I guess you know you're listening to true genius when an album this good doesn't appear on the first page of an artists discography on BEA!!!

Recorded in just one night.
I strongly prefer Freewheelin' and Times but still a very good album.

An excellent album and one of the most crucial in the Dylan cannon. The poetic imagery that would spread it's wings in the electric period has it' s genesis here.

The last album of all acoustic originals of Dylan's career. It's more carefree than his last two records, although the love songs deal with his break up with his then girlfriend, Suzie Rotolo. Opener, all I really want to do, is a fun word play song, another one of his many tracks to be covered by The Byrds. Black crow blues, is a throwaway, and, Spanish Harlem incident, is a bit slight. The great songs here are, the majestic, chimes of freedom, the lovely, to Ramona, and, the closing track, it ain't me babe. Is that song another Suzie Rotolo kiss off? , or is Dylan telling the world that he isn't the prophet or saviour, those ridiculous ideas bounded around by a bunch of Mr. Jones'. Elsewhere, break up song, ballad in plain D, is extremely confessional for a Dylan song,and also very boring, and I still don't know what a 'scrapegoat' is. The album also features two talking blues, the first, I shall be free no:10, is funny in parts, but by the time we get to, motopsycho nitemare, it's starting to get a bit tiresome. I don't believe you, is an excellent track, as is the superb, my back pages,(another song The Byrds would cover). The album feels lightweight in that some of Dylan's guitar playing isn't particularly professional here, in fact the album was recorded in a few hours on 9th June 1964. All in all, a good album, but just a little short on identity and focus.

Another solid album indeed. Chimes of Freedom, My Back Pages and It AInt Me Babe are real gems. I would rank this somewhere towards the end of his top ten albums.

What I love about Bob is he just wrote... good or bad song made it to the record. It's bound to be important to someone.

Dylan's least "distant" and most personal album, he doesn't sound so much like a prophet or a hipster as a dreamy-eyed friend on this record. In fact, he sounds a bit tipsy. It's easy for perplexed young men to relate, take "All I Really Wanna Do" and "I Don't Believe You" for instance...

Of the "classic" Dylan albums I find this one to be the most hit or miss for me.

His best of his pre-electric albums. My Back Pages ranks amongst his best songs.

Wow! What a special album this one is. This record is so personal and real. It was such a hard left turn in terms of theme in comparison to "The Times They Are A-Changin'". I personally love this more introspective vibe on here.

Overall I will say this album isn't quite as consistent as its predecessor. This albums only weakness, if slight, is I don't personally feel it flows perfectly throughout. I don't love the transition from the openly funny "Motorpsycho Nitemare" to the masterpeice of introspective poetry "My Back Pages", as an example.

Still none of the tracks here are less than very good and the High point - "My Back Pages" is about as beautiful an expression of a songwriter ever recorded. And the other highs like "Chimes of Freedom", "Black Crow Blues", "To Ramona", "Spanish Harlem Incident", "Ballad In Plain D" and (no matter how many times I hear it) "It Ain't Me Babe" present practically a clinic on how one goes about being mysterious, sensitive, emotive, intelligent, poetic, sincere and never too serious about oneself all on one album. Truly this is just another fucking peice of genius from The Genius.

Grade: 91/100