The Folk Ballader. (Took Long Enough)

Bob Dylan – This is his debut, which was released early on to limited areas because the appeal wasn’t big everywhere for folk singin’ hillbillies who wanted to be Woody and this record is just that. It’s merely a folk record but a damn good one at that (actually I don’t know since this is the only folk record I own but if this is a shitty one, I’m going right now to buy a bunch of this stuff.) It’s mainly covers with only two originals. Both of which are good. I love “Song for Woody,” because of the way Dylan says “Hey hey Wood Guthrie I wrote a song for you.” The best songs though are the renditions of other’s songs. “You’re No Good,” is…well good. Lame. “In My Time of Dyin’” features some cool slide work using his girlfriend’s lipstick case (or so I’ve heard who really know?) and is probably the best song on here. “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” is awesome. And…basically if you think you like Dylan, and have all the truly essential shit, and also like wooden music, then you will most probably like this.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – This is Dylan’s first “peak” and just his second album. It’s the one of the first album supposedly for the artist to have recorded mainly his own stuff. Whatever. The first three songs make serious claims for contender for best opening triad of songs. “Blowin’ in the Wind,” you all know it, “Girl From the North Country,” Dylan’s ode to a lost love, and “Masters of War.” This song has the man talking about the subjects of the title and at the end wishes they were dead. Dylan never really gets this serious. Death motherfuckers!! I’ll never be able to explain why I find that so amazing to people, I guess. Then some other song before “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” hits, which offers some amazing beautiful imagery and an intense chorus that consist solely of the title. This song single handedly changed my life. Pretty nice feat for a song don’t you think? “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right,” is Dylan being simultaneously bitter and funny at the same time about a break up with the girl on the cover of this album (in the picture to the left) and the same one whose lipstick he copped earlier. “Oxford Town” is an account of mistreatment of blacks in Mississspisppsi and is very catchy. The two only two covers come toward the end. “Corina, Corina,” which features a very simple backing band and caused quite the ruckus in the purist folk community (so you can see why they shit themselves when He threw down “Like a Rolling Stone”) and has a very cool vocal performance where Dylan gets to a near yodel. “Honey, Allow Me One More Chance” has a very funny concept and vocal as well. Then it closes with “I Shall Be Free,” which, unlike some of his “funny” songs of this period, is actually humorous to me. He really outdid himself with one but cursed himself at the same time. He could have churned out old folk tunes forever but followed his muse and it got him worshipped and expectations were hoisted upon him ever after.

Another Side of Bob Dylan – Dylan’s a bit of an egomaniac it seems. Most of his album covers features him in some format and three out of four (I do not own These Times Are A-Changin'; I have heard it though and it rips) of his album titles so far have used his name. Just a side note really. Opens with “All I Really Wanna Do” is a list of things he doesn’t want or doesn’t expect from somebody, presumably a female, and the chorus culimates in what he does really want to do: be friends with that person. Dylan’s hillbilly, “Kentucky” (as one person I know refers to it) vocals here are the best part as he essentially yodels during the chorus. The next two songs are amazingly great and amazing overlooked. "Black Crow Blues," where Dylan exclaims he don't feel too much like a scare crow no more and "Spanish Harlem Incident," which is about gypsies or some shit. “Chimes of Freedom” is an epic protest song with stream of consciousness lyrics that make you quit wanting to be a songwriter, if you ever thought you were. “To Ramona” is my second favorite song on here and I never hear any one else talk about it and I’m not going to either ‘cause it’s obviously not cool to do so. The aforementioned “Motorpsycho Nitemare” is a cool story that I’m pretty sure Seinfeld ripped off. (You know the one where Kramer and Newman go to Michigan to redeem recyclables and end up chasing Jerry’s stolen car instead? And the subplot where Newman ends up at that farm? I’m pretty sure they stole that from here. Only Dylan doesn’t touch the daughter and acts like a Commie to get chased away because he can’t just leave because he promised the farmer that he’d milk his cow.) “My Back Pages” is good anywhere except before my favorite song on the album. “I Don’t Believe You” is a tale of Dylan and a girl but the day after thing went down she’s acts like they “never have met.” The guitar line is really cool and so are the lyrics and when Dylan laughs, “guitar played as her skirt it swayed” I smile every time. “Ballad in Plain D” is a very personal blow by blow of his breakup with the same girl I’ve been talking about and supposedly the one song Dylan wished he had never written; I guess it was too personal for ole Bobby. It ends on “It Ain’t Me Babe,” the classic that I’m sure every living person has heard.