Customer Reviews

Freewheelin Bob Dylan (Reis)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

Released in March of 1963 this album, unlike his first, consists mostly of songs by Mr. Dylan himself. The songs, everyone a gem, seem to be a running commentary on what it must have been like to be in young in the early Sixties and getting mixed messages from those in power. JFK was alive with the promise of hope and a New Frontier, yet the war in Vietnam was hotting up.

Songs like the lead off "Blowin' in the Wind," "Talking World War III Blues," "A Hard Rain," and "Masters of War," which appears to be just as relevant now as it was forty years ago, seem to be a somber message of the turbulent times to come.

With "Don't Think Twice," "Girl From the North Country," and "Corrina, Corrina," Mr. Dylan shows us that he's not just about protesting and complaining, that he can sing the tender ballads as well, and why not, this was a time of hope, there was tenderness in 1963, however there were storm clouds on the horizon, Dallas and a full blown war were coming and this record seems to be a warning.

What more can be said about Dylan's Freewheelin'? He was only 21 but he already knew what life was going to be like. He sounds as if he's his own reincarnation - he'd been there and back! Wise words pour from his mind and come to us as this life riddle imagery. May the wind keep on blowin'...

Dylan was relatively unknown before the release of this album, but he certainly wasn't afterwards. Simply tremendous from cover to cover. Blowin' in the Wind is obviously a theme song for an entire generation, but the most important song on the album is the stunning 'A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall'. Not only did it almost eerily predict the future turmoil in the latter part of the '60s, it is also one of the great poems of the 20th century. When Allan Ginsberg, himself no slouch as a poet, heard this song, it brought him to tears. The Beatles listened to this album endlessly and worshipped Dylan. If it's good enough for the fab 4, it should be good enough for you! Dylan, with just his rudimentary guitar strums, basic harmonica lines and untrained voice was somehow able to create totally unique, incredible, moving music that hundreds of would-be Dylans were not able to come close to duplicating. Truly one of the great albums from a singular genius. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'd recommend this album.

Freewheelin' is Bob Dylan's second record. While his first was an album of mostly folk song covers with only two originals, this record had only two covers, the rest being originals and some of Bob Dylan's finest work. "Girl From the North Country" is one of my favorite songs, by anybody, and to think it was written by a twenty-one-year-old kid, almost half a century ago, way back in 1963.

"Master's of War" still seems valid today. Re, those masters of war, those seller's of guns, "There is one thing I know, though I'm younger than you, that even Jesus would never forgive what you do." Yet, despite those words that moved so many, all these years later the masters of war are still plying their trade. And, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Blowin' in the Wind," perhaps the best antiwar song ever written. Dylan asks nine questions about war and freedom, the answers to all of them, I'm afraid are, "Blowin' in the Wind."

It took quite a long time - much longer than most albums, actually - for this to make its mark on me. But now that it has, I can safely endorse its mythic reputation. It's marred the slightest bit by some ponderous philosophy ("Bob Dylan's Dream"), and while some lyrics from "I Shall be Free" are priceless, the many explicit references to '60s pop culture date the song. Still, there's a lot to like, even to love, about this one. The mood of the album varies from humorous but thought-provoking satire ("Bob Dylan's Blues"; "Talkin' World War Three Blues") to love songs (the delicate, finger-picked "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", the mournful "Girl of the North Country"). There are only two covers this time around, and they're both well-done: "Corrina, Corrina" (with brushed drums) is heartbroken, and "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" is engaging and fun. The most hard-hitting protest by far is "It's a Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", with bone-chilling apocalyptic imagery sung in a Biblical tone, though the biting "Masters of War" and dead-on anti-racism "Oxford Town" take home high honors as well. And even the generic blues "Down the Highway" is boosted by Bob's desolate delivery. I haven't even mentioned the record's most famous track, the Zen-like human rights anthem "Blowin' in the Wind" - needless to say, it's a masterpiece, and one of the best songs in Dylan's entire career. The acoustic guitar and harmonica backdrop might seem a bit repetitive at first, but it's ample support for the words and vocals. The lyrics are, of course, as good as you've heard, and while Dylan's vocals aren't great from a technical standpoint, they certainly are from an emotional one. I know this is a cliché, but if you must have one acoustic guitar, harmonica, and vocals album, make it this one. You will not regret it.

In my opinion this is Bob Dylan's best. If you prefer Dylan's early pre-electric material then perhaps you will agree. I don't even like "Blowin' in the Wind" or "Masters of War" but all the other songs on this disc are excellent, and more than make up for the ones I'm not in to. I absolutely love the mildly sarcastic and jaded style of humor that he displays so well in "Talkin' World War III Blues." Other songs like "Girl from the North Country," are just nice to listen to, and not surprisingly have been widely covered by artists ranging from Altan to Rod Stewart. This CD is also my favorite Dylan because of the wild and sometimes rythmic sounds he pulls and pushes from his harmonica so sporadically. It's something you can listen to over and over again and still appreciate. Highly recommended to folk and Dylan fans.

Before Bob Dylan went electric and rocked, he was a simple folkie with a guitar and harmonica. Before the ambitions of Blonde On Blonde and Blood On The Tracks, he simply cared about getting his messages out to people. Before he was a legend, he was well on his way there with this release. Folk is the simplest music instrumentally but the most complex lyrically. Here, Dylan delivers his best folk album. An album with no instrumental flash whatsoever. Just lyrical gold.

This album finds a young Bob Dylan just as mature as ever in his songwriting. Classics like 'Blowin' In The Wind' and 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' have become folk staples but other tracks like 'Masters Of War' and 'A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall' pack just a big a punch. When you're a folk artist with limited vocal capabillities and only a few instruments, every word in your songs has to count. 'Masters Of War' contains increasingly powerful chorus lines and the verses of 'Blowin' In The Wind' all relate well to the central theme of the song. Bob Dylan has clearly mastered his craft and he doesn't let a single wasted moment appear on this album.

The moods here are more varied than usual. He goes from the serious political critique of 'Masters Of War' to the light romance of 'Down The Highway' to the campy humor of 'Bob Dylan's Dream'. Don't expect any rockin' guitar solos, relentless beats, or screaming vocals. This is folk and it's all about the lyrical delivery.

Dylan would, of course, go on to produce 'rock records' but 'Freewheelin' is basically 'Highway 61' minus the electric instruments. He may never have made it that far if he hadn't practiced his songwriting here before plugging in the electric guitar. A true classic of folk music, this is a must have for anyone interested in experiencing Dylan's musical visions.

he was so young and he learned to make blues of his own. what a genius! the first song appeared in Forest Gump, that's the first time I heard it.

although I've owned this record for years in all it's various formats, never got around to writing a review. But a recent story in news about the girl in the photo, Suze Rotolo, passing away made me dust off the CD and listen to it again. What an amazing breakout LP from an artist who set the tone for my generation and for the generations that followed. You might also want to check out Suze's book published in 2008 titled "A Freewheelin' Time, A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties", a very interesting read.