Bob Dylan fans have decided on the songwriter’s “best” pre-electric album and say his other efforts are “not even close.”
A post to the r/BobDylan subreddit saw users share their favourite works from Dylan in his pre-electric phase. The at-the-time controversial switch to electric instruments saw the folk hero leave the Newport Folk Festival crowd in 1965 flustered by his turn to new sound. But his pre-electric period features some of his very best writing, as users discussing his first four albums found. One user asked: “Which of his [Dylan’s] four pre-electric albums would you consider his best?”
Users were, more or less, in agreement with the choice of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. One user wrote: “Freewheelin’. Not even close.” Another replied: “You’re right, but I think The Times They Are A-Changin’ is severely underrated.” A third added: “Yeah. This is my favourite of Dylan’s albums. It also plays out like a blueprint for everything he would do after.”
Some users suggested Another Side of Bob Dylan was the very best of his pre-electric period, though others have considered it a “mess” of an album. One user wrote: “First off, the album is remarkably unpolished (but not in that GOOD way, lol). It’s well-documented that it was all recorded in one night, and that Dylan was pretty drunk off red wine.
“It didn’t need to be that way, and I wonder what the album would have been like had they spent more than one session on it, and had they insisted he be sober for at least most of it. And I think he comes across as supremely arrogant in his overall delivery.
“There’s some nastiness to it, and I’m not just talking about Ballad in Plain D. Yes, he was trying to buck his status as the topical song poster boy, I get it. But there’s a conspicuous snark to the proceedings. He REALLY wanted to break out of his protest-singer box, and it’s like this album was his whiny, petulant, childish way to make that statement. But everything he tried to say to that end was said better on Bringing it All Back Home, to my tastes.”
They did, however, say it was “the album he wanted to make at the time” and conceded it was one of Dylan’s more popular releases. They added: “Now, it’s arguably exactly the album he wanted to make at the time.
Which of his 4 pre-electric albums would you consider his best?
byu/DJDarkFlow inbobdylan
“And it sold then and continues to sell to this day, and lots of people love it, so who am I to criticize? But I think it’s a brash, arrogant statement from a young genius, more than a bit adrift, given a good deal too much artistic leeway without pushback.”
Another user summarised the qualities of all his pre-electric work and suggested it depends on what you are in the mood for. They wrote: “I think the only consensus you’ll get is no one will pick the first, other than as an interesting historical piece. For me, it depends on my mood.
“Sometimes I want the drunken spirit of Another Side of Bob Dylan, sometimes I want the sombre but beautiful tone of The Times They Are A-Changin’, and sometimes I want the classic variety of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. If I had to guess which one I’ve spun the most, probably The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan‘.”
