Bob Dylan - Planet Waves (1974)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

In 1973 Bob Dylan's contract with Columbia Records expired, and he signed with David Geffen's Asylum lablel. At the same time he began working with The Band again, with plans for a big joint tour. Dylan hadn't toured since 1966 (when The Band, then known as The Hawks, had been his backing group), so this was big news, and resulted in a lot of media attention and eager ticket-buying fans. He also began working on new material in the studio with The Band. Asylum wanted the album to be released on the opening day of the tour, but due to a last-minute title change its release was delayed. When Planet Waves came out in January 1974, they were already two weeks into the tour.

It was a great album, personal in nature and somewhat bleak in tone. The Band's instrumental backing throughout was fantastic, and complemented Dylan's songs perfectly, though they not add any of their own vocals. It included some very good new songs, including "Forever Young", which went on to endure as one of Dylan's best-known numbers. There were actually two versions of the song, the best-known one which closed side one of the record, and an alternative version that opened side two. 

The album reached #1 (actually his first #1 album in the US), but despite its obvious strengths it was perhaps not quite the complete artistic comeback many fans were waiting for (it was his first 'proper' album of all original songs in over three years). Though it became one of his best-known songs, "Forever Young" was never actually released as a single. The comparatively lightweight "On A Night Like This" was however, and charted at #44. The new songs were played through the start of the tour, but before long they had all been abandoned except "Forever Young".

Dylan (1973) <|> Blood On The Tracks (1975)
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Bob Dylan - Dylan (1973)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

In 1973 Bob Dylan's contract with Columbia Records expired, and he signed with David Geffen's Asylum label. He began recording a new album with his old friends The Band, and plans were announced for him to go on tour for the first time since 1966. Columbia were keen to get another product out of him in time for the new tour, and cobbled together a number of outtakes to make the Dylan album, which was released in late 1973. Due to the fact that Dylan himself had no input concerning its compilation, it is generally not considered a 'proper' Bob Dylan album. The fact that it featured no originals songs and consisted of outtakes from his least popular two albums (Self Portrait and New Morning) didn't help. The songs were all traditional folk numbers and covers, the latter including his renditions of some very well known songs, among them Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr Bojangles" and Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love".

The album was dismissed by critics on its release, and though the music of course isn't bad, it can be seen as a rather pointless release on the part of Columbia to cash in on him one more time.

Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) <|> Planet Waves (1974)
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Bob Dyla - Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)

Film soundtrack 
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades. 

As the 1970s began Bob Dylan had got off to a dubious start, with two albums (Self Portrait and New Morning) that received generally negative reviews. They were followed by his 'wilderness years', as he released no albums of new material throughout 1971 and 1972. Two singles were released, and a greatest hits double LP found room for one of these ("Watching The River Flow"), another good new song ("When I Paint My Masterpiece"), and some re-recordings of older songs, but as good as these two songs were no doubt his fans were left wondering if he had simply run out of inspiration (interestingly the lyrics of these two songs actually tackled this situation head-on).

His next career move was a surprising one, as he was invited to write music for Sam Peckinpah's western film Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. He wrote an excellent ballad about the titular character ("Billy"), and also got to appear in the film himself as the character Alias. A soundtrack album was released, based around different segments of the "Billy" ballad interspersed with instrumental music (mosly low-key acoustic strumming with suitable embellishments).

However a surprise was in store. The soundtrack also featured a new song which for Dylan was notable for its short-and-sweet format, with just two brief verses and a memorable chorus... "Knocking On Heaven's Door" turned out to be an absolutely beautiful recording, and was released as a single. It actually became one of his biggest hits, charting at #12 in the US and #14 in the UK.

He was still very much lost in the wilderness, but somehow one of his best-known songs had emerged from this strange chapter in his career. It would go on to become something of a cliché as it was covered by a myriad of artists over the years.

New Morning (1970) <|> Dylan (1973)
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Bob Dylan - New Morning (1970)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

Bob Dylan recorded New Morning over the summer of 1970, co-produced with Al Kooper in New York, and it was released four months after the (perhaps intentional) critical and commercial disaster that was Self Portrait. It was welcomed as a solid, consistent record, and for many fans and critics it repaired the damage done by Self Portrait. Whether it was intentionally rushed out by Dylan for that reason is not clear. It saw him abandon the affected country croon he had been singing with since Nashville Skyline and return to his 'true' voice. It also featured all new original songs. 

It was a modest, likeable album, and many saw it as a return to form. However it actually turned out to be the last proper album he would release until 1974, as he entered the quietest period of his career. Retrospective opinions on it can differ, as though it's a good album, it's certainly not one of his greatest, and it turned out not to be the artistic comeback many had thought it could be at the time.

Self Portait (1970) <|> Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973)
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Bob Dylan - Self Portrait (1970)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

Following his surprising turn to country music with 1969's Nashville Skyline, Bob Dylan appeared on The Johnny Cash show, and performed at the 1969 Isle Of Wight Festival, backed by The Band. He chose not to perform at the much closer to home Woodstock Festival.

As the 1970s began everyone no doubt was keen to see where his music would go next. Once again his fans and the music press found themselves confused. Self Portrait was a double album, featuring an odd selection of folk traditionals, covers of pop and country songs, instrumentals and a sparse selection of original compositions. Some was sung in the affected croon he had used for Nashville Skyline, whilst for the rest of it he reverted to his 'true' voice. Overall it had a mellow country-folk feel, with occasional strings and backing vocals, both of which he had never used before. The choice of cover songs had some real suprises too, including Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" and Paul Simon's "The Boxer". It also featured four live recordings from his Isle Of Wight performance, one of which was "The Mighty Quinn" (a song he hadn't previously released himself, but it had been a #1 hit for Manfred Mann back in 1968).

In truth Self Portrait is a fine album, with some real nice material. However it was very poorly received on its release, leading many to believe Dylan had finally lost his way. It's generally accepted that Dylan chose to release it because he was tired of being stuck in the limelight, and wanted to put something out that would make people get bored of him and leave him alone. It did mark the end of the most successful era of Dylan's career, and signalled the start of an unpredictable new decade.

Nashville Skyline (1969) <|> New Morning (1970)
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Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline (1969)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

In 1966 Bob Dylan had retreated from the public eye after two years of loud electric rock & roll, and 1967's John Wesley Harding had been a quiet, country-tinged affair which signalled a shift in both musical style and character (or at least the sides of his character he chose to allow the public to see). Nothing was heard of him throughout 1968, leading some to believe that he had packed it all in, and the album he finally released in 1969 came as quite a shock to many. 

Nashville Skyline was recorded in Nashville with a group of top country session players, including Kenneth Buttrey, Fred Carter, Pete Drake and Charlie McCoy. It showed Dylan fully immersing himself in country music, leaving the politics of protest folk and the controversy of electric rock far behind. He also abandoned the dense, wordy lyrical style he had become known for, instead coming up with mostly simple, concise romance-themed songs. Most startling of all, he was now singing in a new voice, adopting a mellow country croon. This drastic change in style attracted its fair share of criticism, but the truth was that Nashville Skyline ended up being a quality piece of country-pop. The single "Lay Lady Lay" even made it to #7 (and #5 in the UK).

One of the songs in particular stood out - a remake of his old classic "Girl From The North Country", sung as a duet with country music legend Johnny Cash. Cash had been an admirer of Dylan's work from the very beginning, and had covered several of his songs.

The album turned out to be a major success, getting to #3 on the US album chart and #1 in the UK, and retrospectively it has often be described as a key release in the country-rock movement - not so much as any sort of inventive stylistic fusion (it's country pure and simple), but more in the way that it showed an established rock artist embracing traditional country music without the need to explain himself. If Dylan did it, it had to be cool!

John Wesley Harding (1967) <|> Self Portrait (1970)
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Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (1967)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

Dylan's mid-60s period of rock & roll, controversy and excess came to an abrupt halt in the summer of 1966. Whilst back in New York recovering from his European tour, he was involved in a motorcycle accident, and then mysteriously he vanished from the public eye. Rumours abounded - some believed he was dead, some claimed he had suffered horrific injuries. The seriousness of the accident has never been clear, but it has come to represent a mythical turning point in his career. From that point onwards he went into a period of seclusion, and did not tour again for another eight years.
Once sufficently recovered, he called the members of The Hawks (who had backed him on his recent electric tour) to join him and start playing some music together. Both Dylan and The Hawks were now neighbours in Woodstock. At his home and in the basement of The Hawks' house 'Big Pink', they recorded a large number of songs which represented a new start in Dylan's songwriting. Originally intended as demos, these recordings were soon circulating as bootlegs, and eventually saw release in 1975 as The Basement Tapes. Many other artists were given demos, and the Woodstock material was soon being recorded by various acts including The Byrds, Ian & Sylvia, Manfred Mann, Fairport Convention and Julie Driscoll. Following these sessions The Hawks started work on their debut album Music From Big Pink, and renamed themselves The Band.
Meanwhile Dylan went down to Nashville to record his next album. The Woodstock music had seriously changed his direction, and when John Wesley Harding came out in 1967 it introduced a new Dylan. He had abandoned the electric rock music of his past three albums and turned to a sparser, more rustic sound. Playing acoustic guitar or piano and accompanied just by bassist Charlie McCoy and drummer Kenneth Buttrey, this new back-to-basics sound has since been referred to as one of the starting points of the country-rock movement. Soon all sorts of artists and bands would be eschewing the psychedelic excesses of the time and turning to more rural, rootsy sounds. The songs themselves were shorter and more concise than the sprawling epics he had been writing before, with lyrics drawing on the American west and the Bible, though their meanings for the most part remained cryptic. On two of the songs the trio were also joined by pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake, foreshadowing the road Dylan was soon be taking further into country music territory. It also included a song called "All Along The Watchtower", which would soon be transformed into something entirely new by guitarist Jimi Hendrix.
The album was a surprise success, considering that it was release with little to no promotion - it got to #2 in the US and #1 in the UK. Today it is seen as a landmark album both in Dylan's discography and the music of the late 60s.

Blonde On Blonde (1966) <|> Nashville Skyline (1969)
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Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde (1966)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

Released in 1966, Blonde On Blonde was Bob Dylan's third 'electric' album, by which point he had pretty much burned his bridges with the folk community he had emerged from and embraced the world of rock & roll. He had released two Top 10 singles in 1965, "Like A Rolling Stone" and the acid-tongued "Positively 4th Street" (the first included on Highway 61 Revisited and the latter a non-album single).
Both guitarist Mike Bloomfield and organist Al Kooper had then departed from his band, and so he had turned to a little-known group called Levon & The Hawks to back him for his upcoming live gigs. The Hawks consisted of four Canadians and one American, and in the early 60s had come together as the backing group of rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. His live debut with The Hawks was in September 1965, after which he had gone into the studio to try and record another hit single - the result, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window", was not much of a success. His performances with The Hawks around this time were loud and raucous, outraging much of his original folk fanbase. However the recording sessions with them were not going well, so in February '66 Dylan went to Nashville to record songs for his next album, taking with him Al Kooper and Hawks guitarist Robbie Robertson. Joined by a cadre of professional session musicians, they succeeded in recording most of Blonde On Blonde.
It was released in the summer, being one of the first double-albums in rock music. In terms of songwriting, it followed in the footsteps of Highway 61 Revisited, with strange, modernist lyrics stretching out over numerous long verses. The music fused folk song structures with blues rhythms and rock instrumentation, though it was somewhat more laid-back in comparison to Highway 61. Dylan was particularly pleased with the sound he captured on Blonde On Blonde, referring to it as "that thin wild mercury sound".
Of the singles released from the album, the highest charting were "Rainy Day Women #12 & 25" (#2), "I Want You" (#20) and "Just Like A Woman" (#33). The album itself was greatly praised and got to #9 in the US and #3 in the UK. Retrospecively it is now seen as the third installment in his trilogy of mid-60s electric albums, one of his greatest records, and indeed a monumental release in the history of rock music. It includes many of his best songs, including "Visions Of Johanna" and "Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands".
Following its release, Dylan embarked on a European tour with The Hawks. It has gone down in history as a defining part of his career, his electric rock music provoking many of his former fans, most famously leading to an angry confrontation with one fan who accused Dylan of being Judas, at Manchester Free Trade Hall. After the tour Dylan returned to New York, exhausted, and the most prolific chapter of his career came to an end.

Highway 61 Revisited (1965) <|> John Wesley Harding (1967)
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Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

In July of 1965, Bob Dylan, once the crown prince of the American folk revival, had been causing a stir in the folk community. First he had stopped writing protest songs, and turned to personal matters, utilising cryptic wordplay. Then he had recorded an album backed by a rock band (Bringing It All Back Home). He was getting restless.
July saw the release of the single “Like A Rolling Stone”, the perfect crystallization of the changes his music was undergoing. Loud and defiant, it both said farewell to the world of acoustic folk music, and at over 6 minutes challenged the conventions of pop singles. It was a massive success, getting to #2 on the US charts, and becoming an international hit. Shortly after its release he caused further controversy by performing with an electric rock band at the Newport Folk Festival, putting the final nail in the coffin of his folk career.
The follow-up album, Highway 61 Revisited, came out in August. It was recorded with the same musicians that backed him on “Like A Rolling Stone”, namely guitarist Mike Bloomfield (of The Butterfield Blues Band), organist Al Kooper, pianist Paul Griffin, bassist Harvey Brooks and drummer Bobby Gregg, plus a few others. With this album, Dylan’s transformation from folkie to rock star and pop icon was completed. The sound was loud and abrasive, Dylan’s voice sneering and his lyrics truly surreal.
It reached #3 on the US album charts, and #4 in the UK. It is now seen as not only a landmark album in Dylan’s career, but in the wider pop world as a whole.

Bringing It All Back Home (1965) <|> Blonde On Blonde (1966)
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Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

By 1965, Bob Dylan had been moving away from the folk community which he had emerged from. Many had noted how Another Side Of Bob Dylan made the move away from the protest song and into more personal and abstract themes. However it was his next album that caused the biggest stir, as with Bringing It All Back Home he entered the world of electric rock music. The folk purists were outraged. His growing audience in the rock and pop worlds were delighted.
Side one of the album saw him backed by a band, performing in a ragged blues-rock style. Side two was mostly acoustic, though he was backed here and there by Bruce Langhorne's electric guitar or Bill Lee's bass. Aesthetic changes aside, his songs were moving in increasingly surreal directions, with his lyrics becoming even more cryptic and unusual. A detailed reading of the songs on Bringing It All Back Home would reveal his disattisfaction with the folk community and his desire to leave it behind. The album introduced many of his most famous songs, among them "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Mr Tambourine Man", "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue".
Bringing It All Back Home was a major landmark for Dylan, and it created waves that moved throughout the folk and pop worlds. It was his declaration of independence from the folk community that had spawned him, and it effectively bridged the gap between folk and rock music. In it's wake, folk artists looked to the use of electric instrumentation, and rock artists turned to folk music for song-writing inspiration. Retrospectively, it can be called one of the first (if not the first) albums of the folk-rock genre, and began a new and controversial chapter in Dylan's career.

Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964) <|> Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
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Bob Dylan - Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

By 1964 Bob Dylan was the pride of American folk music, but his fourth album actually alienated alot of his fans (albeit only the overly-conservative folk purists among them) with its shift in direction. Musically it was much the same as his earlier work - performed solo on acoustic guitar and harmonica (and for the first time on one song, piano). It was lyrically where the change was found. Another Side Of Bob Dylan left behind the socially conscious 'spokesman of a generation' style he had perfected on The Times They Are A-Changin', and made a move towards more personal matters. Simply put, he was no longer singing about the people; he was singing about himself. At the same time his lyrics became more abstract, their meanings more difficult to decipher. He had left the protest songs behind and entered the realm of lyrical poetry.
This change of direction was noticed. He was accused by certain figures in the folk community as having "lost touch with the people", and being "caught up in the paraphernalia of fame". Retrospectively, it can be said that he was instigating the move from 'folk singer' to 'singer-songwriter'. Many would follow him, as the lines between folk and pop music quickly began to narrow.
At the end of the day, what a few self-important folk purist authorities thought does not matter. Another Side Of Bob Dylan was another triumph for Dylan, making it to #8 on the UK charts, containing many of his best songs, and subtly leading the way towards folk-rock and the rise of the singer-songwriters.

The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) <|> Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
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Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

With his second album, Bob Dylan had become the new young prince of American folk music, introducing a repertoire of modern folk songs that suited the social unrest of the 60s. His songs were being covered by all sorts of big names in the music business, and he was becoming a household name not just in the folk community but in the wider pop world. His follow-up came out the next year.
More than anything, 1964’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ proved that he was not running out of good material any time soon. Whilst The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan had featured two covers, his third album was notable for being the first to be made up entirely of original compositions. The title song became his most well-known, capturing the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the times. The other nine songs all dealt with issues which were all too real - racism, poverty, war and social change, told through his poetic and engrossing storytelling style. Whilst his earlier work had incorporated elements of humour, there was nothing funny about the new material. It was all very serious, and more powerful for that. This was around the time that he was being labelled ‘Spokesman of a Generation’, a title he would come to dislike, but which was nevertheless indicative of the high esteem his songs were held in.
It got to #20 in the charts, eventually going Gold. Retrospectively it can be seen as the strongest and most consistent of his early folk albums, and also the most stark and haunting.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) <|> Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964)
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Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

Dylan's first album had gone by mostly unnoticed, reportedly selling only 2500 copies in the US. At that point he appeared to be just another Greenwich Village folk-singer, in the shadow of his idols and mentors (Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, etc).
However with his second album, things changed in a big way. It was with this album that he revealed himself as a songwriter of extraordinary talent. Whilst Bob Dylan had almost entirely consisted of covers and traditional songs, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was almost all original songs, with just two covers. And his song were good - seriously good. Dylan had come from a genre where most singers' repetoires were based on songs from the past, and now here he was, barely twenty-three years old, coming out with all these new songs which would quickly come to define his era of folk music. These included instant classic protest songs ("Blowin' In The Wind", "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", "Masters Of War") and poetic love songs ("Girl From The North Country", "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"), along with other numbers that featured clever, surreal humor. His songwriting prowess was startling considering his young age, and he quickly rose to international fame based on the strength of this album. His lyrics dealt with subjects important to the 60s generation - among them war, nuclear disarmament and civil rights. He was soon being labelled as "Spokesman of a Generation" and the new leading voice of American folk music.
The album reached #22 in the US charts, and managed to get to #1 in the UK. It earned him a legion of devoted followers. Also of equal importance was the growing roster of other artists who were now beginning to record his songs and have hits with them. Folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary took "Blowin' In The Wind" to #2 in the charts within three weeks of the album's release. His songs also transcended the folk genre, and were covered by artists as diverse as Johnny Cash and Sam Cooke.

Bob Dylan (1962) <|> The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)
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Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1962)

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter who emerged out of the early 60s folk revival to become an informal chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. He famously made the move from folk music to electric rock in the mid-60s, and has remained a major figure in music for five decades.

Bob Dylan was born in Minnestoa, and in the early 60s he moved to New York City, where he became emersed in the Greenwich Village folk scene. In these early formative years he learned much from older New York folk singers such as Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Dave Van Ronk. He was signed to Columbia by John Hammond in 1961, and his debut album came out in early '62. He was only twenty years old at the time.
It's often considered little more than an interesting prologue to his career, which didn't really take off properly until his second album. Almost all the songs on Bob Dylan are folk standards and traditionals, perfomed solo by Dylan on guitar and harmonica. There are only two originals. At this early stage in his career his influences were clear, the most important of them being Woody Guthrie. It wouldn't be until the next album that he used these influences to forge his own unique identity, built on his incredible songwriting. On this first record he sounded much like any of his folk-singer contemporaries, and it recieved little notice.
But things were about to start happening for young Mr Dylan...

|> The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
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