People are crazy and times are strange I’m locked in tight, I’m outta range I used to care, but things have changed… croons Bob Dylan in “Things Have Changed”. I’ve had a marathon session with Bob Dylan having heard the album Dylan which is 3 CDs long and loaded with 51 tracks and now at the fag end of this marathon listening session I cannot help but marvel at the genius of Bob Dylan.
I’ve been listening to Bob Dylan for the better part of a couple of decades now and while there is no denying his genius, a hit record is not something that Bob Dylan has always had. This very obviously means the younger generation has not quite discovered the genius of Bob Dylan for themselves and this album Dylan which is a comprehensive 3 CD collection is a great way for anyone to introduce themselves to the genius of Bob Dylan who BTW happens to be one of the greatest musicians of all time, not to mention a poet and a painter, however, it’s his influence as a singer and songwriter that has literally shaped pop music over the better part of 4 decades. Bob Dylan has been something of a reluctant figurehead spearheading the winds of change, not so open as say Bob Marley, but a major influence nevertheless especially in the 1960s and 1970s with tracks such as Blowin’ In The Wind and Times They Are A Changin’. Other notable tracks are It Ain’t Me Babe, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Mr. Tambourine Man, Like A Rolling Stone, All Along The Watchtower and many, many more, but you can rest assured that there is not one mediocre track on this collection. It’s just a great package loaded with hit tracks of over 40 years, and no one can even begin to judge their impact on popular music, culture, fashion and just about everything else, but this is primarily just great music. This is indeed a must buy collection for anyone wanting to discover the genius of Bob Dylan and let me assure you discovering the genius of Bob Dylan is a must on all counts.
Is this an album a must buy for everyone? Well not really. It’s a must buy for those who have not heard Bob Dylan and want to discover his music. If you are already a Bob Dylan fan then chances are you have most of his albums or at least the major ones and those would contain all the path breaking and groundbreaking material covered here. In such a scenario one would not consider getting it unless of course one wanted to have all the Bob Dylan hits on one location which this collection does achieve admirably. Yet even that would not be reason enough for the Bob Dylan faithful to go for this album since there is nothing new on this for the diehard Bob Dylan fan (and I’m one such fan). This album has been compiled keeping in mind the new Bob Dylan fan and convert and those who want to introduce and discover his music. There is no bootleg stuff or the rare undiscovered gems waiting to be discovered here.
The best part about this album is that the songs are arranged chronologically and this will give one a sense of Bob Dylan’s progress over the years. We the fans join in on the evolution of the singer and songwriter down through the years chronologically and this gives one a better sense and feel of Bob Dylan’s own progression as a person and artist over the years. In monetary terms this is the best investment to get a feel for the genius of Bob Dylan and his progression as a musician over the years.
The only con I can think of about this collection is that it has nothing new for Bob Dylan fans and it’s just a rehash of the same old songs of Bob Dylan all over yet again, more so a marketing gimmick and for new sales. It does practically nothing for the existing Bob Dylan fans, no new material, not even new or remixed versions, just the same old hits that have been put out on so many compilations before. This of course means that this compilation of Dylan will only be winning new fans and none of the existing ones will be happy. That is good news to me since not many among the newer generation are even familiar with Bob Dylan’s work and such compilations are much needed to introduce the brilliance of Bob Dylan to a new generation. The existing fans probably have every Bob Dylan album out there and nothing other than new Bob Dylan material is going to satisfy them, but that’s something only Bob Dylan can give them with a new album, and not the studios. Very clearly this review is not for the existing or the hardcore Bob Dylan fan, but if you are a new Bob Dylan convert then by all means go ahead and get this brilliant album. It’s got everything that made Bob Dylan so great and that’s saying a lot.
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