The Essential Bob Dylan

Review Summary: Misleading title

Review:

A correct title for this collection would be "What record company executives consider to be the most accessible Bob Dylan, whilst working under the constraint of sampling all parts of his career".

One of the problems for newcomers wanting to find out if all the fuss about Dylan is worth an investment is that his career has been so varied. His best albums are amongst the best in rock music, whilst the worst are wall to wall tripe. His approach to songwriting and sound also evolves continuously. Hence, a compilation of this nature mixes classics with filler whilst the musical and lyrical style changes make the whole listening experience confusing and incoherent.

As an alternative, for anyone who would like to give Dylan a try I would suggest the following procedure:

1. Buy three of of the six albums listed below. (This might cost as little as £15).
2. Listen to each three times.
3. If by you then, you don't like any of them sell them on. You gave it try and not everyone likes Dylan.
4. If you do like them, try the others listed below or browse the net for futher opinion on what to buy and what to avoid.

Six recommended albums - Try three

- The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (folk protest at its peak)
- Highway 61 Revisited (Rock and roll on acid)
- Blonde On Blonde (the wild mercury sound, literate and witty)
- John Wesley Harding (Folk meets C&W with a touch of academic rigour)
- Blood on the Tracks (The world's best ever marriage break-up album)
- Desire(Accessible, different lyrically due to co-writing and a classic sound)

Every one of these albums has a distinctive sound and is marked by an almost complete absence of filler.

Review Summary: For once Essential is right

Review:

In the beginning the way into Dylan was via Peter Paul & Mary,the Turtles,the Byrds and Johnny Cash.
And commercially electric Dylan was just right.
This CD is just a sampler and introduction to the Art of Dylan.If you want more you get the original albums on CD.All but one have been on catalog since CDs began.
My favorite Dylan song is Can you please crawl out your window.
Thus this double CD would only be of interest if there was a booklet with it and its by no means the only one of its kind as the most recent-titled DYLAN and in 3 different editions -comes with a picture book.
Today's Dylan collector needs plenty of money and plenty of room

Review Summary: Introducing Mr Zimmerman

Review:

I have collected a number of albums from this series for one of two reasons, either to have a collection for the car or secondly to explore artists in which I have a casual interest. The essential series does this very well indeed.

My knowledge of Dylan was poor and I really never gave the man a chance but upon listening to this double set a few times I am converted. The songs are outstanding from start to finish. I have not become a Dylan obsessive but I recognise that he has written some outstanding songs in his meandering career. I also discovered that they are best sung by Dylan, yes his voice isn't the greatest nor is his guitar playing but that's hardly the point.

There are too many high points to mention but discovering familiar songs in their original form is thrilling, from the early Guthriesque protest songs though "Judas" era band backed records his mastery of the form is apparent.

A great introduction to an enigmatic artist.

Review Summary: BEST SELECTION POSSIBLE.

Review:

Bob Dylan in my opinion is a songwriting poetic genius and his songs are timeless. Being a completest I own all of his albums, however, if I had to purchase just one then it would be without doubt this one. Two cds and the cream of his recording career. Although I own just about everything he ever produced. I regularly play this cd and it is a great introduction for anyone considering starting a collection or who can only afford one album of each artiste.

Review Summary: not a particularly imaginative collection

Review:


I'm a great fan of Dylan, but I always feel that he's poorly served by compilations like this. It's the kind of thing you buy if you just want a few bite-sized mouthfuls of an artist's work, and you're pretty sure you won't be wanting to go any deeper than that. If that's all you're looking for from Dylan then fair enough, you'll probably find this adequate. But you'll get a much more rewarding and well-rounded introduction to Dylan if you spend a little bit more money and buy a few of his best albums instead.

I would describe this as a 'best-known' rather than a 'best-of' compilation: I mean, it mainly consists of tracks that were released as singles, and also of songs that are well-known to the general public through cover versions by other artists. The problem is that Dylan's singles are not always his best work, and in many cases are not very representative of the rest of his material. There are great songs on here, of course -- eg 'Positively 4th Street' is definitive mid-60s Dylan; 'Like a Rolling Stone' is arguably the greatest rock single ever, by anybody -- but given the wealth of Dylan's back catalogue some of what they've chosen for this collection is actually a bit ordinary. 'Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?', from 1965, is a disjointed-sounding piece that lumbers along for four minutes without ever really hitting a groove; it's not a patch on the album material he was recording at around the same time. 'I Want You' is one of the weaker, 'poppier', tracks on the wonderful 'Blonde on Blonde' album from 1966. 'Everything is Broken', likewise, is not a particularly inspiring advert for the generally excellent 'Oh Mercy', from 1989. To take another example, 'Dignity', which was recorded for the same album but not released until 1994, is a muddy, laboured-sounding midtempo shuffle that takes six minutes to go nowhere in particular.

There are a few intelligent and unexpected choices on this compilation, most notably 'Blind Willie McTell', an outtake from the 1983 'Infidels' album. Also, 'Not Dark Yet' is an outstanding track from 1997's 'Time out of Mind', one of his best songs. On the whole, though, I think the best way to get an appreciation of Dylan's work is to buy a few of his best albums and listen to those. (My own recommendations, just for the record, would be, in order of release: Freewheelin'; Highway 61 Revisited; Blonde on Blonde; Blood on the Tracks; Desire; Time out of Mind.) You can pick them up for a couple of quid each these days, so it's not likely to break anybody's bank account. And they contain classic, career-defining material that hardly ever gets included on collections like this.