Precarious it may be to stomp through the compilation albums minefield, there is much to learn about Bob Dylan from these releases. Few artists can say a compilation of their best works is complete yet totally lacking several songs just five years into their career, and yet this was the case for Dylan. Greatest Hits, the first of many albums to be titled as such, much to the ire of anyone trying to find a specific compilation, does a great job at profiling Dylan as the trailblazer so many saw him as. It also does a tremendous job at failing to include some songs which, though the point of compilation work has changed over the decades, would have made sense. A few risks, a chance to promote this track or that album, is the purpose above all. This is not to benefit the consumer, far from it. This is to cash in on what the consumer has already heard and believes they’d like in a different order. Hence why there are different versions of Greatest Hits. Â
Considering just how tricky a task it is when compiling a set of songs at a time when they were still affecting the mood and finding their footing in history, Greatest Hits serves as more of a prediction than a perfect example of Dylan’s discography. Like a Rolling Stone being the sole Highway 61 Revisited track feels like a reaction to its reception and the electric controversy, which was still burning hot at the time of this release. No space for Ballad of a Thin Man or Tombstone Blues, then. Desolation Row is hardly lending itself to a compilation given the length of the track but deserves its spot all the same. Just slice off a chunk of Blonde on Blonde. Not because Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 and One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) don’t deserve their spot, but because, at the time of Greatest Hits’ release, they were too fresh to be hits.
But it’s all semantics, really. What is compiled here are the definite hits which Dylan will be remembered for irrespective of what he does in the studio, on stage, or rolls out of the archive. Still, we can pick at the contentious decisions. Blowin’ in the Wind over Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right is an agreeable choice, it’s a matter of personal preference for the latter Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan track that it becomes a point of conversation. It Ain’t Me Babe and The Times They Are A-Changin’ are given a heavy workload in carrying both Another Side of Bob Dylan and the title track, but they are fine choices all the same. Maggie’s Farm should perhaps be on here too, but the only track you can swap out there is She Belongs to Me, and that deserves its spot.
When artists were essentially stuck with twelve slots on an album, it makes it much harder for a compilation to come together. For most, it’ll be a matter of sticking on the three or four hits that were lucky enough to bless their career and putting vaguely remembered album fodder into the rest. But for Dylan, the sheer quantity of all-time great songs he had from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan to Blonde on Blonde could fill three separate releases. It’s a staggering achievement, and though we may find little to no use in compilations in the modern age, Greatest Hits serves as a reminder of not just how great a songwriter Dylan was during this period, but how spoilt for choice we still are in alternative versions and live bootlegs.
