Review #18: Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
#18: Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
A lot of thoughts on this one. First and foremost, Bob Dylan looks kind of great on the album cover. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Drake wearing that exact same jacket. Good for him.
Second of all, it was kind of a trip to listen to this sandwiched between Kanye (#17) and Kendrick (#19).
Third, and most important: I vastly preferred this to Blood on the Tracks (#9). I’m not saying this is a better album. All I’m saying is that wow, I prefer Bob Dylan when he’s got electric guitars and a backing band. This gave me the same feeling that Exile on Main Street (#14) gave me, the feeling of being on the road and everything being somehow difficult and easy and sad and lowly joyful all at the same time. Yeah, I liked this album.
FAVORITE SONGS:
“Like A Rolling Stone” — RS points out that Dylan called this song “vomitific,” and I totally agree. I’ve never heard a more meandering poem, and I took undergrad poetry classes. Isn’t it fun?
“Tombstone Blues” — I typically love any song with “blues” in the title. This one rules — an excellent driving song with a sweet guitar solo! I like Electric Dylan! It’s Harmonica Dylan I sometimes struggle with.
“From A Buick 6” — This song rocks. The only love songs I want to hear are about junkyard angels.
“Queen Jane Approximately” — Okay, at first I hated this weird song and its stupid name, but in the middle of it I was suddenly struck with intense nostalgia.
“Highway 61 Revisited” — The PERFECT road trip song. Louis the King and God are both on the highway, and so am I, movers and shakers all! According to RS, the whistle at the beginning of this was what keyboardist Al Kooper did when he thought people were doing too many drugs. Yeah, I’m sure it was very motivating.
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:
“Ballad of a Thin Man” — I cannot decide how I feel about this song. On the one hand it’s pretty catchy — on the other hand it’s full of “vomitific” lyrics that put the opening song to shame, not necessarily in a good way. And you know something is happening but you don’t know what it is. That was me the whole way through this song.
“Desolation Row” — Okay, this is a really beautiful song and I may have shed a tear on my road trip listening to it. But as I sat down to write this review, my roommate began to play her vinyl record of My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade (#361 on RS’s list) in the living room. Now I’m bitter that I’m listening to this 12-minute acoustic version and not My Chem’s amazing cover. Turns out I had a lot more patience for Bob Dylan on the road.
IS RS FULL OF IT?
No — in fact, if it were up to me, I’d swap this with Blood on the Tracks, but it never is up to me, is it?
