With a multitude of albums named The Best of Bob Dylan now available, cutting through to the very best is no small feat. Bob Dylan compilations are an inevitability. They are to listeners what taxes are to the working man. Something not to be slighted, but accepted. The Best of Bob Dylan is, naturally, a claim to compiling the outstanding moments in a decades-spanning career filled with interesting and appealing songs. Compartmentalising all of those into a bitesize chunk is almost impossible. Almost. The Best of Bob Dylan does what Biograph tried and decides to seek out a solid song from almost all of the Dylan releases from 1963 to 1989. It skips over those bad eggs and ugly, Knocked Out Loaded-shaped holes and, instead, guns for greatness on an eighteen-track compilation.
Holding to one song per album (aside from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which is granted two) is a bold moment, too. A chance to define each album by a single release takes guts and while some of these choices may not be the most interesting, they are, by technicality, the most acceptable choice. It will not set the world on fire but it will give newcomers an honest shot of understanding the appeal of a man whose deep cuts become a garden of greatness once these essentials are nailed down. The Best of Bob Dylan is a process, then, of understanding the range and value of his 1960s high point, the instrumental challenges to follow and the lyrical beauties of his less looked-at pieces. Opener Blowin’ in the Wind is an obvious choice, as are follow-up pieces The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.
At best, The Best of Bob Dylan is appropriate. Not released in the United States and likely because of how close it was to Time Out of Mind, this piece found its way into the hands of fans in the UK, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. But where the real moments of interest come from on The Best of Bob Dylan is from Blonde on Blonde and thereafter. Some of his very best songs in the form of I Shall Be Released, Tangled Up in Blue and Forever Young, but not quite the songs to make your first start in Dylan’s discography. Their inclusion here is fantastic – a neat line of lyrically important moments and a similarity to them not in their end result but in their exceptional tone. What they bring is a tonal consistency which lends itself to the seemingly random series of song choices on other compilations.
Oh, Sister may feel like an odd choice but it certainly serves as a strong transition from Blood on the Tracks rip Tangled Up in Blue to the well-placed Slow Train Coming track, Gotta Serve Somebody. Ultimately, a strong compilation and perhaps the most accessible for newcomers to Dylan. You may as well work through chronologically but for those wanting a quick flash of what Dylan offered during his first great and lengthy period of work, here are the essentials served on a smorgasbord. And why not? Have a traipse through the catalogue and pick out a favourite. The Best of Bob Dylan is a great time to be had because it successfully connects all those brilliant songs in a way that is not just compiling for the sake of it. There is a sense of care taken in the track list, and in turn, it makes a listen-through all the better.
