Customer Reviews

The Essential Bob Dylan (6 Bonus Tracks) (2CD)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pay the extra $...bucks and get this version over the American one. The American version is skimpy, with less than an hour on disc 1, and just barely over an hour on disc 2, while this Australian version has over 77 minutes per disc, and includes more of his best material, including "I Want You", a hit that was left off of the American version.

Featuring six bonus tracks (Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?, I Want You, Changing Of The Guards, Blind Willie McTell, Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love?), Dignity (Original Version)) this is obviously the superior version.

The haunting Blind Willie McTell, recorded in 1983, stands out better than anything else he did in that era. The original version of Dignity is a much livelier mix than the one on Greatest Hits Vol 3. The snare and the lead guitar are now brought froward, which gives the song more of a groove, and everything sounds cleaner than the sludgy mix on the earlier version.

Who are the top three rock artists of all time ?
To my mind they are Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Bob Dylan.
And the top act is ... Bob Dylan!
Elvis started it all, but hardly wrote any of his songs.
His 1960s and 1970s recordings rarely matched his bomb shells of the 1950s.
The Beatles took the world by storm from 1963/1964 to their split in 1970.
They had 2 and then 3 top songwriters to propell them to the top.
Bob Dylan first significant recording, Blowin' In The Wind, proved to be just the tip of the iceberg as he has released more meaningful songs than either of his named rivals.
Highlights are nearly all the 36 tracks, although my wife thinks Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 is fun and carefree, I don't agree!
Apart from the more odvious choices I love Positively 4th Street, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, I Shall Be Released and Blind Willie McTell.
Missing are I Threw It All Away, I Beleive In You and Every Grain Of Sand.
5 stars are not enough, I'd like to give it 10 !

This is an excellent collection, capturing many of the best Dylan tunes. However, for some reason I think Disc 2 is much better than Disc 1...I'm not sure why, but that's the one I tend to track to most often (between the 2).

If you are a collector of music, young, and always wanted to hear more of Bob Dylan than what really bad radio plays, this is THE Essential Bob Dylan CD to add to you're current collection, and begin a new one with Bobby. So much of the great music by great artists is not played on radio. One has to dig a little. As one of my favorite Irish singers, Brian Kennedy has said: Sometimes you have to go back (referrering to traditional irish music) to go forward. The young, serious musicians out there have probably checked Dylan out. They know. He can't be ignored.

Adair

bought this for a friend of mine.. He flipped when he saw it and had to play it right away..

Still loving it.. Dylan rocks!!

thanks for the quick service and great quality.