Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 06/01/2004
It's hard to overestimate the importance of
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the record that firmly established
Dylan as an unparalleled songwriter, one of considerable skill, imagination, and vision. At the time,
folk had been quite popular on college campuses and bohemian circles, making headway onto the
pop charts in diluted form, and while there certainly were a number of gifted songwriters, nobody had transcended the scene as
Dylan did with this record. There are a couple (very good) covers, with
"Corrina Corrina" and
"Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance," but they pale with the originals here. At the time, the social protests received the most attention, and deservedly so, since
"Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War," and
"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" weren't just specific in their targets; they were gracefully executed and even melodic. Although they've proven resilient throughout the years, if that's all
Freewheelin' had to offer, it wouldn't have had its seismic impact, but this also revealed a songwriter who could turn out whimsy (
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"), gorgeous love songs (
"Girl From the North Country"), and cheerfully absurdist humor (
"Bob Dylan's Blues," "Bob Dylan's Dream") with equal skill. This is rich, imaginative music, capturing the sound and spirit of America as much as that of
Louis Armstrong,
Hank Williams, or
Elvis Presley.
Dylan, in many ways, recorded music that equaled this, but he never topped it. [In 2003,
Columbia/
Legacy reissued 15 selected titles from
Dylan's catalog as hybrid SACDs, playable in both regular CD players and Super Audio CD players. Each title is packaged as a digipak, containing the full original artwork. On each of the titles, and on each of the layers, the remastered sound is spectacular, a considerable upgrade from the initial CD pressings.]
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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