"He's so ... real it's unbelievable!"

So I got "The Freewhellin' Bob Dylan' out of my local library, inspired by two things: reading Patti Smith's autobiography "Just Kids" and the recent death of his then muse, Suze Rotolo. I'm listening to it on my drives to work. I have to agree with Harry Jackson's quotation: you cannot deny the REALITY of Dylan's music.

Track 1 - "Blowin' In the Wind" - Overplayed, yes, but still TRUTH. Dylan: "I still say that some of the biggest crimials are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and they know what's wrong. I'm only 21 years old abd I know that there's been too many wars ... You people over 21 should know better."
Track 2 - "Girl from the North Country" - A beauty. Sweet and soulful, one of my favourite tracks on the album.
Track 3 - "Masters of War" - Quite hardcore, really.
Track 4 - "Down the Highway" - Very bluesy, very cool. I like this one too. Country drifter lovesick blues.
Track 5 - "Bob Dylan's Blues" - Spontaneous and fun, very enjoyable to listen to.
Track 6 - "Hard Rain" - A very rich, lyrical song with a catchy chorus. Written during the Cuban Missle Crisis, it contains fear, despair and hope. A real activist song. Each line was intended to be a whole song and as I listen to it I can imagine a series of images: the bleeding black tree, the endless graveyard, the dead seas, the girl and the rainbow.
Track 7 - "Don't Think Twice, It's alright" - Regularly covered. Bitter and sweet.
Track 8 - "Bob Dylan's Dream" - Another great son about nostalgia and cameraderie. A real 4 o'clock in the morning song. We've all felt like this, and we'll go on to think it more as we grow old. It's a song about growing up.
Track 9 - "Oxford Town" - A song about segregation, murder and injustice. James Meredith. Stephen Lawrence. Victoria Climbie. Signs of the times.
Track 10 - "Talkin' World War III Blues" - Pyschoanalytical tale of an individualistic culture. A great half-improvised story, too. Something called the "Talking Blues". A bit like freestyling. Perhaps that is why the album is called "Freewheelin'" ...
Track 11 - "Corina, Corina" - Yep.
Track 12 - "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" - A great song! In one word: Loopie.
Track 13 - "I Shall Be Free" - More freewheelin' / stlying. This, the final track on the album, is witty, odd-ball and addictive.

SM