An essential collection for beginner Dylan fans

Right before I went away for my first semester as a college freshman (August 2004), I was shopping at Target (definitely not my favorite place to buy music). Some of my friends had been telling me for years that Bob Dylan had a lot of music and albums that I'd like, but I'd never bought any of Dylan's stuff. That all changed that day when I picked up the Essential Bob Dylan.



To put it quite simply, Essential is probably the best complilation that I have bought with respect to the release of an artists' greatest songs. Essential's first disc starts with one of Dylan's many renowned songs, "Blowin' In The Wind," and has several of his great songs, including "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Maggie's Farm," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Like A Rolling Stone," and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," among others. It's a very strong disc that got a lot of play on both my CD player and my iPod.



Disc 2 is also very strong, consisting, obviously, of Dylan's later work. Leading off with the serenating "Lay, Lady, Lay," the disc consists of songs that illustrate's Dylan's sheer brilliance with regards to writing lyrics and poetry. Tracks such as "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," "Tangled Up In Blue," "Shelter From The Storm," "Hurricane," and "Gotta Serve Somebody" contribute to yet another strong disc. Disc 2 concludes with a punch, as a later Dylan song, "Things Have Changed," brings an appropriate closing to the disc.



For me, this disc served as both a great intro to Dylan and a marking point in my musical interests. Since purchasing the Essential Bob Dylan, I have bought the following Dylan albums (all within a five-month span and, also, with great deals from my independent, local music store): The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Another Side of Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Oh Mercy, and Time Out of Mind. Very good albums.



Even if you don't think you'll become as big of a Dylan fan as I've become, do yourself a favor and pick up this collection of great songs. I think - and hope - that you'll find a great bunch of songs that cover a variety of topics.

Nod to Bob

This is the Essential Bob Dylan. Containing his best radio hits on two cd's, in pretty much chronological order. This is a nice place to start if you only plan on buying one Bob album ever, or you are on a limited budget and want more bang for your buck. This album combines 3 greatest hits albums plus adds some songs that would be placed on "Greatest Hits Vol. 4" (if there was such an album). If you plan on exploring Dylan's entire catalogue you should probably skip this. I am a huge Dylan fan (you will probably be in the same boat with me if you have a large collection of Dylan's stuff) these songs are the ones you end up skipping when listening to the studio albums they are on (because you've heard them so many times). Studio B sides are all a bit darker and more mysterious then the commercial common denominator A sides (contained here). But all in all if you haven't checked Dylan out...you should very soon. This is a good place to start. But for someone who wants to dive deeper 3 or 4 more dollars will get you either Bootleg 4, 5, or 6 (live versions (along with a bit of history) of most of these). Then you can get these songs when you buy the studio albums.

They skimmed way, way, WAY too much!!!

I am fairly new to Dylan, but I still can tell that too much was skipped in this "Essential" collection. Where the heck are "It's a Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You", "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again", "Idiot Wind", "You're a Big Girl Now", "I Want You", "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", "Ballad of a Thin Man", "Highway Sixty-One", "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry", "My Back Pages", and "Watching the River Flow"? Well, where? And why is Highway Sixty-One only represented by ONE song??? While we're at it, why does "Blood On the Tracks" only have two??? I don't even have this CD, I've heard most of it and enough other stuff to know too much was skipped. (Writer pauses to catch his breath)



But what's on it is good, at least. "Blowing In the Wind", "Times Are a-Changin'", "Maggie's Farm", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Like A Rolling Stone", and many other excellent songs are contained in these two CDs.



Maybe not even what's on here is completely good. "Rainy Day Woman" is a fun song, with a nice piano and bass line that makes it seem like what a bunch of drunk guys do after [insert Madi Gras/College Basketball Game/Graduation Day here] Funny? Yes. Greatest Hit? Yes. Essential? No.



"4th Street" has a great organ part and is a good put-down song, but "Ballad of a Thin Man" is all that and more. "4th Street" is certainly hit material, but NOT essential. And what is "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" doing on an essential collection? I heard it just a couple weeks ago on vynil and remember five words: "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". If you want a good song with the words "I'll" and "Tonight" in the title, go after "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" instead.



So it's not an essential collection after all. If you want a GOOD two-disc Bob Dylan package, DEFINETLY go after Greatest Hits Volume Two.