Bob Dylan - The Essential Bob Dylan - Amazon.com Music

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction for the Novice

  Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2014

  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

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• 4.0 out of 5 stars Bob Dylan, W.C. Fields, and the invariably irritating omissions of the song choosers

  Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2010

  Bob Dylan might be said to be the musical equivalent of W.C. Fields. They are so fascinating, you can't stop watching them (or listening to him, in Dylan's case) -- yet you might not really know why.

  Was W.C. Fields easy on the eyes? No. Did he seem like somebody you might want as your next-door neighbor? Not especially. Was he outrageosly hilarious? I don't think so; but there was some quality about him that keeps your eyes glued to him when you watch one of his movies.

  Dylan is similar to me: Is he a great musician? No -- all his harmonica "solos" sound pretty much the same, for example. Does he seem like the kind of guy you'd want as your best buddy? Not necessarily -- he seems a little aloof and self-absorbed to me. Is he a great singer? Hardly. Sometimes you wonder if when he's singing he's making fun of somebody else (Woody Guthrie?) or he's putting everybody on with this vocal style. And yet ... there's something sort of addictive about it all.

  His vocal phrasing and timing are amazing - maybe that's one of the things that makes him so fascinating - he keeps you on your toes that way, constantly changing up the time value of the notes and his intonation.

  Anyway, Mr. Bob IS a great songwriter, and that's so obvious that it's barely an opinion, but practically an established fact; as proof just take a look at a small subset of the artists who have covered his songs:
  Johnny Cash
  Eric Clapton
  Sam Cooke
  Flatt & Scruggs
  Green Day
  Burl Ives
  Wyclef Jean
  B.B. King
  Dave Matthews Band
  John Mellencamp
  Van Morrison
  Willie Nelson
  Aaron Neville
  Ozzy Osbourne
  Elvis Presley
  The Ramones
  Rage Against the Machine
  The Rolling Stones (Who do a cover of "Like a Rolling Stone")
  Bruce Springsteen
  George Thorogood
  U2

  ...and of course The Byrds (who did better versions of many of his songs than he did himself), Joan Baez, etc.

  Getting back to the earlier comparison, I guess Fields was a comic genius, although it's hard to dissect his work and come up with a plain analysis on just why it can be said he was so talented; the same can be said of Dylan, perhaps: he's a monster, but just why is a bit of a conundrum.

  All collections of this type leave out at least one song that makes you say, "What were they thinking? Why isn't ___ on here?" In this case, for me, it's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall." There are many great Dylan tunes missing that are probably better covered by someone else (such as "My Back Pages" by The Byrds and "Wanted Man" by George Thorogood), but the original of "A Hard Rain" is THE definitive version of that particular song.

  In summary, I think Dylan is one of the best songwriters ever, and this is a good introduction to and /or representation of his music.

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars What a collection

  Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2024

  If you love Bob Dylan and you always wanted your favorites in one album, this is it.
  This album has all of his mainstream hits, as well as his other beloved songs on it. I’m glad I found this.
  

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• 5.0 out of 5 stars Great!

  Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2024

  Great CD, perfect condition, arrived quickly. Ah the music of Bob, better days! <3
  

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