How many compilations of hit songs does Bob Dylan need under the same name? Many, is the answer. Though no more have been announced, more are sure to come. The Best of Bob Dylan is on the fence between two styles of Dylan compilation. We have the rosy fields and well-watered inevitabilities, the hits-laden successes of The Essential Bob Dylan, where no popular track goes unnoticed. Then, there are the darker days, those edgier compilations which manage to stand out by being reliant on unreleased materials and leftfield choices for compilations. Pure Dylan and Side Tracks are benchmarks of such bold collections, anthologies with guts to them. The Best of Bob Dylan tries to serve everyone. Gotta Serve Somebody appears, tucked away between Forever Young and Jokerman. Therein lies the problem. Serve somebody. The Best of Bob Dylan tries to serve everybody.Â
Because while Gotta Serve Somebody and Jokerman may feature as the arguably popular moments from unpopular times, they are fighting for attention amid the inevitable hits. There is no argument over the inclusion of The Times They Are A-Changin’, Mr. Tambourine Man, and Like a Rolling Stone, a monumental triple bill which sets the scene well. But the question is of what scene The Best of Bob Dylan wishes to paint. This is a piece released right before Modern Times. Stock in Dylan had returned to Time Out of Mind levels, which is given just a single mention on The Best of Bob Dylan with Not Dark Yet. In fact, his at-the-time contemporary releases, or albums which had released in the last decade, are stuffed onto the end for a three-track run which glosses over the post-Infidels, pre-Time Out of Mind period. Even Oh Mercy is snubbed in its entirety.
Every compilation needs a selling point. Considering the compilation to follow, The Best of Bob Dylan can be seen as a test of the waters. Liner notes from Bill Flanagan compliment each track, it is just a shame there are not some bolder choices made. Hurricane is as close to bold as the anthology piece dares venture, not because of the lyrics or message of the song, but because even Desire feels overlooked in the context of greatest hits. Inclusions of the contemporary material, Summer Days from Love and Theft, for instance, feels more like guesswork as to which songs would become longstanding hits than anything else. It depends on what you want from a compilation, though after sifting through and seeing the same songs over and over, for those returning to Dylan it is certainly better to just play the respective album these songs are pulled from.
Take your All Along the Watchtower and Lay, Lady, Lay, because ultimately, the popular cycle of printing and releasing compilation albums is futile. They are chart-toppers because some may not care to experience the album. They do not want the peaks and valleys, not the journey, but the moment. The Best of Bob Dylan gives listeners that and, depending on what you feel is needed, you will get what you want from this release. Moments which may inspire you to return to one album or another are difficult to gauge when the bulk of material is the platinum standard. Risks should not be taken to sink the chances of the compilation reaching a new listener, but by this point in the compilation history from Dylan’s studio works, there was a definite lack of inspiration as to what was being released.
