The first album in Dylan's so-called "Christian Period", but it's not really the uber-dramatic departure from the "old" Dylan that it was treated as at the time – gospel soul backing vocals and testifying lyricism for sure, but it sounds more like gospel has come to Dylan than it sounds like Dylan has "gone gospel". Slow Train Coming has a focused approach, ala Blood On The Tracks, even if this train doesn't come close to crossing over onto those particular tracks – and the return to a leaner, more focused vibe is welcome one. It's got stellar studio players in the mix, and producer Jerry Wexler's production touches on a soul sound, but smartly hews to Dylan's vocal style and lyrical focus. Dylan's high bar for a masterpiece given his trailblazing past didn't give this record or the following couple much a chance to succeed on their own merits back in the day, but all these years later...wow, this is really good, passionate stuff. Includes "Gotta Serve Somebody", "Precious Angel", "I Believe In You", "Slow Trait", "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking", "Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)", "When You Gonna Wake Up", "Man Gave Name To All The Animals", "When He Returns". LP, Vinyl record album

A critical comeback album for Dylan – who never really went away, he was just floundering a bit commercially and critically for a number of years – one that set him up to ride high again for years to come! This is his second album working with producer Daniel Lanois, who helmed the pretty excellent Oh Mercy a few years earlier. Lanois's trademark haze and mood hover over Dylan and his band's wonderful take on timeless folk-blues-roots rock and some of best, most forthright lyricism since Blood On The Tracks. Wrestling with mortality, Dylan delivers a late career classic. Includes "Love Sick", "Dirt Road Blues", "Standing In The Doorway", "Million Miles", "Trying To Get To Heaven", "Til I Fell In Love With You", "Not Dark Yet", "Cold Irons Bound", "Can't Wait", "Make You Feel My Live" and the seemingly improvised, old school Dylan-styled (if more meandering) "Highlands". CD

Some of the darkest acoustic work that Bob Dylan ever recorded – a record of spare, stark beauty that really has the young singer knocking it out of the park! There's a brilliance to this record that makes it one of our key go-to Bob Dylan records over the years – mostly just the man and his guitar, but spinning out stories and messages with this understated genius – really setting himself apart from some of the overdone, over-hyped energy of the other rising folk singers of the time – and with politics that are still completely resonant after all of these years. The album's filled with beautiful songs – like "With God On Our Side", "North Country Blues", "Only A Pawn In Their Game", "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll", "Boots Of Spanish Leather", and "The Times They Are A-Changin". CD

Some of the darkest acoustic work that Bob Dylan ever recorded – a record of spare, stark beauty that really has the young singer knocking it out of the park! There's a brilliance to this record that makes it one of our key go-to Bob Dylan records over the years – mostly just the man and his guitar, but spinning out stories and messages with this understated genius – really setting himself apart from some of the overdone, over-hyped energy of the other rising folk singers of the time – and with politics that are still completely resonant after all of these years. The album's filled with beautiful songs – like "With God On Our Side", "North Country Blues", "Only A Pawn In Their Game", "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll", "Boots Of Spanish Leather", and "The Times They Are A-Changin". LP, Vinyl record album

Dylan & The Dead come together in the late 80s – touring together for quite a while and here with Dead backing Dylan on classics like "All Along The Watchtower", "Slow Train", "Gotta Serve Somebody", "Joey", "Knocking On Heaven's Door" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes – those amazing late 60s Woodstock recordings – and an album that was a classic long before it was officially released in the mid 70s! Bootleg after bootleg of some these recordings might have sold enough copies on the grey market in the early 70s to go platinum back in the day, so there's little wonder that Columbia would finally get some kind of official release out there – and it lives up to the legend! Dylan's conversational, seemingly spontaneous lyricism stretches over a good portion of it, with some much more soulful numbers, too – and those are all the more effective with The Band's incredible instrumentation, backing and occasional lead vocals. Includes "Odds And Ends", "Million Dollar Bash", "Tears Of Rage", "Tiny Montgomery", "Nothing Was Delivered", "Too Much Of Nothing", "Clothes Line Saga", "You Ain't Goin Nowhere", "Open The Door, Homer", "This Wheel's On Fire, "Crash On the Levee (Down In The Flood)", "Long Distance Operator". CD

Titles include "Meet Me In The Morning", "Shelter From The Storm", "Idiot Wind", "You're A Big Girl Now", "If You See Her, Say Hello", "Buckets Of Rain", and "Tangled Up In Blue". CD

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A treasure trove of live material, alternate takes, and early home demos – almost all of it previously unreleased! CD

Rare outtakes from the 80s – with titles that include "Trust Yourself", "Emotionally Yours", "Danville Girl", "Driftin Too Far From The Shore", "Go Away Little Boy", "Number 3", "Tight Connection", "Clean Cut Kid", "Something's Burning Baby", and "The Very Thought Of You". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the most underrated Dylan album, from a one time underrated period all together – which is rightly changing these days! Shot Of Love finds Dylan in the tail end of his most forthrightly spiritual era, but it's got more of a rock & soul vibe than the more polished couple before it. It's well worth having, and ultimately one of his best of the 80s. Includes "Shot Of Love", "Heart Of Mine", "Property Of Jesus", "Lenny Bruce", "Watered Down Love", "The Groom's Still", "Waiting At The Alter", "Dead Man, Dead Man", "In The Summertime", "Trouble", and the incredible "Every Grain Of Sand", now one the best and fan-treasured songs in Dylan's canon, even if the album it's on was underappreciated for so many years. LP, Vinyl record album

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Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes – those amazing late 60s Woodstock recordings – and an album that was a classic long before it was officially released in the mid 70s! Bootleg after bootleg of some these recordings might have sold enough copies on the grey market in the early 70s to go platinum back in the day, so there's little wonder that Columbia would finally get some kind of official release out there – and it lives up to the legend! Dylan's conversational, seemingly spontaneous lyricism stretches over a good portion of it, with some much more soulful numbers, too – and those are all the more effective with The Band's incredible instrumentation, backing and occasional lead vocals. Includes "Odds And Ends", "Million Dollar Bash", "Tears Of Rage", "Tiny Montgomery", "Nothing Was Delivered", "Too Much Of Nothing", "Clothes Line Saga", "You Ain't Goin Nowhere", "Open The Door, Homer", "This Wheel's On Fire, "Crash On the Levee (Down In The Flood)", "Long Distance Operator". CD

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The 10th in Columbia's essential Bootleg Series of archival unreleased Dylan – and for us, this one gets immediate placement among the best in the series – for finding the diamonds in the rough from the turbulent 1969-1971 period! It features a bunch of previously unreleased versions of songs from Self Portrait and New Morning – along with a handful of live recordings and otherwise unreleased gems. It's fascinating stuff, especially the songs from Self Portrait! That album is such a weird hodgepodge of styles, it was rejected by even the most ardent Dylan worshippers at the time. Here in blueprint versions, the songs have a ragged charm that really comes through in a big way! The set also has a bunch of alternate versions of songs from New Morning, a couple from Nashville Skyline and other odds and ends. It's bookended by incredible demos – opening with an acoustic guitar backed "I Went To See The Gypsy" and closing with a piano version of the eternally great "When I Paint My Masterpiece" – and it's filled with underappreciated Self Portrait songs like "Little Sadie", "All The Tired Horses", "Wigwam" and more in sparer settings, sans the overdubs of the LP version. Also includes alternate versions of New Morning material, including "Time Passes Slowly #1", "Working On A Guru", "If Dogs Run Free" and "New Morning" – some WITH orchestral or horn overdubs, as opposed to the stripped down Self Portrait versions. Other rarities from '69-'71 include a different version of "Country Pie", plus "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and "Highway 61 Revisited" with The Band at Isle Of Wight. 35 tracks in all – including a thick, beautifully illustrated booklet – with notes by one-time Self Portrait hater Greil Marcus! LP, Vinyl record album

Pinch yourself – you've gotta be dreaming – because Columbia Records just unlocked the vaults, and unearthed a treasure trove of never-heard recordings from the sessions from some of Bob Dylan's greatest records – Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde On Blonde! Each record is a masterpiece in its own right – the product of countless creative moments by Dylan in the studio, only some of which made it on record – leaving a lot more to be rediscovered all these many years later, and finally offered up to paint a vivid picture of Dylan's genius in 1965 and 1966! Some tracks are quite different – demos, acoustic versions, piano versions, and even a few rehearsals – and if you dig Bob Dylan at all, you'll find plenty here to love. Heavy 3LP set is pressed on 180 gram vinyl, with a big book in a slipcover, and includes 36 tracks in all – with unreleased unusual versions of "Tombstone Blues", "Positively 4th Street", "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", "California", "You Don't Have To Do That", "Like A Rolling Stone", "Medicine Sunday", "Desolation Row", "Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence", "Just Like a Woman", "Lunatic Princess", "I'll Keep It With Mine", and lots more! LP, Vinyl record album

An early career-spanning retrospective on Bob Dylan – one that features key cuts from all the classic albums – plus some unreleased material and live tracks too! LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Meet Me In The Morning", "Shelter From The Storm", "Idiot Wind", "You're A Big Girl Now", "If You See Her, Say Hello", "Buckets Of Rain", and "Tangled Up In Blue". LP, Vinyl record album

Sure, the young Bob Dylan might look a bit hokey on the cover – but he's already out there way ahead of the pack – and starting to blow away any of the less interesting pop folkies who'd been crowding into the Greenwich Village scene of the early 60s! There's a difference here right from the start – not just some of his own material, but the way that Dylan transforms older tunes too – not with this crew-cutted, clean-voiced style – but bringing in elements of blues, and using these very personal guitar inflections and harmonica lines to really make the music his own. Titles include "Highway 51", "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", "Song To Woody", "Man Of Constant Sorrow", "Fixin To Die", "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down", and "Talkin New York". CD

A pretty amazing 70s moment from Bob Dylan – a legendary tour that was a bit of a rock and roll circus on wheels – hence, perhaps, the unique name of the tour! Bob's in a very collaborative spirit here – working with famous guests who include Mick Ronson, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Ronee Blakely and Ramblin' Jack Elliott – all in an upbeat mode that surfaced most strongly on some of Dylan's tracks on the Desire album, which was issued during the two legs of the tour. CD

A great mix of material here – earlier classics and some tracks recorded in 1971! Titles include the nwer cuts "I Shal Be Released", "You Ain't Goin Nowhere", and "Down In The Flood" – plus "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall", "She Belongs To Me", "All Along The Watchtower", "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", "Don't Think Twice", "Lay Lady Lay", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "If Not For You", "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", and "Maggie's Farm". CD

The first entry in the Bob Dylan series from Columbia – and maybe still one of the most important – as it really focused on the kind of special material that had been changing hands in the underground for decades – part of that secret knowledge that would always make diehard Dylan fans sneer at anyone who only knew the official albums! There's some really amazing stuff here – especially great album outtakes, especially from classics like Freewheelin Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A Changin – plus some unusual 70s moments, weird early demo and live tracks, and lots more. Despite the large date rate, the set skews pretty heavily towards the mid 60s – which represents probably 50% of the material, alongside a good chunk of 70s tracks, and a few scattered 80s and 90s moments. Titles include "House Carpenter", "Hard Times In New York Town", "Mama You Been On My Mind", "Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence", "Wallflower", "Santa Fe", "Who Killed Davey Moore (Live)", "Paths Of Victory", "Talkin Hava Negeilah Blues", "Let Me Die In My Footsteps", "Man On The Street", "Suze (The Cough Song)", "Seven Curses", "every Grain Of Salnd", "Catfish", "Tell Me", "Series Of Dreams", and lots lots more. CD

The first entry in the Bob Dylan series from Columbia – and maybe still one of the most important – as it really focused on the kind of special material that had been changing hands in the underground for decades – part of that secret knowledge that would always make diehard Dylan fans sneer at anyone who only knew the official albums! There's some really amazing stuff here – especially great album outtakes, especially from classics like Freewheelin Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A Changin – plus some unusual 70s moments, weird early demo and live tracks, and lots more. Despite the large date rate, the set skews pretty heavily towards the mid 60s – which represents probably 50% of the material, alongside a good chunk of 70s tracks, and a few scattered 80s and 90s moments. CD

Seminal work from Bob Dylan – one of his early electric sides, and a record that moved the singer from folk stardom to an even more explosive force in the mainstream! This is the record that forever made Dylan as influential on rock music as he was on underground styles – and the whole thing is a perfect blend of the complexity of his earlier songwriting with some tunes and messages that made his politics even more powerful than ever! The album's brimming over with genius – nearly every cut is a classic – and titles include "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Maggie's Farm", "Mr Tambourine Man", "Gates Of Eden", "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", "It's Alright Ma", "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", "She Belongs To Me", and "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream". CD

Limited edition six song sampler with a previously unreleased demo of "Dignity", plus footnotes that connect each song to passages in Bob's memoir! CD

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Plenty of early classics and hits – including "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "Blowin In The Wind", "Down The Highway", "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "I Shall Be Free", "Bob Dylan's Dream", and "Oxford Town". CD

Plenty of early classics and hits – including "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "Blowin In The Wind", "Down The Highway", "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "I Shall Be Free", "Bob Dylan's Dream", and "Oxford Town". LP, Vinyl record album

Live material – with titles that include "In The Garden", "Everything Is Broken", "Man In The Long Black Coat", "Most Likely You Go Your Way", "The Man In Me", "Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle", and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit". LP, Vinyl record album

A live document of the mid 70s Rolling Thunder Revue era! The best of it recasts classic Dylan songs as well as ones from the then recent Blood On The Tracks as raucous rock & roll tunes, which might've puzzled a lot of longtime fans, critics, and maybe even casual concertgoers at the time, but like so many initially confusing creative left turns in Dylan's career, it's a lot more fascinating in retrospect. Includes a rave-up version of "Maggie's Farm", plus "Shelter From The Storm", "Idiot Wind", "I Threw It All Away", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Lay Lady Lay", "You're A Big Girl Now" and more. CD

A pivotal moment for Bob Dylan – and maybe one of THE albums of the 60s! The newly-electrified Dylan really takes off here – putting more punch and bit into his already-strong lyrical approach – and twisting things in amazing ways that still leave us breathless all these many years later! And sure, the album gave Bob a few hits – which are nestled in here next to headier tunes that work together perfectly. Titles include "Like A Rolling Stone", "Ballad Of A Thin Man", "It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry", "From A Buick 6", "Desolation Row", "Highway 61 Revisited", and "Queen Jane Approximately". CD

A pivotal album for Bob Dylan – a record that continues the Nashville experiment of Blonde On Blonde, but which compresses it a bit more – almost like he's re-folding the electric energy back into the darkness of the spare sound of Times They Are A-Changin! Bob plays guitar, harmonica, and piano – in a core trio that just features Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenny Buttrey on drums – plus a bit of added steel guitar from Pete Drake. The album's filled with complicated dark little numbers like "All Along The Watchtower", "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest", "I Am A Lonesome Hobo", "I Pity The Poor Immigrant", "The Wicked Messenger", "As I Went Out One Morning", and "Down Along The Cove". CD

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Dylan's wonderful foray into country rock – the great Nashville Skyline! He takes his voice into a strangely crooning arena that we hadn't heard from him before or since, kinda adding the mysterious vibe of the whole thing. Titles include a duet with Johnny Cash on "Girl From The North Country", plus "Lay Lady Lay", "Country Pie", "To Be Alone With You", and "One More Night". CD

Titles include "Shooting Star", "What Good Am I", "Disease Of Conceit", "Political World", "Where Teardrops Fall", "Ring Them Bells", and "Everything Is Broken". CD

Titles include "Shooting Star", "What Good Am I", "Disease Of Conceit", "Political World", "Where Teardrops Fall", "Ring Them Bells", and "Everything Is Broken". LP, Vinyl record album

The first new Bob Dylan songs in more than a few years – and a great reminder that, even if the man can do a pretty good job with songs from other sources, it's still his core talents as a composer that we love so much! The album's got Bob's wonderfully mature vocals alongside a trio of other guitar talents – Charlie Sexton, Bob Britt, and Donnie Herron – the last of whom plays steel guitar – yet the record's got this kind of intimate vibe, and still crackles with the kind of excitement that we'd feel in the past, when dropping a needle on a new Dylan release – asking the question, "Is this going to be one of the good ones?" – and getting a resounding "Yes!" after just a few minutes. Titles include "I Contain Multitudes", "False Prophet", "Crossing The Rubicon", "Key West", "Black Rider", "Goodbye Jimmy Reed", and "I've Made Up Myself To Give Myself To You" – and the long "Murder Most Foul". CD

The first album in Dylan's so-called "Christian Period", but it's not really the uber-dramatic departure from the "old" Dylan that it was treated as at the time – gospel soul backing vocals and testifying lyricism for sure, but it sounds more like gospel has come to Dylan than it sounds like Dylan has "gone gospel". Slow Train Coming has a focused approach, ala Blood On The Tracks, even if this train doesn't come close to crossing over onto those particular tracks – and the return to a leaner, more focused vibe is welcome one. It's got stellar studio players in the mix, and producer Jerry Wexler's production touches on a soul sound, but smartly hews to Dylan's vocal style and lyrical focus. Dylan's high bar for a masterpiece given his trailblazing past didn't give this record or the following couple much a chance to succeed on their own merits back in the day, but all these years later...wow, this is really good, passionate stuff. Includes "Gotta Serve Somebody", "Precious Angel", "I Believe In You", "Slow Trait", "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking", "Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)", "When You Gonna Wake Up", "Man Gave Name To All The Animals", "When He Returns". CD

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A mindblowing set of music – from an equally mindblowing tour – the legendary 1974 reunion of Bob Dylan and The Band on stage! The tour gave the world one famous double-length set that was issued back in the day – but as you might imagine, there was a lot more excellent material that was captured at the time, but never released – a fact that's nicely corrected with this really massive set! The 27CD package is stunning – and features shows that run from January through February of the year – following the tour from Chicago to LA – with multiple shows at a number of the stops, all captured within. The multi-night shows in the same city are especially nice, as there's a variety of material, and it's great to see the way the shows change up – and there's a massive 417 unreleased tracks on the set – a Dylan fan's dream! CD

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An unusual 60s Columbia album – one that has Dylan alongside cuts from some of the label's more pop/folk artists! LP, Vinyl record album

Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes – those amazing late 60s Woodstock recordings – and an album that was a classic long before it was officially released in the mid 70s! Bootleg after bootleg of some these recordings might have sold enough copies on the grey market in the early 70s to go platinum back in the day, so there's little wonder that Columbia would finally get some kind of official release out there – and it lives up to the legend! Dylan's conversational, seemingly spontaneous lyricism stretches over a good portion of it, with some much more soulful numbers, too – and those are all the more effective with The Band's incredible instrumentation, backing and occasional lead vocals. Includes "Odds And Ends", "Million Dollar Bash", "Tears Of Rage", "Tiny Montgomery", "Nothing Was Delivered", "Too Much Of Nothing", "Clothes Line Saga", "You Ain't Goin Nowhere", "Open The Door, Homer", "This Wheel's On Fire, "Crash On the Levee (Down In The Flood)", "Long Distance Operator". LP, Vinyl record album

Bob's fourth record, and close runner up to Freewheelin' as the masterpiece of this early stage of his career. While the overly arch Times They Are A Changin' pretty much stood as the cornerstone of classifiable folk rock at the time, Another Side is just that. Dense, elliptical, and downright surreal at times, with some of the protesty stuff that made the media so happy & hungry, but much more layered and poetic. Another side is also much more reverent of and indebted to the Harry Smith field recordings that Bob studied so hard, the stuff that finally caught on with the general public in the early 90s. Titles include "Spanish Harlem Incident", "It Ain't Me Babe", "Ballad In Plain D", "Black Crow Blues", "I Don't Believe You", "Motorpsycho Nitemare", "To Ramona", "Chimes Of Freedom", "My Back Pages", and "I Shall Be Free No 10". CD

Pinch yourself – you've gotta be dreaming – because Columbia Records just unlocked the vaults, and unearthed a treasure trove of never-heard recordings from the sessions from some of Bob Dylan's greatest records – Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde On Blonde! Each record is a masterpiece in its own right – the product of countless creative moments by Dylan in the studio, only some of which made it on record – leaving a lot more to be rediscovered all these many years later, and finally offered up to paint a vivid picture of Dylan's genius in 1965 and 1966! Some tracks are quite different – demos, acoustic versions, piano versions, and even a few rehearsals – and if you dig Bob Dylan at all, you'll find plenty here to love. 2CD set features 36 tracks in all – with unreleased unusual versions of "Tombstone Blues", "Positively 4th Street", "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", "California", "You Don't Have To Do That", "Like A Rolling Stone", "Medicine Sunday", "Desolation Row", "Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence", "Just Like a Woman", "Lunatic Princess", "I'll Keep It With Mine", and lots more! CD

A landmark album from the mighty Bob Dylan – a 2LP set of studio work, which was quite rare at the time – and a set that has Dylan stretching out all his creative powers in newly different directions! The album had a long genesis in the studio – some early work with The Band, then Dylan breaking off with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson to head down to Nashville – where they interacted with key country session musicians to make this masterful blend of music – work that's not country at all, but which is also moving past Dylan's folk roots too – with a blend of music that still as mindblowing today as it was back in the mid 60s! This is definitely one of those double-length sets that makes fantastic use of all the extra space – overflowing with gems that include "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35", "Visions Of Johanna", "Pledging My Time", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat", and "Just Like A Woman". CD

A landmark album from the mighty Bob Dylan – a 2LP set of studio work, which was quite rare at the time – and a set that has Dylan stretching out all his creative powers in newly different directions! The album had a long genesis in the studio – some early work with The Band, then Dylan breaking off with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson to head down to Nashville – where they interacted with key country session musicians to make this masterful blend of music – work that's not country at all, but which is also moving past Dylan's folk roots too – with a blend of music that still as mindblowing today as it was back in the mid 60s! This is definitely one of those double-length sets that makes fantastic use of all the extra space – overflowing with gems that include "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35", "Visions Of Johanna", "Pledging My Time", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat", and "Just Like A Woman". CD

A great live set from the early acoustic years! Titles include "Spanish Harlem Incident", "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "Silver Dagger", "With God On Our Side", "Talkin World War III Blues", "Don't Think Twice", "Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll", and lots more! CD

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Titles include "Hurricane", "Isis", "Joey", "Romance In Durango", "Sara", and "One More Cup Of Coffee". CD

Titles include "Hurricane", "Isis", "Joey", "Romance In Durango", "Sara", and "One More Cup Of Coffee". CD

Titles include "Hurricane", "Isis", "Joey", "Romance In Durango", "Sara", and "One More Cup Of Coffee". LP, Vinyl record album

30 classic Bob Dylan tracks – served up in one mighty nice set! CD

A pivotal album for Bob Dylan – a record that continues the Nashville experiment of Blonde On Blonde, but which compresses it a bit more – almost like he's re-folding the electric energy back into the darkness of the spare sound of Times They Are A-Changin! Bob plays guitar, harmonica, and piano – in a core trio that just features Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenny Buttrey on drums – plus a bit of added steel guitar from Pete Drake. The album's filled with complicated dark little numbers like "All Along The Watchtower", "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest", "I Am A Lonesome Hobo", "I Pity The Poor Immigrant", "The Wicked Messenger", "As I Went Out One Morning", and "Down Along The Cove". CD

A late triumph for Dylan, and solidly delivering on the promise of his return to excellence on Time Out Of Mind a few years earlier – setting foot into the new millennium by hitting even higher point in a pretty incredible comeback period! Dylan produces himself here, credited as Jack Frost, and he and his road tested band bring the varied rootsy vibe of his latter day sound to the forefront after the moodier, murkier vibe of the previous record. A genuine classic, with songs Dylan kept in his live setlist for many years to come – clearly the man himself is proud of this one, and rightfully so. Titles include "Tweedle Dee & Teedle Dum", "Mississippi", "Summer Days", "High Water (For Charley Patton)", "Honest With Me", "Po'Boy", "Cry A While", "Sugar Baby" and more. CD

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Dylan's wonderful foray into country rock – the great Nashville Skyline! He takes his voice into a strangely crooning arena that we hadn't heard from him before or since, kinda adding the mysterious vibe of the whole thing. Titles include a duet with Johnny Cash on "Girl From The North Country", plus "Lay Lady Lay", "Country Pie", "To Be Alone With You", and "One More Night". CD

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Dylan cherry-picks the Sinatra songbook – with much better results than you might expect – stripping the 50s and 60s gloss that made perfect sense when interpreted by Ol' Blue Eyes, and bringing to light the more intimate charms that the songs carry at their core. Bob's voice is actually in pretty strong form here – laying off on the raspy growl of his more ornery later material, and portraying these songs with simple, honest clarity. As is always the case on later Dylan records, his seasoned road band also serve as his studio players – and it's an especially strong showcase for pedal steel player Donny Herron – with Dylan veterans Tony Garnier, Charlie Sexton and others in fine form, too. A few tracks have horns and larger-than-usual arrangements for Dylan, but it's a pretty laidback charmer overall. Includes "I'm A Fool To Want You", "The Night We Called It A Day", "Full Moon And Empty Arms", "Theat Lucky Old Sun", "Where Are You?", "Some Enchanted Evening" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Bob Dylan and his great band whip up a moody, yet darkly humorous Tempest – and while the overall greatness of his records came down just notch or two after Love And Theft – this one goes the other way and comes pretty damn close to his late-era peaks! Lyrically, it's definitely better than the past couple records – with verse after verse of poetic storytelling – which is carried all the more effectively by his weathered rasp. Sound-wise, Dylan is as indebted as ever to pre-rock rhythm & blues, but there's some nice fuzzy electrified arrangements, too – and it's all played by a stellar band that's been with him for a long time now, one perfectly-suited for the style: guitarists Charlie Sexton & Stu Kimball, BR5-49 fiddler and steel guitarist Donnie Herron, bassist Tony Garnier, drummer George Receli, and a most noteworthy guest in Los Lobos' David Hidalgo on accordion. Includes "Duquesne Whistle", "Soon After Midnight", "Narrow Way", "Long And Wasted Years", "Pay In Blood", "Scarlet Town", "Early Roman Kings", "Tin Angel", "Tempest" and "Roll On John". CD

A critical comeback album for Dylan – who never really went away, he was just floundering a bit commercially and critically for a number of years – one that set him up to ride high again for years to come! This is his second album working with producer Daniel Lanois, who helmed the pretty excellent Oh Mercy a few years earlier. Lanois's trademark haze and mood hover over Dylan and his band's wonderful take on timeless folk-blues-roots rock and some of best, most forthright lyricism since Blood On The Tracks. Wrestling with mortality, Dylan delivers a late career classic. Includes "Love Sick", "Dirt Road Blues", "Standing In The Doorway", "Million Miles", "Trying To Get To Heaven", "Til I Fell In Love With You", "Not Dark Yet", "Cold Irons Bound", "Can't Wait", "Make You Feel My Live" and the seemingly improvised, old school Dylan-styled (if more meandering) "Highlands". CD

Bob Dylan takes on the American songbook once again – revisiting the territory of classic 20th century songwriters that he touched on the Fallen Angels album, but in an overstuffed mode that definitely warrants the Triplicate title! The triple-length format really has Dylan going to town on the material – and maybe doing a lot more than just trying to ape an older singer like Frank Sinatra – as the arrangements are often surprisingly fresh, and almost hit the kind of country/standard mode that Willie Nelson hit with his Stardust recording. In fact, given the rasp and world-heavy tone of Dylan's voice, and the strong use of both acoustic and steel guitar on some of the tunes, the whole thing maybe feels more like a vision of midcentury, seen through a lens that gives the sound of Nashville a lot more importance in the canon. The set was recorded at the Capitol Studios, which seems a great place to capture this vibe – and titles include, not surprisingly, "Stardust", plus "This Nearly Was Mine", "Stormy Weather", "Once Upon A Time", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "As Time Goes By", "Imagination", "Day In Day Out", "There's A Flaw In My Flue", "These Foolish Things", and "You Go To My Head". CD

Somehow, someway, Bob Dylan and Columbia Records can keep returning to the well of unreleased material – and draw jaw droppingly brilliant recordings that are mostly unheard to the general population of non Dylan diehard archaeologists! Here lies the fabled Witmark Demos – early recordings of treasured Dylan classics and rarities alike recorded raw and unencumbered, just Dylan's voice, guitar and occasional harmonica or piano – recorded in 1962 for Leeds Music (a few) and M. Witmark & Sons (most of 'em) in the early-to-mid 60s. Dylan was one of the first wave of 60s folk songwriters brought into the Tin Pan Alley machinations, a pretty amazing moment considering that this gruff, nasal voiced figure was soon to revolutionize popular music and there's no way Witmark could have known it. Hey, maybe this kid will make us a few bucks in the urban folk racket, eh? Wow. Of course many of these songs would be recorded by a who's who of 60s & 70s singers of all stripes, but it's always great to here Dylan's own early, raw sketches. Some of the performances come somewhat close to the way Dylan would cut them for his own landmark albums with just a bit more polish, others are close(ish) to how they sounded in earlier Dylan "bootlegs" (officially and not so official), and most of it has never been officially released commercially. Columbia continues the terrific Official Bootleg Series with a thick booklet of rare photos and notes by Colin Escott. Includes versions of "Hard Times In New York Town", "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "Ballad Of Hollis Brown, "Long Time Gone", "Farewell", "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright", "Girl From North Country", "Only A Hobo", "Guess I'm Doing Fine", "Mr Tamborine Man", "I'll Keep It With Mine" and many more. 47 tracks on 2 CDs. CD

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Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes – those amazing late 60s Woodstock recordings – and an album that was a classic long before it was officially released in the mid 70s! Bootleg after bootleg of some these recordings might have sold enough copies on the grey market in the early 70s to go platinum back in the day, so there's little wonder that Columbia would finally get some kind of official release out there – and it lives up to the legend! Dylan's conversational, seemingly spontaneous lyricism stretches over a good portion of it, with some much more soulful numbers, too – and those are all the more effective with The Band's incredible instrumentation, backing and occasional lead vocals. Includes "Odds And Ends", "Million Dollar Bash", "Tears Of Rage", "Tiny Montgomery", "Nothing Was Delivered", "Too Much Of Nothing", "Clothes Line Saga", "You Ain't Goin Nowhere", "Open The Door, Homer", "This Wheel's On Fire, "Crash On the Levee (Down In The Flood)", "Long Distance Operator". CD

Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes – those amazing late 60s Woodstock recordings – and an album that was a classic long before it was officially released in the mid 70s! Bootleg after bootleg of some these recordings might have sold enough copies on the grey market in the early 70s to go platinum back in the day, so there's little wonder that Columbia would finally get some kind of official release out there – and it lives up to the legend! Dylan's conversational, seemingly spontaneous lyricism stretches over a good portion of it, with some much more soulful numbers, too – and those are all the more effective with The Band's incredible instrumentation, backing and occasional lead vocals. Includes "Odds And Ends", "Million Dollar Bash", "Tears Of Rage", "Tiny Montgomery", "Nothing Was Delivered", "Too Much Of Nothing", "Clothes Line Saga", "You Ain't Goin Nowhere", "Open The Door, Homer", "This Wheel's On Fire, "Crash On the Levee (Down In The Flood)", "Long Distance Operator". CD

Bob Dylan's fourth record, and close runner up to Freewheelin' as the masterpiece of this early stage of his career. While the overly arch Times They Are A Changin' pretty much stood as the cornerstone of classifiable folk rock at the time, Another Side is just that. Dense, elliptical, and downright surreal at times, with some of the protesty stuff that made the media so happy & hungry, but much more layered and poetic. Another side is also much more reverent of and indebted to the Harry Smith field recordings that Bob studied so hard, the stuff that finally caught on with the general public in the early 90s. Titles include "Spanish Harlem Incident", "It Ain't Me Babe", "Ballad In Plain D", "Black Crow Blues", "I Don't Believe You", "Motorpsycho Nitemare", "To Ramona", "Chimes Of Freedom", "My Back Pages", and "I Shall Be Free No 10". LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album from the mighty Bob Dylan – a 2LP set of studio work, which was quite rare at the time – and a set that has Dylan stretching out all his creative powers in newly different directions! The album had a long genesis in the studio – some early work with The Band, then Dylan breaking off with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson to head down to Nashville – where they interacted with key country session musicians to make this masterful blend of music – work that's not country at all, but which is also moving past Dylan's folk roots too – with a blend of music that still as mindblowing today as it was back in the mid 60s! This is definitely one of those double-length sets that makes fantastic use of all the extra space – overflowing with gems that include "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35", "Visions Of Johanna", "Pledging My Time", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat", and "Just Like A Woman". CD

Titles include "Meet Me In The Morning", "Shelter From The Storm", "Idiot Wind", "You're A Big Girl Now", "If You See Her, Say Hello", "Buckets Of Rain", and "Tangled Up In Blue". CD

Sure, the young Bob Dylan might look a bit hokey on the cover – but he's already out there way ahead of the pack – and starting to blow away any of the less interesting pop folkies who'd been crowding into the Greenwich Village scene of the early 60s! There's a difference here right from the start – not just some of his own material, but the way that Dylan transforms older tunes too – not with this crew-cutted, clean-voiced style – but bringing in elements of blues, and using these very personal guitar inflections and harmonica lines to really make the music his own. Titles include "Highway 51", "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", "Song To Woody", "Man Of Constant Sorrow", "Fixin To Die", "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down", and "Talkin New York". CD

Plenty of early classics and hits – including "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "Blowin In The Wind", "Down The Highway", "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "I Shall Be Free", "Bob Dylan's Dream", and "Oxford Town". LP, Vinyl record album

Live material from Bob Dylan – mostly solo with just acoustic guitar and harmonica! Titles include "Mixed Up Confusion", "Long Song", "Ride Willie Ride", "Can't Go Home This Way/100 Miles", "Turn To The Rain & The Wind", "Long John Gone", and "I'll Keep It With Mine" LP, Vinyl record album

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