Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan
CD 2684 Check Availability |
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From cduniverse.com:
"...Opening with the epic 'Like a Rolling Stone,' Highway 61 Revisited careens through nine songs that range from reflective folk-rock ('Desolation Row') and blues ('It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry') to flat-out garage rock ('Tombstone Blues,' 'From a Buick 6,' 'Highway 61 Revisited'). Dylan had not only changed his sound, but his persona, trading the folk troubadour for a streetwise, cynical hipster. Throughout the album, he embraces druggy, surreal imagery, which can either have a sense of menace or beauty, and the music reflects that, jumping between soothing melodies to hard, bluesy rock. And that is the most revolutionary thing about Highway 61 Revisited -- it proved that rock & roll needn't be collegiate and tame in order to be literate, poetic, and complex." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
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Joan Baez. Volume 1 by Joan Baez
CD 6573 Check Availability |
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From cduniverse.com:
"In retrospect, Joan Baez's 1960 debut doesn't sound like the work of a person who would go on to be proclaimed the queen of folk music, but on the other hand, Bob Dylan's first album doesn't sound like he'd be named the king, either. A plainly-produced, live-sounding voice and guitar album--Fred Hellerman plays second guitar on a handful of tracks--featuring a repertoire of traditional folk songs, Volume 1 doesn't sound that different from the debuts of Carolyn Hester, Judy Collins or any number of other female folk singers who first gained prominence around this time. (In fact, Baez's less famous sister Mimi Farina clearly has the better voice of the two.) However, Volume 1 is a fine example of traditional folk as it was presented in the coffeehouses of Cambridge and Greenwich Village in the late '50s and early '60s." |
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