The Essential Bob Dylan

Performer: Bob Dylan
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This two-disc 2000 release looks back on Bob Dylan's 38 years of recording and pulls out most of the signature tunes from the songwriting giant's prolific career. For an artist of such stature, it's no easy task to assemble an "essential" compilation in just 30 cuts, but it's hard to argue with the choices made here. Most of the high points in the Minnesotan troubadour's catalog are touched on, and the chronological sequencing provides a kind of tour through Dylan's various phases. We're taken through the pioneering protest-folk period ("Blowin' in the Wind," "The Times They are A-Changin'"), the Rimbaud-inspired songpoet mode ("It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "Mr. Tambourine Man"), the amphetamine-fueled rocker phase ("Like A Rolling Stone"), and all the rest of Dylan's many twists and turns. From the poignant introspection of "Shelter From the Storm" to the born-again R&B of "You Gotta Serve Somebody" and the searing narrative of "Hurricane," we get the broad view of an awe-inspiring body of work. Diehards will doubtlessly complain about various disincluded tracks, but on the evidence presented, it's easy to see why the genius tag is so often applied to this artist.

Bob Dylan began as a Woody Guthrie acolyte, imitating the dust-bowl balladeer as faithfully as a baby boomer from Hibbing, Minnesota, could. It wasn't long before he found his own voice, spearheading the early-1960s folk revival as well as the singer-songwriter movement, and introducing poetry into pop music. Through countless changes in sound, image, and even religion, he retained his unique artistic vision even when his popularity occasionally waned. By the 21st century, he was enjoying an upsurge of critical and popular interest based on a series of powerful late-career albums that crystallized his aesthetics and unique world view.

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