Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

This is a very special album. To say there isn't a duff track here is to do the record a spectacular disservice. Every single song is worth its place on one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time and some of them rank up there with the finest songs ever written. Ever. Like A Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, Desolation Row, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, Highway 61 Revisited - good god, what more do you want?

From Times They Are A-Changin' to Another Side to Bringing It All Back Home to this, Dylan's growth as a songwriter is something to behold. If the strides made from Another Side to BIABH were remarkable, the leap to Highway 61 is something else. A number of the tracks from BIABH  - and this is said without the slightest hint of criticism - wouldn't have sounded too out of place if they'd have appeared on the Freewheelin'. Try to transpose any of the material on this LP to an earlier time and it'd stick out like the sorest of thumbs.

Lyrically, Dylan continues to move onwards and upwards in a league of his own and now, musically, he's at a pace. With the exception of Subterranean Homesick Blues (which in some ways sits closer stylistically to this LP than the the one on which it appears), the songs on the 'electric' side of Bringing It All Back Home often have the feel of Dylan plus backing musicians. Here Dylan and the band (not, The Band, not yet anyway) come together as one. It feels whole. Al Kooper's organ provides an exceptional motif throughout but the guitar of Mike Bloomfield and Paul Griffin's piano both add some gorgeous layers to already beautiful songs.

If the last one had one hell of an opening, this one is none too shabby either. A crack of the snare drum and off we go, Like a Rolling Stone.  The greatest song ever written? If there is such a thing then it's up there. One of the most important? Certainly. Am I answering my own questions? Yes.

Lyrically this is spectacular. Desolation Row is the exemplar but every song brings moments of brilliance. 

“The sun’s not yellow it’s chicken”

The cast of characters in Ballad of a Thin Man or Tombstone Blues alone create a narrative that elevate the lyrics to poetry 

"The geometry of innocence flesh on the bone
Causes Galileo’s math book to get thrown
At Delilah who sits worthlessly alone
But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter

Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after"

and Highway 61 Revisited gives the best biblical story retelling in rock:

"God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?”
God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin’ you better run”
Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?”
God says, “Out on Highway 61”

Personal favourite is the first line of Tombstone Blues which would be relatively mundane but somehow are made intriguing by the addition of the last two words:

"The sweet pretty things are in bed now, of course"

OK, that bit isn't exactly Lear but tickles me every time. And we would be here all night if I started on Desolation Row.

Ultimately LPs don't get much better than this. Lyrically, musically, this is great and, historically, a seminal album to boot. There's nothing to criticise or debate here. 

Oh, apart from the sleeve notes. They're a lot of nonsense.
 

Out of five?

Five.

Favourite track?

(With all the caveats about Like a Rolling Stone) Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

Next up?

Blonde on Blonde.