1001 Albums Summary

The Dylan haters will always hate Dylan, and when this album shines, it really shines. But I would push back against the grain of both the haters and the glazers on this one. The individual brilliance of some tracks aside, I don't think the flow of the album is near as good as it should be, aiming for heartfelt but coming across as faltering. And even some of songs people call classics really fail to grab early on the album. Maggie's Farm may be profound on a written page, but musically it's just grating. She Belongs to Me, meanwhile, hits that more somber musical itch that Dylan is great for scratching, but the meaning doesn't land as a Dylan song should, some clever wordplay aside. The later songs land well enough that I think people forgive the earlier parts, and between that and the nostalgia and aura of Dylan I think that this album as a whole is overrated, and at the very least far from a perfect 5 stars that some feel it is owed. Still, Love Minus Zero, Tambourine Man, Gates of Eden.... When the man hits, he hits hard.