album #68

the freewheelin' bob dylan (bob dylan)

My initial reaction was a real sense of disappointment and vague dislike for this album- so slow, so unnecessarily twangy, not nearly as melodically graceful as I expected. And Blonde on Blonde is still my favorite, and I don't know if I'd rank this one above or below Highway 61 Revisited. But anyway, after enough listens, this album finally started to turn away from dislikable and towards admirable, and even a little lovely, if not quite my style.

It definitely sounds like one of those iconic '60s protest folk records. Several of the tracks, lyrically, touch on those protest themes. Some of my favorite songs- "Girl from the North Country" is sweetly contemplative, a little sad, in a perfectly iconic, soundtrack sense. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," lyrically is one of the most startling and interesting tracks, with a nice, darkly twangy tune. "Oxford Town" is a startling song about racism in the South… truly astonishing- not only a sad and fascinating song, but also a strange historical relic- it's crazy to think of Dylan's music taking place in the same world, at the same time, as the chaotic cruelties of Southern oppression. "Corrina, Corrina" is not a Dylan original, but it's still lovely and I like his version.

I don't think I'd go out of my way to listen to this record again, but it truly did grow on me. A nice, occasionally lovely, acoustic style, and a lot of interesting lyrics and lyrical, historical themes.