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 A Young and Different Dylan Aug 25, 2010
Dylan's first LP from 1962 suggest only in glimpses what would be in store from him in future.
The album consists predominantly of contemporary blues- and folksongs along with traditionals arranged by Dylan. Only two songs were Dylan originals. "Talkin 'New York' is a sort of diary song, performed in the talking / singing style that he would use on more tracks on the next three albums. The tribute to Woody Guthrie, "Song to Woody" is a more melodic song, and for me one of the highlights on the album.
Interesting too, that two songs later would be recorded by the Animals and turned into hits. "House of the Rising Sun" became a classic, and also "Baby Let Me Take You Home" became a relatively big hit. Though not exactly the same song as "Baby Let Me Follow You Down," it's impossible not to see the similarities.
Also interesting that several songs deal with the theme of dying
 Outstanding Debute from the Minnesota Kid Mar 10, 2010
Back in 1962 I was a high school sophomore at Lakewood High School in Lakewood, California, a bed city just north of Long Beach and East of L.A. Bob Dylan was only a kid then, too. A kid from Minnesota. The music he made wasn't a bit like what they'd been playing on the top forty and none of the songs on this record made the hit parade, but the record made it to my house, as I was kind of into folk music. Man, like I was digging the Kingston Trio and Glenn Yarborough back then, but right from the get go I knew this was different.
I fell in love with Bob Dylan's voice and even though my dad told me he stole the composition of "House of the Rising Sun" from Dave Van Ronk, I didn't care. My dad, a long time Frank Sinatra fan was into music big time, all kinds. He knew stuff and one of the things he knew was that this kid from Minnesota was going places. My dad was from Minnesota.
When I listen to this record, I try to take myself back to the world the way it was then. Lots of people think things were better back in the day. Life was simpler. Well, no it wasn't and one of the people who was going to help wake us all up to the fact that there were plenty of things wrong in the land of the free and the home of the brave was going to be this Minnesota kid.
All of the songs on this record stand out, but that maybe somewhat controversial version of "House of the Rising Sun" really shines, as does my personal favorite, "Song to Woody." That wasn't always my favorite track on this record, but when I heard Dylan's live performance of it on the bootleg version of the Tribute Record, I went back and listened to this record with a fresh ear. It had been awhile. This record still takes me back. Life was good. It was hard, it wasn't fair, but it was good nevertheless.
Still so powerful Mar 02, 2010
I recently read Bob Dylan's enigmatic autobiography, "Chronicles," and got the bug to check out some of his earliest material. This album, his first, still has the raw, breakout power that must have stunned the music world when it was released in 1961. Dylan mostly covers old folk and blues tunes, but his versatility and mastery of many folk styles is impressive. Coming in days when most popular music was very "white bread" and sanitized, Dylan's screeching and rough instrumental work must have seemed either horrifically monstrous, comically debased, or genius. History has shown him to be a trailblazer, much like Elvis, who brought the music of blacks and the underclass into popularity. Dylan does not try to clean up his sources, and employs the cunningly off-key and off-rhythm style that would make him a legend and a source of parody.
I listened to "Bob Dylan" twice through. I was struck by his choice of topics. There were three (!) songs about death (including the incomparable "In My Time of Dyin'"); a couple of talking blues pieces including Dylan's wry-to-the-point-of-desiccated wit. He sings about leaving NYC to move west...to East Orange, NJ. And in his retelling of his early career (Talkin' New York) he archly relays the complaint of a club owner who beefs that a singer who sounds like a hillbilly, when "we want folk musicians here."
Dylan fans will have no trouble noting the seeds of the monster talent that Dylan soon became. If it weren't his first tentative foray into recording, this album could have been called "The Roots of Dylan." A rough and ready masterpiece and harbinger of an influential musical career.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Not a throwaway debut, but an essential opening shot Mar 01, 2010
Do NOT be put off this album by those who suggest that Bob Dylan's debut is anything less than a folk masterpiece, and an essential part of his vast and varied canon. This is a remarkable album, sung and played with joyous abandon and total confidence, exuding a folk wisdom well beyond his tender years. Voice, guitar, and harmonica blend to virtual perfection. The song choices display a maturity and discretion that is surprising from a man barely out of his teens.
Now, don't misunderstand me here: I love urban folk revival artists and their topical songs and the sounds of the Greenwich Village era (even though I smiled and chuckled knowingly as it was so aptly skewered in the indie flick "Like a Might Wind" a few years ago for its overly earnest moralism, pretentiousness, and sanctimoniousness). But most of those records and artists sound dated. This is not necessarily a bad thing; I love old music, and dated does not offend me. But compare Dylan's debut with other folk artists of the era (Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul, & Mary, etc.) and you will be amazed at the freshness of the sound, nearly a half-century later. The only other artist from that era that strikes my ears the same might be Dave Van Ronk.
Much has been made of the fact that the album only includes two original songs, but considering how quickly dated his original, topical songs from the next couple of albums would become, you wonder if perhaps the older country blues and rural Southern sounds of the non-originals actually contribute a timeless quality to this album, allowing it to sound fresh to our ears today in a way that is impossible with much of the original material that would follow on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin', as good as that material was.
As for those who point out that Dylan had already "moved on" when the album came out a few months after it was recorded, thereby implying a certain dismissive tone to the whole affair, and to those who point out that Dylan expressed reservations or disappointment with the album... hey, Dylan has spent his entire career "moving on," and we would listen to none of his work if constancy were to be the defining value. And the man who later put out the often wretchedly abysmal "Self-Portrait" album, and who left "Blind Willie McTell" and "Foot of Pride" off of the otherwise ho-hum "Infidels" album, should not always get the final word in evaluating his own work! Great artists are often difficult and perverse (Neil Young, for example).
Give this one its rightful due: a strong, impressive, consistently interesting and vigorous opening shot from the most important musical artist of the second half of the 20th century.
Born on Hiway 51,no need to revisit. Feb 22, 2010
It was not only the Hiway that I was raised on.Now,the teacher in my kid's high school is trying to teach "Bob Dylan".Who can decypher that man? He can't explain himself to this day.I can't explain to this day, why I still sing His songs,and try to tell a 17 year old son,what the songs taught me,teach me,-at the age of 55.
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