Great Early Bob Collection

Freewheelin' is Bob Dylan's second album, a folk record of some of the best songs he's ever done, and he was so young. On this CD you'll find "Masters of War," a song as timely now as it was way back in 1963 and a song Dylan has revisited time and again throughout his career. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is on this album as well. It's my personal favorite, especially the way he performed it during the Concert for Bangla Desh with George Harrison at Madison Square Garden in 1971. If that isn't enough, Dylan performs the sweetest version of "Corina, Corina" you'll ever hear. And, of course, I have to mention, "Blowing in the Wind," perhaps the greatest protest song ever written.

If you had to choose your favorite Dylan album, well I guess you couldn't do that, so let's say if you had to choose your top five favorites, then "Bringing it All Back Home" would have to be on the list. This is the album where Dylan gave birth to folk rock when he went electric. "Subterranean Homesick Blues," is a fast electric number that's very rap like. That's right, I said rap, way back in 1965. "Maggie's Farm" is a scorcher. The two electric ballads, "Love Minis Zero-No Limit" and "She Belongs to Me," are haunting in their beauty. Rick Nelson used to sing these and his versions are just as good as Dylan's. And, of course, I can't forget to mention "Mr. Tambourine Man," a song my dad says he's been trying to figure out for almost four decades.

Some children got lullabies, but my hippie parents played Dylan all they time, especially "Highway 61 Revisited", no "Mary had a Little Lamb" in our house. So pardon me if I'm a little biased toward this one. Their isn't a bad song on "Highway 61 Revisited," and there isn't even any songs that are better than the others, they're all outstanding. Everybody's heard "Like a Rolling Stone" a song that coulda been the Stones anthem (in fact they did get around to recording it thirty-five years later). "Like a Rolling Stone," is the rocker that starts the album and "Desolation Row," is the eerie, very long song that ends it. I feel like I'm slighting the great songs in between, but I just can't list them all, but they are all superb.

IF YOU DO NOT OWN THIS,BUY IT.The summit of American Music

After some interesting couplings, columbia has gotten it right and packaged three of the greatest albums of the past 40 years. Period. first of all, the almost incomperable BLONDE ON BLONDE, Rocks first multi-album {it predated the White album by a couple of years.}From the opening strains of Rainy Day woman# 12&35,to Visions of Johana to the amazing,haunting masterpiece SAD EYED LADY OF THE LOWLANDS,Dyaln never, I mean never missed on this album. the do this once in a career is extraordinary. It was follwed in 1974,after some good[Nasville Skyline,Planet Waves} some not so{New Morning, and Self Portrait] by BLOOD ON THE TRACKS,for many people Dylans masterpiece.Tangled up in BLUE, the overwhelming IDIOT WIND{listen to this after you listen to SAD EYED LADY OF THE LOWLANDS},Your gonna make me lonesome When you Go, and the crushing SHELTER FROM THE STORM, Written is resonse to his failing marriage,9 cuts of pain,agony,exhaustion, and hope{one cut LILY ROSEMARY and the JACK OF HEARTS is an exception,and terrific}. By the 90's Dylan was on the never ending tour, and he had doen some very underrated work{Infidels,OH Mercy,} but many folks though he had become a cultural curiosity,destroying the myth of poet,prophet to be a song and dance man. then came a near fatal illness, and TIME OUT OF MIND,his grammy winning "comeback". No longer the self assured trickster,he is now a man aging,trying to make sense of it all,and he does so. In many ways,this is my favorite dylan ,form Love Sick to tryin' to get to Heaven, to the simply wonderful NOT DARK YET,Dylan is still the master. If you do not own any Dyaln,my goodness this is manna from heaven. three of his greatest albums from three different periods, each graceful,poetic and beautiful.Maybe the greatest ameican poet of the last 50 years{yeah, i know that is quite a statement],the most influetial musician in the past 50 years,and here are three of his greatest,waiting for you. MAGNIFICENT!

Perfect for newcomers to Dylan

As a newcomer to Bob Dylan's vast and highly regarded discography, I was looking for an introduction to his best material. I was expecting some kind of cheap packaging deal, and was surprised to find that these are identical to the CDs you would get if you bought them individually. This is really a good deal...This collection plucks three of his best albums from three distinctly different periods of Dylan's career: "Blonde on Blonde" from 1966, "Blood on the Tracks" from 1975, and "Time out of Mind", his "comeback" album from 1997. I'm sure you'll find plenty of adequate reviews of these albums on their respective pages, but if you want to save some time, take my (and several others') word for it, and just buy this now. It is my understanding that there are a couple more similar package deals like this available, but for the broadest range of material, I think this is your best bet.