Bob Dylan - first album

Advantages: Acoustic sound / Good songs / Good insight into the begginings of a legend
Disadvantages: Cover songs / Not enough actual Dylan songs / Not versatile

...The first studio album from the folk/rock giant Bob Dylan is a self titled collection of 'folk standard' cover songs and a couple of originals. The sound is characterized by the untamed and unique yet tuneful sound of Dylan, his acoustic guitar and his sharp harmonica sound. While this is not Dylan's most praised or powerful effort, the album sets Dylan up perfectly for what was the first stage in an impressive career. Dylan places himself firmly into the 'folk' genre here and with songs like 'Song to Woody' (written by Dylan), where he shows us his appreciation for topical and powerful lyricists. This album is lacks extensive lyrical contribution by Bob Dylan and, thus, we miss out on the most important side of Dylan's music. For a first time listener to Dylan, a more sensible starting place is his second album 'Freewheelin' Bob Dylan...

atyrrell17 02.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Bob Garrett And Dylan The Kid

Advantages: Some Nice Tracks, Providing Yet Another Side To The Musical Ability Of Bob Dylan
Disadvantages: Not Quite A Complete Representation Of The Recordings

...Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, consisting of track s written and recorded by Bob Dylan. It followed on from New Morning, with many calling it an amateurish release, not pertaining to the heights of his previous earlier works, but for me this is far from the truth. As with many soundtrack albums it is made up of mainly instrumental material, with a few tracks that can be considered to be songs. It is often criticised for this aspect, and for the fact that it provides three versions of in effect the same song, Billy 1, Billy 4 and Billy 7, done in opposing styles. But there has also been much praise for Knockin' on Heaven's Door, which in truth is best heard live. This should not really be considered as a fully fledged studio album, but more as another insight into the mind of the great man...

Robin_Hod12 03.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (Original Soundtrack) - Bob Dylan

Bob dylan for people who dont like bob dylan

Advantages: Brilliant Musically
Disadvantages: only 2 origional compositons

...Bob Dylan's first studio album and in my opinion probably his best ever album , dylan is raw and uncomprimising whilst also playing almost every note to perfection, his harmonica playing is soul piercingly beautiful and gives the whole album an undertone of rustic charm , this album is a testament to the man and the repuatation which holds this is early young head strong dylan and it realy shines through from the first track. Dylans lyrics steeped in heartache irony and metaphor which combined with his excellent musical ability provides in my opinion of one of the greatest albums ever recorded , even for people who have never really got dylan or never really been into him this isnt greatest hits dylan this is a passionate and raw recored from one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century desevers respect....

conor118 25.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan - Slow Train Coming

Advantages: Some beautiful songs, great vocals from Bob
Disadvantages: A touch obnoxious and a bit cheesy at times.

...Looking back, Bob Dylan's conversion to fundamentalist Christianity in the last couple years of the 1970s appears no more significant or surprising than the radical shift of image and sound that coincided with 1969's hardcore country record Nashville Skyline or the belated embrace of turn-of-the-century western swing that followed 1997's harsh, bleak, stripped-back Time Out Of Mind. One more unexpected about-shift in a career stacked top-to-toe with such. Amusing and interesting and what have you, but nothing much more than that. Yes, viewed from this vantage point - from the dawn of 2009 - Christian Bob loses a fair amount of stature, relevance and definition. At best, the period amounts to three little-listened-to records hidden away in the darkest corners of a vast, awe-inspiring body of work. It's worth remembering, however...

DavidJay 04.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Slow Train Coming - Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan - No Direction Home - Film Only

Advantages: Masterfully edited, full of astounding footage both familiar and otherwise...a classic.
Disadvantages: None.

...Martin Scorsese's brilliant documentary tracing the progression of Bob Dylan from endearingly awkward Duluth teenager to other-worldly, speed-fried Icon is as stunning a piece of work as any of the director's classics, and leagues above most of his output from the preceding decade. Utilising a wealth of revelatory, rarely-seen footage and interview material, No Direction Home is, for the first half at least, as much about America in the pause-for-breath moment between the beat writers of the 1950s and the counter-culture student movements of the mid-to-late 1960s as it is about the life and work of Robert Zimmerman. It is - clichéd as it sounds - a sweeping, engrossing portrait of a time and of a place, scouring the terrain leads from the rattle-tattle zap-pow gyrations of Ginsberg and Kerouac to the pound pound pounding of Odetta...

DavidJay 04.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (DVD)

When Dylan got Saved

Advantages: Simple, lucid, powerful songs, Dylan is playing under conviction, a man with a musical mission
Disadvantages: Rushed, unbalanced production which hasn't transferred well to CD. Not your usual Dylan, be warned!

..., we first need to go back a little way. 18 years to be exact. ** Bob Dylan and the birth of rock ** It's April 5th, 1961 and in the Leob Music Center, New York, a small, skinny kid from up North is playing support for a blues act and causing a bit of a stir. With a moderate mastering the guitar, an unpredictable use of the harmonica and a voice like nothing these people had heard before, the 19 year old from Minnesota was singing about his idol, Woody Guthrie, with an impressive degree of passion. The blues act was John Lee Hooker, and his support was the then unknown Bob Dylan. Two years on and Dylan has just released his second album and is about to make an icon of himself as the definitive protest singer of the day at the Newport Folk Festival, sharing the stage with the current elite of the folk world. Another two years...

Spiderkid 27.09.2005 · Read review
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Review of Saved - Bob Dylan

Dylan, Unplugged. Great musical journey.

Advantages: Dylan fans will love this.
Disadvantages: None-Dylan fanes my not.

...Excellent sound quality thought-out. I think this is one of the best Live Dylan I have heard. Starts with the wonderful Tombstone blues-Clear messages great vocals. Then, settling goes into the romantic Shooting stars. Bursting into All along the watchtower followed by the times they are a changing? makes you want to stand up and sway from side to side and join in with the singing. John Brown is harrowing; you can do nothing else but listen to this- loudly. The mod slows down for Desolation row, and then gets faster for Rainy day woman-this change in tempo is a real pleasure. A beautiful love song follows, this is really nice live and clear. Dignity is interesting-you have to just listen to it and enjoy. Knockin? on heavens door is nothing unusual or exiting, just good music, and lyrics. Dylan finishes with God on our side...

LicensedProducts 23.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Unplugged - Bob Dylan

For Dylan Lovers

Advantages: Silvio is good, some of the Tex-Mex influences interesting, solid album coherence
Disadvantages: Songs are weak at times, feels too relaxed and loose

...Is it me, or is it becoming more and more difficult to tell apart Bob Dylan's latter material? Since his wonderful Time Out Of Mind, I can't help thinking everything is beginning to sound the same? Together Through Life was supposed to be Dylan's return to his blues roots but to me it sounds incredibly similar to Modern Times and in some respects Love and Theft too. The overall feel is rootsy, bluesy, folksy rock. The album is spontaneous (recorded with his touring band) and at the same time messy and loose in places. It's light in subject matter focusing on romance and love rather than weightier subject matter that may have existed in previous albums. This shouldn't let the material down, but it does. You just feel that this isn't Dylan really trying... and you could be forgiven for thinking that given the speed at which it was...

Nixu1980 20.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Together Through Life - Bob Dylan

Dylan's Return To Form

Advantages: Some of Dylan's best songwriting, interesting production
Disadvantages: A little dark perhaps for some

...Time Out Of Mind sees an emphatic return to form from Dylan after years spent in the wilderness and many mediocre albums behind him throughout the 80's. Released in 1997 this is a true testimonial of a grumpy old man who has reached the twighlight of his years and is confused about where he is and what he has become. Lyrically, I think this is one of Dylan's strongest albums, not just of his latter day career, but of all time. He has become much more focused in his writing and has lost some of the more cryptic writing of his earlier material. I know some regard it as a sin to ay, but I quite like understanding what he's writing about. Don't get me wrong, the Dylanisms and the poetic vision is still here but has been channelled. This is an album of resignation and bitterness and some may struggle with this. The production is dark...

Nixu1980 10.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Time Out Of Mind - Bob Dylan

Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan... the changing Bob Dylan

Advantages: Appeals to folk and rock fans, and is simply a great set of songs
Disadvantages: Not as focused as other Dylan albums

...'Bringing It All Back Home' is simply great. This album harnesses both the developed acoustic skill of Bob Dylan, and the beginning of his rock and roll legacy. Released at a time when many people longed for the acoustic folk of the Bob Dylan of the mid 60's, the ever dynamic and stubborn Bob Dylan expressed his frustration and displayed his genius through the medium of rock and roll. 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' is a perfect example on this album of the fantastic songs Dylan produced with his blues rock sound while he maintained his complicated and unique lyrical ability. However, the album harbors songs like 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' and 'Mr Tambourine Man', which can be more closely likened to earlier acoustic Dylan work. Amongst Dylan's versatile amalgamation of acoustic folk and rock one constant remains - the sheer lyrical...

atyrrell17 02.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan