Epic
Well here we are. One of the most renowned and praised pieces of popular music in history. Last time we saw Bob Dylan he was proving that he was more than a simple folk singer. This time around, he's proving that he should be held in the same regard as Michaelangelo and Socrates.

The most famous drum crash and organ blast ever. "Like A Rolling Stone" is the song that needs no introduction. It's the song that is continually voted as the greatest and most important song of all time, even almost 45 years later. It changed what pop music could be, it changed what could be considered a "hit" song, and as everyone from the Beatles to Springsteen to Wilco will attest to- it proved that shooting for the moon could pay off. It's the song that starts this album here and sets the table for what will follow. "Tombstone Blues" is next- it's Bob's scathing oppinion on various topics of the time- war, crime, hypocricy, religion, etc- in a vain similar to "Maggie's Farm" from his "Bringing It All Back Home" album. "It Takes A Lot To Laugh..." and "From a Buick 6" are the next two tracks, and both seemingly deal with a woman in Dylan's life. While "Buick" seems to hold in high regards the woman who takes care of Dylan and keeps him grounded and in check, "It Takes..." appears to serve almost as a warning to her- Dylan wants to be a certain way, and much else should not be expected of him. "Ballad of A Thin Man", an attack on a magazine columnist whom Dylan felt had him misunderstood comes next, and is then followed by "Queen Jane Approximately", a song that appears to be laiden with disdain for a woman Dylan once knew and loved, who is now living a glamorized, fake existence. Lyrically, a great song in which Dylan asks her to come see him again once she's gotten her head out of the clouds and her feet back on the ground. The title track (as per Dylan, inspired by blues legend Robert Johnson) and the fantastic piano driven "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"- (featuring great lyrics about temptation and things not being as they appear) are the final 2 songs before the epic Dylan masterpiece "Desolation Row". Widely considered one of the most complex and difficult Dylan songs ever written, "Row" is a nightmarish narrative that essentially is Dylan's response to a letter he receives from someone. Full of metaphors and symbolism involving many of literature's most famous characters- the song goes to show once and for all, how talented a writer Dylan really is.

Angry and mean, yet passionate and emotional. Dark, complex, disturbing and brilliant. "Highway 61 Revisited" is one of the best examples of why Dylan is held in such high regard. The only thing perhaps more amazing than the quality of these compositions, is the fact that the writer was only 25 when they were created.

This CD works for me, and my dog loves it too
This CD is a real classic. I would have given it 4 1/2 stars but the computer didn't seem to be able to give it that rating. Anyway, I love the CD and I can't believe it took me so many years to finally buy it. But it is a great CD and one everyone should have in their collection.

Napoleon in rags
He's made too many great albums to count, but rarely has Bob Dylan ever managed to top the psychotic hillbilly proto-psychedelic rock `n' roll dreamscape masterpiece that is Highway 61 Revisited. There are plenty of reasons for that: For one thing, the record is soaked in raw energy and electrified excitement. As the first complete rock `n' roll album of Dylan's career, Highway 61 Revisited bristles with palpable enthusiasm, the sense of gleefully leaping into the void, of playing around with new sounds and textures, without any particular regard for the feelings or traditions or opinions of others.

It's also a display of Dylan's genius at its absolute zenith. His songwriting is phenomenal, full of backwoods surrealism and backalley melodies. As a performer, he's rarely been as inspired as he is here: He's hilarious and angry and poetic and visceral. His vocals are full of emotion and detachment. He's cynical and big-hearted all at once. He's insane and cool and intellectual. He's giddy and lethargic and everything in between. The music's great, too. Lots of bluesy guitars and throbbing organs and undulating rhythms. It's garage rock, but with a higher purpose. It's sheer genius.

They Are Selling Post Cards of The Hanging -Bob Dylan Plugged In, Thank you
It seems hard to believe now both as to the performer as well as to what was being attempted that anyone would take umbrage at a performer using an electric guitar to tell a folk story (or any story for that matter). It is not necessary to go into all the details of what or what did not happen with Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 to know that one should be glad, glad as hell, that Bob Dylan continued to listen to his own drummer and carry on a career based on electronic music.

Others have, endlessly, gone on about Bob Dylan's role as the voice of his generation (and mine), his lyrics and what they do or do not mean and his place in the rock or folk pantheons, or both. I just want to mention a couple of points here. Any song that starts out like Desolation Row with the line- " They are selling post cards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown" will automatically get my attention every time- and keep it through over 11 minute of stream of consciousness, word play and harmonica energy. If I had to pick my number one favorite Dylan song (and the one that I have listened to the most) this is the one. Start me off with the "When you are lost in the rain in Juarez " of Tom Thumbs Blues as an appetizer and I am all set for a while. How is that for back-to-back treats- harmonica thrown in gratis?

Having mentioned my two favorites on this album I have hardly completed comment. I am not sure whether Bob Dylan was the voice of the generation of '68, or whether he wanted to be. However, few can deny that Like A Rolling Stone was one of the anthems of our generation- with or without direction home. Highway 61 Revisited, the title track, has over the years gone up in my estimation as a song with an interesting story line (yes, who was doing what down on Highway 61) and a very rock beat. Of course, with Dylan one needs some thoughts of lost love, longing and perfidy so Queen Jane Approximately fits the bill. Well, I could go on and on but you get the point this is a Dylan album you must own. More than that though if you want to get a feel for the trials and tribulations of the 1960's by one of its best troubadours you NEED this album.

BOB DYLAN'S GREATEST ALBUM ! (Highway 61 Revisited is where Dylan went airborne)
"Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime
DIDN'T YOU?"

And so begins one of the greatest songs (albums) in rock music history. As Bob Dylan chronicles the downward spiral of an unidentified smug soul's fall from grace, he wisely places himself in the background as an innocent observer with lower status. While he obviously takes satisfaction in rubbing salt in the wounds of this person, it was arrogant recklessness and blind self righteousness that brought this one down, not Dylan's treachery.

...Aah, the beauty of poetic justice.

Highway 61 Revisited (1965) was Bob Dylan's first legitimate full rock music album, and with Mike Bloomfield playing the guitar and Al Kooper on the keyboards, it's both a satisfying and competent blues/folk-rock venture all the way through. There is really some consistent musicianship here. Highway 61 Revisited is also where Bob Dylan's name became a household word, and everybody in the music world and beyond started to watch his every move.

The songs are angry and imaginitive with a host of surreal characters and interesting places. Dylan uses these characters to enigmatically expose corruption, apathy, and haughtiness. In Tombstone Blues, Dylan rails against, among other things, the emotional clutter of superfluous and misguided distractions.

Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge

The macabre piano blues, The Ballad Of A Thin Man, is a carnival like, demented, and very effective depiction of counter-culture shock paranoia.

And you say, "Oh my God
Am I here all alone?"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
...Do you, Mister Jones?

Queen Jane Approximately revisits the fall from grace scenario, but with a different, just barely more compassionate, twist. The title song is a surreal blues-rock Biblical story/folk ballad/madcap fairy tale, complete with slide guitar and a toy siren. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues is a humorous, yet cynical, ballad of several different circumstances encountered in Juarez at Eastertime.

The eleven minute-plus Spanish folk ballad epic, Desolation Row, closes the album and features a cast of characters that includes Cindarella, Romeo, Cain and Abel, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Good Samaritan, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and a place called Desolation Row (which is most likely near The Gates Of Eden).

Highway 61 Revisited is the album that made Bob Dylan a rock star/saviour, and although he may have lost some folk purists as fans, the album brought him many more new fans. Dylan had worked with a rock band before, but not to this extent, or with this kind of success. Like A Rolling Stone is a monument in rock music, and it's Bob Dylan's best known song. Highway 61 Revisited is also a monument, and it's Bob Dylan's greatest album, even though legitimate arguments can be made that it's not actually his best. Either way, if you like Bob Dylan, you don't want to miss it!