Dylan was virtually gushing great songs when this masterpiece arrived in the summer of 1965. From the epochal opening of "Like a Rolling Stone" through the absurdly apocalyptic closer, "Desolation Row," his command of surrealistic language was daring and amazing. As a vocalist, he was rewriting the rules of the game. Jimi Hendrix made note of Mr. Z's technically suspect pitch and decided that he too was a singer. And the backing, though ragged, is precisely right. Is this the essential Dylan album? It's certainly one of them. --Steven Stolder

2008-07-05 -- 5/5:: Napoleon in rags
He's made too many great albums to count, but rarely has Bob Dylan ever managed to top the psychotic hillbilly proto-psychedelic rock `n' roll dreamscape masterpiece that is Highway 61 Revisited. There are plenty of reasons for that: For one thing, the record is soaked in raw energy and electrified excitement. As the first complete rock `n' roll album of Dylan's career, Highway 61 Revisited bristles with palpable enthusiasm, the sense of gleefully leaping into the void, of playing around with new sounds and textures, without any particular regard for the feelings or traditions or opinions of others.

It's also a display of Dylan's genius at its absolute zenith. His songwriting is phenomenal, full of backwoods surrealism and backalley melodies. As a performer, he's rarely been as inspired as he is here: He's hilarious and angry and poetic and visceral. His vocals are full of emotion and detachment. He's cynical and big-hearted all at once. He's insane and cool and intellectual. He's giddy and lethargic and everything in between. The music's great, too. Lots of bluesy guitars and throbbing organs and undulating rhythms. It's garage rock, but with a higher purpose. It's sheer genius.

2008-06-19 -- 5/5:: They Are Selling Post Cards of The Hanging -Bob Dylan Plugged In, Thank you
It seems hard to believe now both as to the performer as well as to what was being attempted that anyone would take umbrage at a performer using an electric guitar to tell a folk story (or any story for that matter). It is not necessary to go into all the details of what or what did not happen with Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 to know that one should be glad, glad as hell, that Bob Dylan continued to listen to his own drummer and carry on a career based on electronic music.

Others have, endlessly, gone on about Bob Dylan's role as the voice of his generation (and mine), his lyrics and what they do or do not mean and his place in the rock or folk pantheons, or both. I just want to mention a couple of points here. Any song that starts out like Desolation Row with the line- " They are selling post cards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown" will automatically get my attention every time- and keep it through over 11 minute of stream of consciousness, word play and harmonica energy. If I had to pick my number one favorite Dylan song (and the one that I have listened to the most) this is the one. Start me off with the "When you are lost in the rain in Juarez " of Tom Thumbs Blues as an appetizer and I am all set for a while. How is that for back-to-back treats- harmonica thrown in gratis?

Having mentioned my two favorites on this album I have hardly completed comment. I am not sure whether Bob Dylan was the voice of the generation of '68, or whether he wanted to be. However, few can deny that Like A Rolling Stone was one of the anthems of our generation- with or without direction home. Highway 61 Revisited, the title track, has over the years gone up in my estimation as a song with an interesting story line (yes, who was doing what down on Highway 61) and a very rock beat. Of course, with Dylan one needs some thoughts of lost love, longing and perfidy so Queen Jane Approximately fits the bill. Well, I could go on and on but you get the point this is a Dylan album you must own. More than that though if you want to get a feel for the trials and tribulations of the 1960's by one of its best troubadours you NEED this album.

2008-06-17 -- 5/5:: BOB DYLAN'S GREATEST ALBUM ! (Highway 61 Revisited is where Dylan went airborne)
"Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime
DIDN'T YOU?"

And so begins one of the greatest songs (albums) in rock music history. As Bob Dylan chronicles the downward spiral of an unidentified smug soul's fall from grace, he wisely places himself in the background as an innocent observer with lower status. While he obviously takes satisfaction in rubbing salt in the wounds of this person, it was arrogant recklessness and blind self righteousness that brought this one down, not Dylan's treachery.

...Aah, the beauty of poetic justice.

Highway 61 Revisited (1965) was Bob Dylan's first legitimate rock music album, and with Mike Bloomfield playing the guitar and Al Kooper on the keyboards, it's both a satisfying and competent blues/folk-rock venture all the way through. There is really some consistent musicianship here. Highway 61 Revisited is also where Bob Dylan's name became a household word, and everybody in the music world and beyond started to watch his every move.

The songs are angry and imaginitive with a host of surreal characters and interesting places. Dylan uses these characters to enigmatically expose corruption, apathy, and haughtiness. In Tombstone Blues, Dylan rails against, among other things, the emotional clutter of superfluous and misguided distractions.

Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge

The macabre piano blues, The Ballad Of A Thin Man, is a carnival like, demented, and very effective depiction of counter-culture shock paranoia.

And you say, "Oh my God
Am I here all alone?"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
...Do you, Mister Jones?

Queen Jane Approximately revisits the fall from grace scenario, but with a different, just barely more compassionate, twist. The title song is a surreal blues-rock Biblical story/folk ballad/madcap fairy tale, complete with slide guitar and a toy siren. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues is a humorous, yet cynical, ballad of several different circumstances encountered in Juarez at Eastertime.

The eleven minute-plus Spanish folk ballad epic, Desolation Row, closes the album and features a cast of characters that includes Cindarella, Romeo, Cain and Abel, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Good Samaritan, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and a place called Desolation Row (which is most likely near The Gates Of Eden).

Highway 61 Revisited is the album that made Bob Dylan a rock star/saviour, and although he may have lost some folk purists as fans, the album brought him many more new fans. Dylan had worked with a rock band before, but not to this extent, or with this kind of success. Like A Rolling Stone is a monument in rock music, and it's Bob Dylan's best known song. Highway 61 Revisited is also a monument, and it's Bob Dylan's greatest album, even though legitimate arguments can be made that it's not actually his best. Either way, if you like Bob Dylan, you don't want to miss it!

2008-06-15 -- 5/5:: Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited", 1965
This is a good album. From the opener track, Like A Rolling Stone too, Desolation Row, this is a non stop folk rock album classic. This album was more different at the time than past dylan albums compared too The Freewheelin this album has more rock elements too it and is more electric yet it still is a folk rock album. By one of the most essential 60s albums you can buy,
5/5 stars

2008-05-13 -- 5/5:: Desolation Row
From the opening track "Like A Rolling Stone" to the unbelievably deep closer "Desolation Row", Bob Dylan has crafted what has come to be known as one of his greatest albums, and one of the greatest folk rock albums of all time. Deceptively complex lyrics, full of subtle meaning and imagery will take you down that lonely highway. The first album Dylan did with a full band, the music is engrossing. Dylan's talky vocals are the understating means by which all this is brought to the listener's ear. I find it hard to describe this album, it takes a few spins to really appreciate the depth of it all. Anyways, the highlights on this album for me were "Like A Rolling Stone", "Highway 61 Revisited", and "Desolation Row" but the rest of the tracks are outstanding in their own ways. If you're curious about Dylan, I think this could be considered a great place to start. Just be ready to have your view of the world slightly changed by the time you're done.