Bob Dylan
Higway 61 Revisited

THE REVIEW

The fans of the minstrel-prophet back in 1965 were rather stunned, looking at this man with a challenging gaze, wearing a multicolored jacket and large black glasses between his fingers... They probably thought the Newport episode had been an accident, but it wasn't. The kids shouted "bastard," "Judas," and felt betrayed by their idol, but they didn't understand that Bob was merely following his immense creativity, and that he was gifting them one of the most beautiful albums in R&R history. Dylan was tired of the stereotype that critics and fans had sewn onto him, and he responded to insults and criticisms by "playing damn loud."  

The album in question opens with "Like a Rolling Stones", a masterpiece that needs no words to be described, also because this wonderful work of art has been described many times. "Tombstone Blues" is pure R&R; Bloomfield's guitar spits fire, and the lyrics are pure symbolism. "It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry" is a quiet ballad with a romantic flavor and highly evocative lyrics. After "From a Buick 6", another fiery song following the trail of "Tombstone Blues", comes "Ballad Of Thin Man". Dylan tells the tale of a mysterious Mr. Jones (journalist, homosexual, BRIAN JONES??), the stereotype of the everyman, unable to understand changing times and inextricably tied to conservative values. In "Queen Jane Approximately", Dylan addresses a young woman dissatisfied with her drab life full of trivialities, with music and a melody among the best in Dylan's repertoire.

The next song is "Highway 61 Revisited". Dylan sees Highway 61 as a mirror of American society and its oddities, which he recounts in this incredible song. After the following "Just like Tom Thumb's Blues", we arrive at "Desolation Row", the true masterpiece of the album. It's an acoustic piece that, after the previous Rock&Roll, sounds like an immense act of humanity but also like a loud "screw you." In this enormous poem appear Cinderella courted by Romeo, Einstein dressed as Robin Hood bumming cigarettes, Cain and Abel. They are all prisoners of Desolation Row, victims of adverse fate and life. Sooner or later, we all feel like prisoners of the row, and Dylan wants to make us understand that.