10) Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home

Oh yes, the album where Dylan picked up the electric guitar and lost many of his die hard fans. The question for Dylan is “Was it worth it?” OF COURSE IT WAS! It led to a masterpiece which I regard as the 10th best album of all time. “Bringing it All Back Home” opens up with the historic “Subterranean Homesick Blues” where Dylan rambles his great poetry faster than he’s ever done before. I guess you could actually call it the first rap song if you’re willing to go out on a stretch. Dylan couldn’t have picked a better way to open up the album. By choosing this song to open up he put his new electric material on the front line and quickly the audience realized that Dylan had evolved and opened up a plethora of new directions for himself and his music. Dylan didn’t completely abandon his folk roots with this album leaving half open for acoustic material. Even the angriest of Dylan fans can’t downplay the folk songs on this album, without a doubt some of his strongest and best folk songs. Although Dylan decided to try new things his talent didn’t disappear, the most important thing about Dylan is his lyrics and they were just as strong as any of his previous albums and future ones. Dylan really hit listeners with all emotions on this album. Some of his best love songs can be found here like “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” and “She Belongs to Me.” He catches the anger with “Maggie’s Farm,” and happiness with “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The song that really stands out on this album is one of his folk songs “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” It’s a fiery song filled with surreal paranoia, the song also stands out as the longest track on the album lasting over seven minutes. The album ends with “It's All Over Now, Baby Blue” a beautiful song about change, it’s acoustic and is best fit for the ending of an album that gave a glimpse of the new and evolved Bob Dylan. It is a shame that this album often gets put on the backburner because of his other classic albums like “Blonde on Blonde” and “Highway 61 Revisited” but it most definitely deserves much respect.

1. Subterranean Homesick Blues
2. She Belongs to Me
3. Maggie's Farm
4. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
5. Outlaw Blues
6. On the Road Again
7. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
8. Mr. Tambourine Man
9. Gates of Eden
10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
11. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue