Bob Dylan at one of his last traditional folk albums, still manages to pull out consistent tracks but not one that really makes the cut like a "The Times They Are A-Changing"

From Sandrof1969 02/13/2018 21:24

In questo disco Bob ride, sbaglia, tira su col naso, tanto per dimostrare che il serioso folksinger di appena qualche mese prima rifletteva solo un aspetto della sua arte. Solo un altro lato della sua personalità, per l'appunto...

Bob Dylan stays conservatively in his comfort zone but excels there.

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.

From Brandon8 03/28/2016 02:40

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.

From RoundTheBend 02/24/2016 16:47

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.

From poppmusic 02/15/2015 01:36

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...