The Essential Bob Dylan

Love this album! Great sound! One of Bob Dylan's best! Has all the songs that you think of when you think of Bob Dylan.

When I bought my first LP (MEET THE BEATLES) fifty years ago, who knew which artists would still be relevant today? Music shaped my life and I've tried to instill a love of music in all of my children. I was especially successful with my youngest daughter. (Who is now 23, by the way.) With five decades' of hindsight, I have a short list of artists that everyone needs to be exposed to. Dylan, of course, is on that list. Last year before Christmas, for about the price of a Happy Meal I got this 2-CD collection plus the free AutoRip. This woulnd up in my daughter's Christmas stocking. At 30 tracks, this is not definitive but it does give you a representative sample of Dylan's career from his 1963 debut THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN through "Things Have Changed" from the 2000 soundtrack album WONDER BOYS. [Note: THE ESSENTIAL was released in 2000, so nothing from his post-2000 releases.] You get all of his Top 10 hits "Like a Rolling Stone," "Positively 4th Street," "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35," and "Lay Lady Lay," along with key album tracks like "Maggie's Farm," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," and "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere." You could go on and on about what songs should have been included/excluded on this collection. For me, this was an opportunity to give my daughter a sense of the importance of this gifted songwriter. Some of the artists that I grew up with will still be relevant in another 50 years. Dylan is one of those artists. The packaging is nothing special. An 8-page booklet. A handful of photos, two pages of album covers, and two pages of track listings/recording dates/and the album it came from. No essay, no interview, no commentary. The music speaks for itself. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Trying to make a compilation of Bob Dylan's music is equal to taking 30 of Picasso's works, and saying "this is the artist"; the immense creativity is too deep, the development and changes too wide. There will always be songs that the listener will feel were a mistake to omit, and for me "Ballad of a Thin Man" is the one I wish had been in this collection. Disc One starts in 1962, with the folk days of "Blowing in the Wind", to when he went electric with "Like a Rolling Stone" from the ground-breaking Highway 61 Revisited, to the soft lilting folk/country sound of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" from John Wesley Harding, released in 1967. Disc Two starts with the romantic "Lay, Lady, Lay" from 1969's Nashville Skyline, through the 70's and the return of acoustic guitar and harmonica with two songs from Blood on the Tracks, to end the decade with the beginning of his Christian recordings, and a great track from Slow Train Coming, "Gotta Serve Someone". Ten years later brings him to the fabulous "Everything is Broken", from Oh Mercy, and the collection ends with "Things Have Changed" from 1999, which was featured in the film "Wonder Boys", and the reason I bought this CD set. After viewing the film, what I remembered and liked the most was this powerful, marvelous song.. I am one of those that feel no one sings Dylan better than Dylan, and truly enjoy his rough, expressive voice; it is interesting to hear it through the span of nearly forty years on one compilation...it has become huskier, with a bit more wobble, but to my ears better than ever. Total time for Disc One is 56:24, Disc Two 68:31, and the sound quality varies somewhat from song to song, but overall it is excellent.

Thankyou !!!!, Recieved 1-16-26, Just Love it !!!!. had 3 o l Der Brothers, Listened to their era of Music and Enjoyed as well.Packaged very nicely, Speedy Shipping, Very. Very Satisfied with Purchase. Thankyou,and Sincereky, Ron Martino-Meuret

Great quality album. It’s a must have for fans of Dylan.

Chances are you're reading reviews of this set because you don't have a large collection of rock or folk music, or you never have heard much by Bob Dylan that you really love. In either case, you probably feel the need to have something in your collection by one of the great musical geniuses of the rock era but don't want to spend more than 20 to 25 dollars. If so, this collection is probably about as good as you're going to find, as it spans his career from his acoustic folk albums of the early sixties until the end of the 20th century. It would be easy to nitpick about glaring omissions, or the inclusion of songs I could live without. However, it's impossible to do anything other than scratch the surface of 40 years of music by someone like Bob Dylan, especially since his music has continued to evolve throughout his career. If you're willing to cough up a few more bucks, I would encourage you to consider the 3 CD set 'Biograph,' which includes more truly "essential" songs, including 'Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar,' which was initially a B-side of an obscure single from 1981, but you'd still only have two songs from 'Highway 61 Revisited,' and nothing he's recorded since 1985, including the song 'It's All Changed,' which is included on this set. Personally, I prefer Dylan's rock 'n' roll albums like 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde on Blonde' to his acoustic folk music, although songs like 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' and the album 'Blood On the Tracks' are a blend of acoustic folk and soft rock and should be included in any rock music collection. The last album he did that I cared for was 'Oh Mercy' (1989), although several albums he's done since then, like 'Time Out of Mine,' are highly acclaimed by fans and critics. This is a good starting point for anyone who doesn't have anything by Dylan, or at least no more than one or two albums. The songs are in chronological order, and therefore you will have a better idea of what period of his music you like and what you can live without. If you like most of it, consider the aforementioned 'Biograph,' then the albums (also aforementioned) 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde on Blonde,' especially if you like his electric rock music, then 'Blood On the Tracks,' for a combination of his rock and folk music. The song 'It's All Changed' can be found on the soundtrack to the movie 'Wonder Boys,' which also contains some great music by other artists such as Buffalo Springfield, Tom Rush, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen, as well as two other songs by Dylan: 'Not Dark Yet' and 'Buckets of Rain.'

I am a Dylan connoisseur and I collect cds of his work. I have so many I have lost track. This is just another packaging of some of his more well-known songs. It may be a duplicate cd. That’s fine, too. One for for my home and one for my car.

Good quality no skips or pops. Sound is excellent.

Tout simplement genial

Vlotte afhandeling

Buena recopilación de Dylan

La primera canción con la que quedé ganchado con la música de Dylan fue The Times they are A-Changin'. Ya había escuchado Like a Rolling Stone y no me había agradado tanto, pero ya después de explorar más de su catálogo fui aprendiendo a apreciar más su obra. Gran influyente sobre todo del género folk, rock e incluso lidereando con su filosofía en movimientos de protesta en favor de la paz, libertad y demás valores humanos. Ya había querido tener material de el y el primer disco que consideré fue el The Times they are A-Changin' precisamente, pero por el precio que tenían las 2 versiones que me topé preferí esperar una oferta, luego apareció este doble disco de éxitos que incluía ese gran tema con el que me inicié en Dylan y no lo pensé 2 veces además del gran precio (menos de 300) cuando lo compré, lo cual lo hacía costar menos de 150 pesos por disco de puros éxitos, y fue una decisión que no tuve que meditar mucho. En cuanto a la calidad del masterizado y grabado estan geniales, se escucha gran detalle, si acaso lo único que corregiría es el detalle del ruido superficial, no es para nada abrumador, simplemente de pronto oyes algun click o pop a bajo nivel que no distrae de disfrutarlo ni arruina la experiencia auditiva. La funda externa no es gatefold y los discos vienen en fundas de papel simple (de las peores que hay, pero las puedes cambiar si prefieres otra cosa), y el gramaje de los discos es bajo (no creo que supere los 150 pero casi seguro es de 120 gr) y trae un inserto con 2 fotos de Dylan por lado y los detalles de qué album y en que año se publicó cada canción, pero lo más importante para mi que es la experiencia auditiva esta genial, para mi es más que suficiente y a un muy buen precio. 100% recomendado!

海外からなので品質的にあまり期待はしていませんでしたが、盤にキズは2箇所程度で音に支障はありませんでした(私の耳が確かならば)。 side3の最後の曲がレコードで聴きたくて購入しましたが、それだけの価値はあります。サイコーです