Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

Bringing It All Back Home is the first one of Bob Dylan's golden-era albums. The other two are Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. This was the first album where Dylan went electric. The purist folk people really didn't like the use of electronic instruments but the album made Dylan super popular in other circles and for a good reason in my view. This is one of the greatest albums ever made. There's a full rock n' roll band on the album, except there are no drums in most songs. This is a bit strange, but I didn't even notice that the drums were missing at first, because the groove is so great. It's incredible to think that this album has just been recorded with one microphone taking in all the different instruments. The band plays better than basically any other band I've ever heard playing live. I don't know how many takes they had to take, but it's still all very impressive.



The songs on the album range from rock n' roll to traditional Americana folk and blues. There are still many clear protest songs that used to fill Dylan's early albums, but the lyrics are also exceedingly more poetic and experimental. Many of the songs don't really have very complicated melodies and the music is just a sort of background for the lyrics. So, in a way, you could say that some of these songs could have influenced the hip hop scene that was born about 20 years later.

The album starts with one of Dylan's all time greatest songs, Subterranean Homesick Blues. The band's groove is phenomenal and Dylan's nasal singing sounds super cool in this song. She Belongs to Me sounds a lot like the songs on the following two albums. It's a folk song by nature, but there are some great bluesy electric guitars added on top. Maggie's Farm is an outright rock n' roll song with amazing groove. I'm sure these kinds of songs appealed also to The Beatles and Rolling Stones fans helping Dylan to conquer the rock circles as well. Love Minus Zero has surprisingly good melody for a Dylan song. For anyone who says that Dylan can't sing, I really encourage you to listen to this song. Dylan's voice sounds blissfully beautiful in this song. Outlaw Blues is a fast and aggressive blues rock song that reminds me of some The Doors songs that came out a few years later. On the Road Again is a prime example of Americana folk rock. The harmonicas are very nice in this one. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream has some lyrics that refer to people and events in the bible. He did this increasingly around the end of the 60's. It really doesn't sound like he's particularly religious doing that. He just draws popular stories from there as that's what American culture is largely based on and he uses them in storytelling really successfully. Mr. Tambourine Man is a more traditional folk song and one of Dylan's most well-known songs. It was made even more popular by The Byrds who covered the song very soon after the release of this album. Gates of Eden is a good example of a storytelling song where Dylan really uses music to tell tales. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) is a great blues song that has some amazing guitar playing. The last song It's All Over Now, Baby Blue is one of the best songs on this album. It shows the greatness of Dylan as a lyricist.

Most artists and bands didn't really have music videos back in 1965. The Beatles had made some videos and there were some live videos, but generally the concept of music videos wasn't invented yet. For some reason, though, Subterranean Homesick Blues has a great music video. It's in black and white and Dylan is showing the lyrics on sheets of paper that he's changing as the song progresses. It's a great early example of music videos.

I have nothing bad to say about this album really. It's pure perfection. Full of absolutely amazing songs played by a phenomenal band. If you haven't been convinced by Dylan yet, this is a good album to start.

Listen to the album on Spotify.