in case she decided to burn the house down.

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry is one of my favorite songs ever

One of Bob's best albums. So much has been written about it, I don't know what I could add other than to say there is no filler on this album. one great song after another

ok like so we all agree this is probably the best album of all time, right?

I've been listening to this album since long before I was putting any thought into the music I heard, and it was interesting to sit down and really LISTEN, rather than just having the album on. I'd never thought much about it as a concept album, but I'm working on some half-formed thoughts about Highway 61 being a journey between Dylan's origins (Minnesota) and American music history (New Orleans). Yeah, I don't get it either. Great album, though. So good that I'm still giving it five stars even though Dylan's guitar on "Queen Jane Approximately" is SO PAINFULLY OUT OF TUNE! Is that why the word "approximately" is in the title? Was it a joke? Was it meant to convey the looseness of this new electric Dylan? Whatever the reason, it makes what would be a great song into one that I tend to skip, even when listening on vinyl.

Great album, favorite song: Desolation Row

Love me some Bob Dylan. And this particular album is wonderful.

I like this record. Ballad of a Thin Man now is one of my favorites

A masterpiece from Dylan at the Peak of his career.

I cannot emphasize this enough: you have to be in the mood to listen. Tried to listen to this yesterday while I was frantically putting together plans for a week. Hated it. And mind you, I've owned this album since the 90s and always quite enjoyed it. Today, while doing manual labor, fantastic! So many great tales. 5/5

One of the best album openers of all time

Belter

i loved this more than i expected

Digging this album! It's gritty, angsty, melancholic, and cool. Really feeling it. I dunno...maybe I'm actually starting to "get" Dylan? Seems like it. I listened first time through and gave it a 4. I've since returned to it a few times and keep getting a lot out of it. Had to come back and change it to a 5. It's really, really, really good.

Genuinely bob dylan is considered the voice of a generation for good reason. I cannot understate how much i love this white boy with a funny voice.

Her e Bob på topp. Elske det her. Det fungere til både fest og hverdag.

I like Bob Dylan. I have over 40 of his songs liked on Spotify. I even saw him in concert in the early 90s. Prior to being assigned this album here, I had already liked 2 songs off this one - "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Desolation Row" - the first and last tracks. I probably did listen to the whole thing at least once before - but I'm not really sure. This album came out about month before I was born and I have always seen it on "best albums" lists for most of my life. So, expectations were high - but I was honestly skeptical it would live up to it's reputation. So, as with all of the albums on this site, I try to listen to each one 3 times in a row. After the 2nd time through, I started "getting" some of the other songs - especially after reading the lyrics and also reading people's interpretations of the songs on sites like SongMeanings.com. Basically, his fairly obtuse lyrics started making more sense to me. And in general, I started getting into the groove of the songs too - basically getting into the vibe and headspace of Dylan. After the 3rd listen, I looked down and noticed that I had clicked on "like" on every song as I had gone through it. Is it the best album of all time? No, I don't think so. I can quickly think of many other albums deserving of that honor off the top of my head. Is it filled with songs I wouldn't mind listening to again? For sure. Take my 5 stars Bob! Liked songs on Spotify: 9/9 (Perfect Album) Rating: 5/5

Excellent.

Hands down one of the greatest albums of all time. Both artistically articulate and influentially unmatched, this album is a masterclass in songwriting and poetry. I love this album and this album loves me.

Best Bob. Desolation Row one of the greatest songs ever

A grudging, but appreciative, five-star review. I'm glad Dylan decided to plug in his guitar. Hard to beat the bookends of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Desolation Row." The lyrics are amazing -- and, for Dylan, remarkably clear.

As good as it gets!

Maybe my favourite Dylan, seems like there’s something different you can take from it every time.

The Classic!!

95

vinyl day!! God said to Abraham “Kill me a son” Abe says “Man, you must be putting me on” God said “No.” Abe said “What?”

What a classic. So many great songs.

Has some of Dylan's best known songs but the album is a classic all the same 5*

I get Dylan's voice is polarizing, but he is undeniably one of the best songwriters ever.

One of the best

Легчашие 5 звезд в жизни. Рука не поднимется создателю ролинг стон поставить ниже. Слушала альбом читая of mice and men, это такое идеальное комбо, что альбом зашел как по маслу.

Desert island disc for sure.

Part of Bob's great electric Trilogy. Perhaps my least favourite out of 3, but still great nevertheless. Definitely also strongly considering 5 stars for it. And really hard to choose, if possible, the favourite track here - between title track, Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, Desolation Row and Queen Jane Approximately, this album contains some of the Bob's best work.

Um, yeah. Pretty good.

Easy 5 stars

I can’t say Bob Dylan really deserves the Nobel prize for his lyrics (how many times can you rhyme “done” with highway 61?) every second of this album is enjoyable and is probably the first one on this list that you really should listen to before you die.

This is one of my favorite albums of all time, and it was really good to hear that it stands up to my memory of it. Lyrically it’s untouchable, but one of the best parts is how much it feels like you’re in the room while it’s being created; there aren’t any apparent overdubs and there are mistakes and instruments out of tune and people finding their place in the song in real time. The whole thing is so alive and magical.

Classic

Phenomenal album, top 5 favorite dylan record. Was always more of a Dylan fan post going electric. I appreciate the folk days but a bit lacking for me. Say what you want about his voice, dylans appeal has always been in the poetry, music, and then delivery. Taking the context of the time where music is, where dylan was just a year before its easy to appreciate what this album was doing. Moving music from a safer/more whitewashed to a grittier exploring approach. The entire album is a commentary about silliness of modern life like a rolling stone sets the stage, easily the "hit" on the album, i always hear a hammond and retort it needs more hammond, thats the only negative to this one. Ballad of a thin man, excellent haunting tune. Queen Jane approximately ❤️, perfect commentary on the plastic, materialistic world weve since entered. Highway 61 revisted, flawless. Tight and careless at the same time, whistle *chefs kiss*.

What could I possibly say about this album that hasn't already been said? It's just fantastic from start to finish.

Hard to tell if i this is a great album cause its a classic or if its a classic coz its a great album but i guess the end result is the same - great stuff makes me feel things makes me think things makes me want to play the harmonica.

No notes

Great stuff - most I have ever appreciated this album. Fav tracks: Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, Queen Jane Approximately Saved a song: Y RYM: Y (#65)

I felt Like a Rolling Stone listening to this album.

save me bobby

Bob Dylan at his best. Absolutely perfect album. A game changer. Definitely the greatest songwriter of the 20th century. Oh, and I like his voice.

One of the albums I listened to most of his. Love Desolation Row.

immediately started bobbing it

5/5 - Dylan electric - ballad of a thin man, tombestone blues, it takes a lot to laugh it takes a lot to cry, and other great songs

Yes

This is one of those albums where everything just locks into place. From the opening snare crack of “Like a Rolling Stone,” it feels like Dylan kicking the door down and deciding there is no going back. The electric sound is sharp and alive, full of bite and momentum, and it carries a sense of confidence that borders on defiance. It is confrontational, funny, angry, surreal, and completely sure of itself. Song after song lands with purpose. “Ballad of a Thin Man” drips with menace and wit, “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” swings with ease, and “Desolation Row” closes the album in a way that still feels unreal in its scope and imagination. The lyrics are dense but never dull, packed with images that feel chaotic at first and then somehow start to make emotional sense. It is poetry, but it is also rock and roll in its most vital form. What makes Highway 61 Revisited truly great is how alive it still sounds. It does not feel like a museum piece or a historical turning point you have to respect out of obligation. It feels urgent, sharp, and endlessly replayable. This is Dylan at his most fearless, reshaping what popular music could say and how it could sound, and doing it with a grin on his face. A genuine five out of five, not just because of its influence, but because it still delivers every single time.

One of my top 15 albums of all time, but probably not higher only because I didn’t want too many Dylan albums up there and have Blood on the Tracks with the slight edge for me. Best ever song 1? yes, yes, yes It takes a lot to laugh: absolutely love this track. Ballad: quintessential Bob. There’s a video out there of him playing this live seated at a piano that is just, incredible. I mean Dylan’s Mr Jones is a pantheon rock character. And perhaps one of my favorite Bob lyrics: “to tax deductible charity organizations” Ha. Queen Jane: love the rolling piano. And another classic character. Another of my favorite Dylan tunes. Tom Thumb: great piano, great opening line. Desolation Row: sigh Ok, after listening, it’s hard to say this isn’t my favorite Dylan album over BOTT. Guess it depends which I’ve listened to. What’s gonna happen with BoB…or even freewheelin

Classic Dylan. Like A Rolling Stone is an overplayed song but there's a very good reason why: it's great. I think Tom Thumb's Blues and Desolation Row are my other two favorite tracks, but this is just a damn good album from front to back.

good

Yeah!

One of my favourite dylan albums.Amazing experience from the beginning to the end!

Amo esse. Tinha esse CD quando estava no ensino médio e foi muito bom hoje ter esse reencontro.

All bangers

I’ve successfully avoided becoming a Bob Dylan guy for nearly 34 years, and I think this album is changing me, so that’s pretty cool.

328/1089 - I get why people say his voice is grating. It honestly is. It works really well here somehow and the session musicians are doing some really creative comping given the limited chord changes and large amount of repetition of phrases. His harmonica is much worse than his voice. Surprisingly really good.

Bob Dylan nahm das Album in den Columbia Recording Studios in New York auf. Der US-amerikanische Songwriter setzte hier stärker auf elektrische Arrangements, was den Charakter der Stücke spürbar verändert. Prägend sind Titel wie „Like a Rolling Stone“, „Ballad of a Thin Man“ und „Desolation Row“, die zwischen Folk-Rock und Blues-Rock pendeln und den erzählerischen Fokus klar auf gesellschaftliche Spannungen legen. Die Mischung aus direkter Sprache, offener Ironie und präziser Bandarbeit sorgt für ein Album, das weder geschmeidig noch gefällig wirkt, aber in seiner Haltung konsequent bleibt. Insgesamt ein konzentrierter Schritt in eine rauere, elektrifizierte Phase.

Voice, 1. But the songs are undeniable.

yay!

Blahblahblahblahblah. Read the rest of the world's take on it.

Classic

Obviously a classic, Like a Rolling Stone top 50 all time list. No wonder this is one of the most influential albums of all time

I understand the cultural relevance of this album and artist. And I understand the genius of the music and lyrics. But I guess listening to this record confirms it, I’m just not a Bob Dylan fan.

No notes. Crazy good album.

You guys already know how I'm gonna rate this one

There are seven Bob Dylan albums in this series and I will have to give at least one of the ones I adore fewer than five stars just to be severe but it won't be this one. Starting bars of Like a Rolling Stone...world changing. Favorite Tracks: Tombstone Blues, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry, Queen Jane Approximately, Desolation Row

A true masterpiece

the sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken

I really dislike “Like a Rilling Stone”. But I love the rest of this so much it somehow is STILL A 5 😂

All world stuff. If you dont get it the problem is you.

I know many people "want to like" Bob Dylan but find his voice unbearable, the out of tune instruments grating, and the song writing insufferable. I'm the opposite. I want to dislike Bob Dylan, but I find the rhythm and his voice engaging and unique. The song writing is smart - funny at times, sad at others. If you didn't like the album, or Bob Dylan in general, try again after a couple puffs from a joint, open up your ears and mind and give it another go.

One of the interesting things about this project is reading other people's reviews and getting a sense of the really varied responses to certain music. It's not really about how "good" or "bad" the music is on a technical level, it's about that inexplicable quality that music has to reach something deep inside your emotional core and activate your essence and connection to the world. Reading the reviews for this album so many people have a visceral reaction to Bob Dylan, complaining about his voice, the harmonic, the length of the songs. But those things are the things I love about Bob Dylan, and for whatever reason, his music hits my emotional core every single time. Why do I love Bob Dylan so much but I can't possibly listen to Crosby Stills Nash & Young or basically any prog rock or shoe gaze? It's not a logical response, it's purely emotional and intrinsically linked to time and place. Listening to this album I can feel my uncle's scratchy living room carpet, the heat of late August in Iowa, and smell the raw silk on my aunt's loom. I remember this album as the first album that I really thought about lyrics, and every time I listen I sort of fade in and out and catch something different. It's not even my favorite Dylan album, that's Blonde on Blonde. But its true, this is an album that I needed to hear.

I love my mom! Everyone hates to see a Bob Dylan girl coming but here I am. 3 of these stars are for these songs actually ripping, 2 are purely nostalgia. I'm a sentimental woman I just can't help it. I've been turning tf up to Like A Rolling Stone for most of my life and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. In terms of performance, Bob is his typical loosey goosey self. I understand how his vocal stylings can be grating, but this is, unfortunately, him at his vocal prime. It is undeniable that Dylan is a prolific songwriter whose music speaks to many, and I think there is very little logic to who enjoys him and who doesn't. Personally, I can't help but get rowdy when I hear that stupid whistle at the beginning of Highway 61

Classic and most influential

classic

Brilliant but hard to see why it caused such uproar at this distance

Classic

Bob Dylan is not exactly my favorite artist, but this album is undeniable

9.3/10

This is the favourite album of one of my Tumblr mutuals and when I saw it had been generated my first thought was how I needed to tell them that I had listened to it for the first time. Luckily it was brilliant so I don't have to disappoint them with a negative opinion. Faves: Ballad of a Thin Man (idk who Mr Jones is but he got eviscerated omg...), Like a Rolling Stone

8,66

My advice is to not let the boys in. Bob Dylan is so fucking cool. Desolation Row is my favorite 11-minute song and it's not even close.

Rating: 9/10 Probably was the greatest album ever recorded when it came out 60 years ago right? From a Buick 6 is maybe the only lull for me but I still can’t say it’s anything less than a good song. So highly consistent over a satisfying runtime. I would say the best of his 60’s output and one of the best aging pieces of music made

Highway 61 Revisited is such an immortal classic that it almost feels like sacrilege to just jot down a few casual album notes — especially since I don’t have the time right now to write a proper, dignified review. Not that one is needed; this album has been analyzed, praised, dissected and re-dissected more than enough, and I doubt I have anything genuinely new to add. Just a few observations: I love the camera in the background on the cover — a Nikon SP rangefinder. A lovely detail. Highway 61 was one of the records in my father’s collection. Throughout my youth I explored many of those albums, but I wasn’t ready for Bob Dylan yet. It wasn’t until my late twenties, during a brutal heartbreak, that I finally entered the Dylan universe — through Blood on the Tracks, of course.

An absolute fantastic experience. Bob Dylan knows how to write lyrics better than nearly any other artist to whom I have ever listened.

What are the odds on us getting five Bob Dylan albums in a row this week? That would be a great week

high 5 Recently my favourites been Queen Jane Approximately. It sums up the album well, theres an endless euphoria about it.

A classic

I was just thinking about this album, as well as how I was nearly 200 albums deep without seeing any Dylan. The generator, with its mysterious powers prevails again. I've been quietly working on getting into Dylan for a while, with limited success. I actually like his voice, and I think a lot of his gold era lyrics are fantastic, but honestly, I'm just not always sold on the songs themselves. Although I will say that listening to this from front to back was very helpful, and I did *really* like a lot of it. Bob Dylan really is one of the great American poets, and the advice to take this as poetry first and music second actually does help. His verses are sprawling but detailed, full of as many panoramas as portraits, and his poetic voice is distinct and powerful. A lot of my favorites on here are actually the longer songs. On Like A Rolling Stone, Tombstone Blues, Ballad Of A Thin Man, and Desolation Rows, it's as though the world of his poetry unravels before you in real time. Every verse makes another connection, strengthens the themes, expands the scope, crystallizes the images. The way he writes really is incredible. In addition to this, like I said, I happen to like Dylan's singing voice. He's narratorial and emotive, and he really digs deep on his delivery. He has such a powerful grit and it sells a weight to his words. And while listening, I did kind of figure out the appeal of the music itself. From the rambling, laid back Like A Rolling Stone, to the stubborn, rickety train energy of Tombstone Blues. My single favorite song may be Ballad Of A Thin Man, the noir-ish, blues-y rock is a perfect complement to the cubist Americana of his lyrics. This whole album contains excellent folk rock. I'm listening again while writing this, and even songs like Queen Jane Approximately, It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, and Highway 61 Revisited are growing on me. I've really considered giving this a 5: some of these songs are perfect. But there are still a couple I'm not sold on, like From A Buick 6 and Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues. But I do finally kind of get Dylan as a mythological figure now. And I will keep listening. Don't be surprised if this review gets an upgrade sooner than later. Edit: This finally got some more time, and yeah: my complaints have pretty much melted away. The scale, and depth and complexity of the America and its characters in Dylan's music is staggering. And I've finally figured out how these unassuming songs mesh perfectly with everything. This is really as brilliant as people would have me believe.

Great

One of the best of one of the best

This is one of Bob Dylan's biggest and best albums. Many people far smarter than I have dissected it beyond recognition. There's no way I, a passive fan, can offer any new insight into this album. So I'm not going to try. It's just a really good album. My advice is to read up on it. It's an interesting story.

The greatest album from one of the greatest songwriters of all time. What else is there to say? Sure, his signing isn't great. But its not as bad as people make out; at least it wasn't when this album came out. But his writing in Highway 61, Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a This Man, and Desolation Row is unmatched. Easy 5 stars

Landmark album. Fantastic.

Great record. Maybe I favorite of his.

Perfect

Already a favorite of mine before today.

Possibly Dylan’s best work.

Slight flex that I got to hear Highway 61 Revisited (the song) live a month ago. Bob changed it a lot, with a much darker and slower composition. That, mixed with his unique vocal inflections made for a listening experience that deviates greatly from the original recording. The concert goers around us did not appreciate the changes, but I respect that Bob does not give a shit about anyone’s opinion and just wants to play his songs the way he wants to play them. Anyway, 5/5.

So many classics so good. His voice sounds effortless too in a good way. But I only heard a couple of the songs of the album but the whole album is good

Loved all of this. Always liked BD and this just strengthened that. Great song composition, lyrics, and almost gave me confidence is a weird way. My favorite album so far!

Come on. Ahhhhhhhh how does it feeeeel? This is my most listened to Bob Dylan album, likely due to Sam Talley so already knew I loved it. Harmonica goes bonkers. Gotta love me some Bob. Rounding up due to vibes— shoutout my boy Dick. 4.5/5

Incredible. Always incredible

You don't have to like the voice, but if you can't hear the message, that's on you.

Terrific. Just terrific stuff.

It’s hard to argue it isn’t one of the most innovative and influential albums from the 60’s. Another I have on vinyl and I’ll always enjoy giving it a good listen

Quintessential Dylan.

I love this album.

Highway 61 is one of my very favorite Bob Dylan records.

A wonderful album full of folk rock! Bob Dylan at his best right here.

5/5

So, so good.

Yeah I mean yeah

🗯 Fan-fucking-tastic Dylan record — bookended by two of the greatest songs he’s ever committed to tape. By the time he made Highway 61 Revisited, Dylan had already changed folk forever — now he was busy electrifying it. The album kicks off with Like a Rolling Stone, six minutes of sneering poetry and freedom that still towers over half a century of rock music. It closes with Desolation Row, a surreal, sprawling fever dream that reads like a novel and sounds like a prophecy. In between? Chaos, charisma, and wit — from the apocalyptic carnival of Ballad of a Thin Man to the bar-room blues of the title track. This is Dylan at his wildest and most alive, his sneer fully weaponised, his mind firing on every cylinder. Verdict: Essential (the sound of a genius catching fire) For fans of: The Band, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, anyone who’s ever wanted to plug folk music into a socket and watch it explode

The first Dylan record I ever listened to and one I’d still (unsurprisingly) rate among his best. Rolling Stone is one of the true great openers and what follows really shows the range and versatility of the instrumentation he gained from going full band and electric. Ballad of a Thin Man remains one of my favourites and Desolation Row gets better every time - the way it builds both musically and lyrically is why he’s considered one of the great wordsmiths.

Like a Rolling Stone Tombstone Blues It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry Ballad of a Thin Man Queen Jane Approximately Highway 61 Revisited Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues Desolation Row

Lyrics? Great. Melodies? Great. Arrangement? Great. Social commentary? Great. Yeah. Absolutely great.

Alla låtar är fem/fem tills desolation row mördar dem

5/5

Tho Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks are even more realized than Highway 61 - b/c fiercely personal - nada in Dylan's oeuvre approaches the iconicity of his second electric installment, not Bringing It All Back Home w/ 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' and 'Mr. Tambourine Man' or Freewheelin' w/ 'Blowin' in the Wind.' This isn't where it all began w/ this artist, but it is where something remarkably new - dare I say mind-expansive? - began in popular music: pointed yet abstract lyricism, long + subtly crescendoing tracks, and a bluesy literariness. Worthy or not of the Nobel Prize, he's the pivotal limit of modernism: 'You've been thru all all of / F. Scott Fitzgerald's books'; 'And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot / Fighting in the captain's tower.'

Amazing.

very solid. i should listen more of bob