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Originally
released as a 2-LP set.
This
willfully eccentric album is among the most misunderstood
in Dylan's catalog. It's surely the oddest recorded moment
in a career far from devoid of left turns. Dylan himself
doesn't even appear on the opening tune, wherein a female
chorus repeats a spiritual - sounding refrain over strings
and organ. Some of the tunes pick up where NASHVILLE
SKYLINE left off, with Dylan crooning over country-ish
backup. Elsewhere, he tackles an unusual group of cover
tunes, including Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning
Rain," Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer"
and the Everly Brothers' classic "Take A Message To
Mary."
He
takes a relaxed, homespun approach on the traditional
murder ballad "Little Sadie." He offers us a
glimpse of Bob the bluesman on "Woogie Boogie"
and the Elmore James chestnut "It Hurts Me Too."
He even covers himself, with a new version of "Like A
Rolling Stone." The eclectic outside material and the
lack of any anthems for the Woodstock generation to hang
their preconceptions on led many to dismiss this album as
perversely slight. If you buy into that party line, you'll
never know what you're missing.
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