Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1964)


 Another Side of Bob Dylan came out more or less mid-way through 1964, a year notable in the fact that it was the year of the British Invasion and the Beatles smash success. 

In the wake of that, Bobby D., wanted to make an album that dipped into rock and roll after having released three albums of contemporary folk. For some reason that didn't happen here (it would with his next album) but there's no doubt that there's a change in the approach of the songs on Another Side, which was recorded in a single three hour sessions which saw all eleven songs recorded and two bottles of wine ingested.

In contrast to his previous album, The Times They Are a-Changin', Bob mostly lays off the po'-faced serious political songs and turns a more personal, and maybe,  more poetic leaf: I think he was cultivating more ofa. personal poet, beat-derived image here here as opposed to the Woody Guthrie/Charlie Chaplin persona of earlier albums. 

He also seems to have regained his sense of humor, with a couple of comedic songs that probably went over better at the ole hootenanny than they do in my living room 60 years later. Really, the comic songs ("I Shall Be Free #10" and "Motorpsycho Nitemare") have not aged well at all and I skip them.

But most of the rest of the songs are top notch: in fact, "Chimes of Freedom", "It Ain't Me Babe," and "My Back Pages" are some of his greatest and most enduring numbers, covered by dozens of artists over the years. This and parts of the next album would be, arguably his peak as poet/singer/songwriter, though not necessarily his peak as an artist or musician. 

"My Back Pages" is particularly important, as here he lays out the fact that he was, in fact, leaving the realm of protest folk forever in favor of this more personal, and less serious side: of course within half a year he would enter the world of rock and roll.

I also have to say that "Ballad in Plain D", a long, drearly lament to his failed relationship with Susie Rotolo is something I usually skip, too. The rest of the album (8 out of eleven songs) are all five star songs. And for those who don't like his singing, it's actually pretty onkey and in tune here, and expressive: idiosyncratic, of course, but not at all bad.

4.5/5

There are more famous songs on this album, but I always lived "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)", which I totally related to as a youth.


Spotify Link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3q1W9iVdyuwVOGKn696Oh0?si=Rb9oR02YQH6rKY_IYeiT8g

I originally had this on off-white cheapo Columbia cassette.  nowadays I have the mono box set on CD, which I think is the best way to hear this, but in fact, the stereo version is so close to mono that it hardly matters anyway.

Bob Dylan albums are not noted by audiophiles, but he's also never really succumbed to the loudness wars so probably any version you listen to is likely to sound all right..et


Coming Up:

A.M. Wilco

A.T.O.M. - Carbon Silicon

ABBA - ABBA 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Achtung, Baby! U2

Actually - Pet Shop Boys

Adult/Child- The Beach Boys

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Afterglow - Crowded House

Aftermath (UK Version) - The Rolling Stones

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 Blondie (three disc version)

Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse

Aiming For Your Head - Betchadupa

The Album -- ABBA

The Album That Never Was - The Kinks

All Four One - The Motels

All Over the Place - The Bangles

All Summer Long -- The Beach Boys

All the Great Hits -- Diana Ross

All Things Must Pass -- George Harrison

All This Useless Beauty -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

All-Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond

Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner

Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Almost Summer - Celebration

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco*

The Alphabetchadupa - Betchadupa

Altitude - ALT

American Idiot Green Day*

American Prayer -- The Doors

Amnesiac Radiohead*

And I Feel Fine...The Best of the IRS years (1982-1987) - R.E.M.

Animals - Pink Floyd

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo

Another Life - Another Life

Another Music in Another Kitchen: The Buzzcocks

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Anthology: Diana Ross & The Supremes

Anthology: Smokey Robinson & The Beatles

Anthology 1: The Beatles

Anthology 2: The Beatles

Anthology 3 The Beatles

Anthology: North South, East West - Tim Finn

Apple Venus: Volume One -- XTC

Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants

The ArchAndroid: Janelle Monae

Are the Village Green Preservation Society -- The Kinks

Are Well-Respected Men - The Kinks

Armed Forces -Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Around the World in a Day - Prince

Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks

At My Piano - Brian Wilson

Autoamerican - Blondie

Automatic for the People - R.E.M.

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