Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
A Piece of Dylan History, 23 Jun 2005
This album is an essential purchase to go alongside Dylan's infamous set of albums in your collection.The self-titled 'Bob Dylan' is Bob in his pre-songwriting phase, he has just moved to New York, has recently got his foot in the door at coffee house's around 'the village' and has been signed to Columbia by John Hammond after being rejected by many a record label. The spectre of 'death' hangs over this album, it is mentioned many a time in various songs. Song's which are all covers except for the quaint 'talkin new york' and poigniant 'song to woody'. This album should not be overlooked, it is a young, fresh faced dylan, before his 'protest era' delivering rollicking hillbilly esque numbers as well as the delightful 'talkin new york' and 'song to woody' which capture first hand what was passing through Bob's mind at the time. Now that it has been remastered, you can enjoy it even more than previous!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Overlooked but indispensible., 25 April 2007
It sold terribly...it was mostly covers...even Bob said it was not the album he wanted to make...
Certainly the last remark can be taken with a pinch of salt, for within a few months Bob was a serious star and the darling of the folk world with his self-penned anthems such as Blowin' In The Wind and A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. As ever, he moved on so darned fast. It might not have been the album he wanted to make, but it was the one that he was able to make at the time.
This album burns with youthful exuberance, an absolute joy of music and and a voice that cries, 'I'm here! Now listen to this!'. The lack of Dylan songs should not detract from the experience, for his idiosyncratic reading of the songs almost negates the 'trad.arr.' status. Tellingly, the only song that sounds like Woody Guthrie is his own Song To Woody. Make no mistakes, this album is Bob Dylan writ large.
Clearly, the songs that first stand out are the ones that we instantly regognise: In My Time Of Dyin', great enough for Led Zeppelin to remake on Physical Graffiti; House of the Rising Sun, that influenced the Animals to make that unforgettable classic; Baby Let Me Follow You Down, a song that Bob was so enamoured with that he toured with it in 1966 and reprised it on the great film, The Last Waltz.
The album also contains the unforgettable 'Man Of Constant Sorrow' (a big feature as a result of the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou? for the uninitiated!), the truly dazzling Highway 51 Blues (this actually sounds like Zepp for heaven's sake! A joy to hear!) and the stupendous See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, a song that I first heard when Bob was seriously ill 10 years ago. It belies his tender (21!) age and is, like most of his future works, purely timeless.
Its not the best place to begin if you're wanting to start hearing the genius of Bob Dylan, but if you love him and want to listen to him reaching towards the next plane, its all here.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
amazing!, 30 Oct 2005
By A Customer
This is my kind of Dylan!! I love early bob dylan stuff, the guitar playing is excellent and his voice has a youthful country rasp about it which is just ace, ace selection of songs. just ace all round!
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