Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

The middle opus in Dylan's much praised trilogy of masterpieces, (starting with bringing it all back home in '65 and ending with blonde on blonde in '67), Highway 61 Revisited showcases a man at the eye of a terrific storm. For a few short months in the mid sixties Bob Dylan was the coolest, hippest man alive: his hair growing out from its shabby shortness to a volume-tastic mess, his threads which once reflected those of the poor and downtrodden were now tailor made and painfully fashionable. Cap this all off with a pair of ray bans and the ever present cigarette and you have an iconic image that still captures generations of new fans some 45 years later. And if that ...  Read the complete review

For some this is Dylan's creative zenith, the moment when he successfully & perfectly fused folk & rock into one new sound & gave birth to a host of impersonators. Opening with 'Like a Rolling Stone', the album makes away with the acoustic gestures of 'Bringing it All Back Home' & goes electric. Chided by some for his dabbling in electric instruments, songs such as the quality showcased here, show up any such claims as pure folly. 'Like a Rolling Stone' explodes out of the speakers, spurred on by Al Kooper's persuasive Hammond organ, it is 6 minutes of sheer brilliance, marking a new age & sweeping behind what had gone before it. ...  Read the complete review

I am shocked at the amount of times that this great album has been reviewed and am then astounded at someone having the cheek to give it jsut 4 stars andequally as shocked at their indifference to the pre-electric Dylan. I know that many will not be huge fans of Dylan, but this is one of his defining albums, and as such should be treated with the repect that it is granted. But onto the reivew. Highway 61 was released in 1965, just before the summer of love and during a time when the Beatles' ruled the day. Dylan had only been around half a year since his last release of Bringing It All Back Home, where he first plugged in the electirc guitar, and provided some ...  Read the complete review

'Once upon a time, you looked so fine...' Straight away it catches you with the organ hook, then the nasal voice warning you from the off. Looking down. Questioning with some verve, the immortal lines. You don't know which way to turn your head as the chorus slips and soars back to verse, the soothsayer holds court with minstrels divine. Too good. What a start, the rear guitar making your aural eyes follow it as it spins, tracking its repetition and repression, the wait and one two and we're back to scolding and sad pity. Today I can't grasp the astounding length of some of Dylan's tracks, this was the boundary pushed, it rolls along and ...  Read the complete review

It had been a few months since the release of the successful ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ LP and the public could barely hold its breath for a moment before the next Dylan offering, Highway 61 Revisited. It was his 1st all electric album and some of his very best lyrics are on this CD. It has some excellent stadium songs (Like A Rolling Stone, Tombstone Blues, Highway 61 Revisited which was the last song he played when I saw him a few months ago in Kilkenny, in fact he played about 2/3 off this LP), and also some heart – stopping, shivers down the back of your neck tracks (Desolation Row, Ballad Of A Thin Man). At the time of writing ...  Read the complete review