Reflecting on Bob Dylan - Part 1

For the holidays I was fortunate enough to get the beautiful looking box set, Bob Dylan's The Complete Album Collection Vol. One, so I'm embarking on what will probably be a year-long leisurely stroll though the man's back catalog. I'm not intending this to become any sort of serious project or anything, but I did think it might be interesting to mark some notes as I move along. I plan to go through the albums in chronological order but other than that, with no grand plan. I want to get to know a little bit more about each album. I've already heard about a third of these albums, but only really gotten to know maybe a handful, so it'll be interesting to record my thoughts as I rediscover some and discover, for the first time, others.

I started today with his self-titled record from 1962, which I'd heard before but probably only once in full. As to be expected, this is a relatively humble beginning, with Dylan full in the folk mode and with only two of his own, original compositions out of the album's thirteen songs. There are only three instruments over the course of the entire album - acoustic guitar, harmonica and, of course, Dylan's voice. I'm most impressed by his takes on traditional tunes, particularly "House of the Rising Son". Like many others, I'd grown up mostly aware of The Animals' 1964 version, but I'm convinced that Dylan's is equally as good. His version is more haunting and gets across more of the lonesome resignation than Eric Burdon and company's managed to be.

Beyond that, I'm also impressed by just how weary and weathered his voice could be, even at the tender age of 21. It takes a special kind of 21 year-old to pull off songs like "Fixin' To Die" and "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" with any kind of believability, but Dylan does so, wonderfully. The two originals aren't going to end up at the top of anyone's all-time Dylan song lists, but they do have a certain charm that gave listeners in 1962 of the genius to come. "Talkin' New York" is a funny little rant with a decent punch line and "Song to Woody" is sweet and sentimental.

It's a humble beginning when looking back from 2014's ears, but I can certainly see why people might have started to take notice of this kid back in '62.