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Freewheelin Bob Dylan (Hybr)

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I am not a Dylan fan. But I've got an SACD player, and whenever I notice a retailer selling off their SACD stock cheaply, I tend to hoover it up.

I've always felt a bit guilty about not liking Dylan, given that he has had millions of fans, and was, at least until his motorbike accident in 1966, as big as Elvis and the Beatles. I think the problem is that I was born a decade too late, and music has always been much more important to me than lyrics. It may be heretical to say this but, as a teenager in the 1970s, I found the music of bands like Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers more catchy than Dylan (great though the 'Desire' LP was).

But Dylan doesn't go away, and he's now one of the few popular artists to have much of his output available on SACD. THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN was one of the key visual references in the recent Cameron Crowe movie VANILLA SKY.

I think you have to have lived through the era to really appreciate the impact of what Dylan was doing. Coming late to the era, it matters little to a new fan that 'Highway 61 Revisited' was the first electric folk rock album. There are now hundreds, if not thousands, of electric folk rock albums to choose from, and if anything, the later ones are likely to smoothe off the rough edges of the first.

But now I have a wad of Dylan SACDs and the opportunity to wade through them in chronological sequence. And I keep coming back to THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN because it possesses a great purity and enthusiasm. As other reviewers have said, it's just the man, his mouth organ and his guitar (apart from on 'Corrina, Corrina'). SACD captures the simplicity of his performance superbly. NB This is SACD Stereo -- not Surround Sound, nor Dolby 5.1.

The music is part folk, part blues. Yes, it's slightly repetitive in that it lacks the diversity and creative input you could get from a wider group setting. But for me, this is solo Dylan at the top of his game, bristling with confidence that an enormous audience would take to the album. To enjoy this CD, you don't need to organise a sit-in, protest march or late-night coffee with a few student friends. It really is OK to listen to this in the car or while exercising or even (heaven forbid!) as background music while working or giving a dinner party. Dylan probably foresaw none of these uses for his music, and I suspect the only protest at such abuse would come from his diehard folk fans -- the same ones who protested about his later transition to electric instruments. Me, I just love it because it's so uncluttered. (And normally I don't like folk music!)

It's almost impossible to put Bob Dylan's music in the context of when it was first released, as he is going on forty-plus years of fame and icon status in most learned musical circles. It's hard to hear the songs he penned, seen through the lens of what they came to mean and what they continue to mean, as if they were new, sparkling examples of a talent just beginning to be realized.

All of which makes hearing "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", his 1963 sophmore album (after a self-titled debut the year before) all the more impressive. With just his guitar and harmonica, Dylan manages to weave his way through social protest, love and loss, and story-songs like the gifted folk poet that he was first sold to the world as. Before he went electric, Dylan became the darling of the folk movement through songs like "Blowin' In the Wind", "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright", "Masters of War", and all these are presented in the exceptional technical format that maximizes their beauty and stark evocations of subject matters both political and personal.

It's the spit and anger of "Masters of War" that many people will probably take away from this record, but don't forget the humorous side; as showcased in some of his best tracks from the mid-Sixties, Dylan was not born missing a sense of humor. "I Shall Be Free", in particular, is one of the funniest tunes committed to record. "Talking World War III Blues", "Bob Dylan's Blues", and "Bob Dylan's Dream" make for a humorous aside to the more strident sloganeering that Dylan engages on. "Corrina, Corrina" sees Dylan backed by a sparse band, and it is entirely possible that the original album would have been more along those lines had not Dylan's manager at the time sought to court the folk audience and shun the rockers who might have grasped Dylan back then.

I have to confess that I was hesitant to purchase this; as a fan of the "electric years" (starting with the masterpieces contained on "Bringing It All Back Home"), I was reluctant to hear some of the folk material. But this album could very well be the perfect introduction to Dylan; it contains classic songs that any artist would give their right arm to pen (and many would cover), and flows perfectly from one tune to the next. There's not a bad note on the album.

If you want to hear Dylan, you must hear "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan". You owe it to yourself to get this album, and prepare to put it on repeat at least seven or eight times the first time you play it. It's that damn good, and I don't know how else I can emphasize that.

Dylan released one album before this one, but "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" is really where it all begins. After all, who hasn't heard "Blowin' in the Wind"? Arguably, it's one of the most influential folks songs ever written. Throughout the sixties covers of the song flowed like Niagra from the guitars and mouths of folk bands, rock bands, and singer/songwriters inspired by Dylan's example. The song has almost become synonymous with the concept of "protest song". It helped define the music of its era, and remains one of Dylan's anthems.

The album consists of Dylan, Guitar, and harmonica with one exception: "Corrina, Corrina" includes a small band. Otherwise it's a one man show. That makes this album all the more incredible. Neil Young once said about playing solo acoustically "You gotta be good to do that". And so it appears. Very few solo acts can pull off what Dylan accomplishes here. The solid but not too perfect guitar playing, his wavering and slightly abrasive voice, and the boisterous harmonica somehow create a coherent whole that is neither boring or sloppy. He probably couldnt've consciously created a better tribute to his greatest influence Woody Guthrie.

"Masters of War" contains some of Dylan's most fist-clenching lyrics, such as "You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins", and "Even Jesus would never forgive what you do"; it pulls out all the stops with "And I hope that you die, and your death will come soon." The whole song spills venom in large pools.

"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" evokes nightmarish images. The lyrics seem to prophesize a coming calamity. Some have claimed that Dylan predicted the strife of the 1960s in this song. Regardless, it remains one of Dylan's outstanding and unforgettable songs.

"Oxford Town" deals with racial injustice and is supposedly based on the story of James Meredith. Imagery of guns, clubs, and tear gas bombs pervade the song.

"I Shall Be Free" ends the album on a humorous note. It's based on the "We Shall Be Free" tune that Lead Belly and Guthrie once sang together. Dylan "updated" the song for the 1960s. Pay special attention to the Bridget Bardot, Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren line. Did the somewhat prudish scene of 1963 miss the baudy double entendre?

This album and 1964's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" put Dylan right at the center of the folk and protest music scene of the 1960s. He started hanging out with Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, and others who would spitefully condemn Dylan just a few years later for abandoning the scene he helped to boost in popularity. The years repute Dylan in this debate. After all, who could expect him to make two better folk protest albums than his first two? Dylan would have burned out quickly without exploring other avenues. In retrospect, he couldn't have stayed where this album put him. So he fled the scene. It wasn't the first or last scene he fled. It was just the beginning of one of the most intriguing and influential music careers of the twentieth century. "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" remains a classic. If anything it has gained in prestige since its release over 40 years ago. That alone speaks volumes.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is one of those albums that I think I could listen to and enjoy anytime, regardless of mood. It's just a wonderful classic album. Dylan's second album, Freewheelin' is a great improvement over his debut (which is also a very good record). After composing only two songs for his debut, Freewheelin' finds Dylan significantly more confident in his songwriting abilities. As well he should be, because his original songs here are amazing.

1. Blowin' in the Wind - One of the greatest folk songs of all time, and has been covered by numerous artists. Still one of Dylan's most well-known songs today.

2. Girl from the North Country - A lovely folk ballad, and one of my favorite romantic Dylan songs. In 1969, Dylan would resurrect this song as a duet with his Johnny Cash on his Nashville Skyline album.

3. Masters of War - Dylan's most scathing anti-war song and one of his most vicious protest songs ever. You can feel the venom in his voice as he talks of politicians who use war for financial gain. This song is still powerful now in 2005, in fact it may be more relevant than ever now.

4. Down the Highway - Country-blues tune with Dylan doing sort of an imitation of Hank Williams. A good song, but not the most memorable.

5. Bob Dylan's Blues - A short, lightweight country-folk tune. One of the album's lesser tracks.

6. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall - One of Dylan's all-time classics. It resembles a protest song, but it's not quite direct enough lyrically to qualify. But it is one of the finest songs of Dylan's early years.

7. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Another classic and one of my personal favorites. This is a lovely ballad directed to Dylan's girlfriend Suze Rotolo. Heartfelt lyrics, a wonderful vocal from Dylan and excellent fingerpicked guitar too. One of his best songs.

8. Bob Dylan's Dream - A lovely folk song in which Dylan reminisces about the past. A great lesser-known Dylan song.

9. Oxford Town - Potent protest song about a racial incident, but I'm not sure exactly what incident is referred to.

10. Talking World War III Blues - A humorous narrative-song with lots of great lines including "'I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours,' I said that." However, I prefer the version of the song on Bootleg Series, volume 6 - Live 1964.

11. Corrina, Corrina - A lovely interpretation of an old folk song, and the only song on the album to feature accompaniment. It features a drummer and possibly a second guitar player. It was to be the B-side of an early single, "Mixed-Up Confusion", which would have been Dylan's first electric song.

12. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance - Another folk tune arranged by Dylan. Dylan's energetic vocal style on this song is quite similar to that of his debut.

13. I Shall Be Free - The album closes with this humorous story song which starts a style that Dylan would revisit several times in the future. This song reveals Dylan's sense of humor better than nearly anything else he would record. "I make love to Elizabeth Taylor... catch hell from Richard Burton".

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is an excellent album that any serious fan of music should own and relish. If you're new to Dylan, this should be one of your first purchases, after Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited and Blood On The Tracks. But don't stop here! If you like Freewheelin' be sure to check out Dylan's third album, The Times They Are A-Changin' which is almost as good.

While it's one of Dylan's most popular records, let's face facts: "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" would be baffling and inaccessible for any first-time listener. The album is entirely acoustic, with arrangements consisting merely of guitar and harmonica. Dylan's voice hadn't yet loosened up as it would over his next few albums: he sounds hoarse and often gruff, though it's totally charming.

The saving grace of the album (for anyone who doesn't consider Dylan's stylistic idiosyncrasies to be one of his greatest strengths) is its wit and strong songwriting. The first Dylan album where all the songs are his own (well, with the exception of "Corrina, Corrina"), this is a glorious set of tunes ranging from the playful "I Shall Be Free" to the dead-serious "Masters of War".

On some of the songs, Dylan giggles with the sheer absurdity of the things he's saying; on others, his voice achieves something like an oracular, Old Testament intonation that will send chills up anyone's spine.

Given the variety of his work, it's hard to name any Dylan album as his best - but what we get here is the earliest manifestation of his full personality and dynamism. Though not necessarily for a huge audience, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" is a classic.

First of all, this is one of the best Dylan albums available. The remastered sound is fantastic. While many remastered CDs often sound too clean, this cd has be able to grasp the spirit of the original recording, so much so at times it feels as if one is standing in the studio with Dylan. To address some criticisms, first, while this is an SACD release, it is a Hybrid which means that it has the capability of playing on a standard CD player. Second, while I'm sure a previous reviewer will disagree...Justin Timberlake will long be forgotten in 40yrs, unlike Bob Dylan; "Freewheelin" was released over forty years ago and is still great. If you are a fan of Dylan, this is a must have!

Take a little Jewish guy from the Minnesota iron range with a weak voice that can't carry a tune, plays just the most rudimentary of chords and usually is his own backing band and whaddya have? Right, one of the most important albums of all time. This is the album that put Dylan on the map and helped make him one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. If the LP had just 2 songs on it (Blowin' in the Wind and A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall) it would still be a seminal work. Both of these songs were eerily prophetic, incredibly powerful and even influenced the turbulent events that were to follow. Music grew up with the release of this album and no artist to this day has approached Dylan's powerful ability to communicate through song. Lennon/McCartney: terrific. The Stones: wonderful. Springsteen: great performer. Ray Charles: a musical genius. If you haven't listened to Dylan, however, you've missed the real thing!

Bob's second album, and a pretty good one I must say! Five classics are available on this disc: Blowin' in the Wind, Girl from the North Country, Masters of War, A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall and Don't Think Twice It's All Right. And these are among the best in Bob's catalouge Three of these five are protest songs, in fact about half the album is made up of those; some are bleak (Masters of War, Hard Rain, Oxford Town), others a bit more lighthearted and goofy (Talkin' World War III Blues) and still others sad and melancholy in tone (Classic Blowin' in the Wind). But there are also a couple good romantic tunes here, in the form of Girl of the North Country and Don't Think Twice, It's a ll Right, which I believe to be the best song on the album. Then there's I Shall Be Free, which I guess could be considered a protest, but it's a funny one! Bob takes the role of a guy who is apparently well-connected (he's friends with John F. Kennedy) and popular (he mentions several women). However, the song is a bit dated-having not grown up in the 60's, I have never heard of half the people he's mentioned-which is part of the reason why it's not as good as the other songs.
However, there are three tunes here I out-and-out don't like. The first is Down the Highway - the song drags on forever, even though it's not really all that long, and isn't very creative. Next is Bob Dylan's Dream, where Bob attempts philosophy and comes up miserabley, intolerabley short. Finally, the sole cover-Corrina Corrina-simply isn't Bob's type of song.

I am thrilled with the SACD version of this classic. It's given me a chance to get to experience one of Dylan's greatest albums all over again. It's hard to express how fine the SACD sound is. Maybe the best way I can explain it is this: think about how much new detail you hear when you listen to a favorite album for the first time through headphones. The ambience, the pick on the guitar strings, the voice in breathy detail. SACD gives you that through regular speakers. Plus, the sound is definitely warm and atmospheric, no harsh highs like on the regular CDs. I can't wait to see the whole Dylan catalog released on SACD.

Bob rarely does the same thing twice (well - he rarely does the same thing three times in a row), and here on his second album he's already changing things around. Gone are most of the covers (only "Corrina, Corrina" remains). Instead we get a lot of Bob Dylan in his own words. In fact two of the songs include his name in the title ("Bob Dylan's Blues" and "Bob Dylan's Dream"). And furthermore The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is a good album. He manages to create a fairly wide diversity of styles with his limited instrumental palette of voice, guitar, and harmonica. Although there is one song one here, "Corrina, Corrina", which features outside musicians - upright bass and brushed drums - for the first time (unless you count the deleted single "Mixed-Up Confusion") already showing Bob's frustration with that limitation. While the album is best known for its finger-pointing protest songs ("Blowin' In The Wind", "Masters Of War", "Oxford Blues", and "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"), there's a lot more to it than that. There are a couple of great touching sad songs (the classic "Girl From North Country" and "Don't Think Twice"). And there's also a lot of fun goofy songs that are as well remembered - "Talkin' World War II Blues", "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance", and "I Shall Be Free". There's also a couple examples of a common Bob Dylan M.O.: a standard 12-bar blues progression that he plays like he invented it, as a vehicle for some of his wild and wooly words: "Bob Dylan's Blues" and "Down The Highway".