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Holistic Guidance - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
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List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $10.99
Your Save: $ 0.99 ( 8% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0827969239629
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 2004-06-01
Studio: Sony
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Editorial Reviews:
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Dylan's outstanding second album is a tremendous jump from its predecessor. Whereas the debut established him as a peerless interpreter of folk and country-blues classics, and a singer like none before, this followup features some of the most pungent original songs of the '60s. "Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "I Shall Be Free": if this sounds like the lineup for a greatest-hits collection, you've got the idea. Nat Hentoff's liner notes are charmingly dated, but Dylan's idiosyncratic singing, unexpected lyrics, and inimitable guitar and harmonica playing are as immediate and relevant as whatever you heard on the radio today. (As great as this is, there's much more: a handful of top-rank outtakes from Freewheelin' appear on the Bootleg Series box set.) --Jimmy Guterman
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Blowin' In The Wind
Comment: Released the year I was born, 1963, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" became the album which best represents a turbulent time in America. Put this cd on, for those of us who spent at least a part of our lives in those stormy years, the album evokes a lot of memories, and a lot of feelings, particularly about the America we could've become before Kennedy fell, before Viet Nam, before King fell, before we lost our innocense.
The first track "Blowin' in the Wind" became the anthem of the day, redone and popularized by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Yet the original carries such weight that did not carry over. "Girl from the North Country" is a peaceful sort of ballad, whose lyrics will remind you just briefly of "Scarborough Fair". Here we have Dylan in his acoustical element, just him, his guitar, and harmonica. "Masters of War" could've been directed at the White House, speaking directly to those who would go ahead and approve our nation's involvement in a hopeless war. Bluesy "Down the Highway" is next, perfect in it's simplicity. "Bob Dylan's Blues" starts off with Dylan talking, a bit about the song's origin, "written somewhere down the United States". "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" sees Dylan as the prophet, predicting the dark days to come. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is another simple song, but gentler. "Bob Dylan's Dream" is an awesome track, Dylan dreams a dream "concerning myself and the first few friends that I had". Beautiful, and poignant. "Oxford Town" is a country song, about the persecution of a black man. "Talkin' World War III Blues" starts off with Dylan dreaming yet again, "a bad dream", but "only in your head" says the doctor. Just an ambling sort of song, evocative of Arlo Guthrie. "Corrina, Corrina" is a slower sort of love ballad (a soft drum is added to the recording). "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" is a kind of funny song, but good (once again just Dylan, his guitar, and harmonica). The closer "I Shall Be Free" is a story song, classical Dylan all the way, perhaps a bit more optimistic, which is a nice way to end the album.
There's a reason Dylan still registers on the mindset of us Americans who grew up in the 60's. That's because he spoke truth, life and of all those ordinary things. I strongly recommend this album.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Voice of The Generation of '68?
Comment: In reviewing Bob Dylan's 1965 classic album Bringing All Back Home (you know, the one where he went electric) I noted that it seemed hard to believe now that both as to the performer as well as to what was being attempted that anyone would take umbrage at a performer using an electric guitar to tell a folk story (or any story for that matter). I further pointed out that it is not necessary to go into all the details of what or what did not happen with Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 to know that one should be glad, glad as hell, that Bob Dylan continued to listen to his own drummer and carry on a career based on electronic music.
Others have, endlessly, gone on about Bob Dylan's role as the voice of his generation (and mine), his lyrics and what they do or do not mean and his place in the rock or folk pantheons, or both. Here we are going back to the early days when there was no dispute that he had earned a place in the folk pantheon. The only real difference between the early stuff and the later electric stuff though is- the electricity. Dylan's extraordinary sense of words, language and word play has been a constant throughout his career. If much later ( in the 1990's) he gets a bit repetitious and a little gimmicky in order to stay "relevant" that is only much later after he had done more than his share to add to the language of music.
In this selection we have some outright folk classics that will endure for the ages like those of his early hero Woody Guthrie's have endured. Blowing in the Wind still sounds good and makes sense as an anthem of change - especially today when some serious social tasks remain to be accomplished. Yes, the answer my friend is blowing in the wind (and in other locales, as well). Also here showing Dylan's, sometimes disavowed, country roots is a very nice although Johnny Cash-less Girl From the North County. No anti-war song is more powerful than Masters of War- none. Anyone can write the easy peace songs about Where Have All The Flowers Gone and Give Peace a Chance but to really understand and really get mad about what we are up against you need to listen to this song. Pearl Jam covered it later for a reason- we still need to drive the warmongers from their marketplaces.
Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall hits right where you live, the lyrics could have come out of out of today's newspaper front pages (or Internet updates). The cover of the old blues classic Corrina, Corrina is fine. Another Dylan classic Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, about the never-ending subject of lost love and longing is as well. There are a few topical songs from that time that might not make sense today- but topicals by footloose troubadours have always been a part of the folk tradition-as it is safe to say is Mr. Dylan.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Early Dylan saved
Comment: This brought me back to the time I was a Dj at WKDK in Newberry, South Carolina. The 33 record came in, I played it and was told to put it on the back shelf. To controversial for the time and place. I ended up with the record and played it until 33's faded out. Over the years I remembered that record and often wished I could play it again and then I found the CD on Amazon. The CD is exactly as I remember the record but a better quality. Anyone interested in the early Dylan and that time period should really get this CD, only to hear how Blowing in the Wind originally sounded before Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary made it popular.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Young & Wise Dylan
Comment: What more can be said about Dylan's Freewheelin'? He was only 21 but he already knew what life was going to be like. He sounds as if he's his own reincarnation - he'd been there and back! Wise words pour from his mind and come to us as this life riddle imagery. May the wind keep on blowin'...
Customer Rating:
Summary: More than just a protest album...
Comment: It took quite a long time - much longer than most albums, actually - for this to make its mark on me. But now that it has, I can safely endorse its mythic reputation. It's marred the slightest bit by some ponderous philosophy ("Bob Dylan's Dream"), and while some lyrics from "I Shall be Free" are priceless, the many explicit references to '60s pop culture date the song. Still, there's a lot to like, even to love, about this one. The mood of the album varies from humorous but thought-provoking satire ("Bob Dylan's Blues"; "Talkin' World War Three Blues") to love songs (the delicate, finger-picked "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", the mournful "Girl of the North Country"). There are only two covers this time around, and they're both well-done: "Corrina, Corrina" (with brushed drums) is heartbroken, and "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" is engaging and fun. The most hard-hitting protest by far is "It's a Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", with bone-chilling apocalyptic imagery sung in a Biblical tone, though the biting "Masters of War" and dead-on anti-racism "Oxford Town" take home high honors as well. And even the generic blues "Down the Highway" is boosted by Bob's desolate delivery. I haven't even mentioned the record's most famous track, the Zen-like human rights anthem "Blowin' in the Wind" - needless to say, it's a masterpiece, and one of the best songs in Dylan's entire career. The acoustic guitar and harmonica backdrop might seem a bit repetitive at first, but it's ample support for the words and vocals. The lyrics are, of course, as good as you've heard, and while Dylan's vocals aren't great from a technical standpoint, they certainly are from an emotional one. I know this is a cliché, but if you must have one acoustic guitar, harmonica, and vocals album, make it this one. You will not regret it.
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