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Disc Two starts with the romantic "Lay, Lady, Lay" from 1969's Nashville Skyline, through the 70's and the return of acoustic guitar and harmonica with two songs from Blood on the Tracks, to end the decade with the beginning of his Christian recordings, and a great track from Slow Train Coming, "Gotta Serve Someone".

Ten years later brings him to the fabulous "Everything is Broken", from Oh Mercy, and the collection ends with "Things Have Changed" from 1999, which was featured in the film "Wonder Boys", and the reason I bought this CD set. After viewing the film, what I remembered and liked the most was this powerful, marvelous song..

I am one of those that feel no one sings Dylan better than Dylan, and truly enjoy his rough, expressive voice; it is interesting to hear it through the span of nearly forty years on one compilation...it has become huskier, with a bit more wobble, but to my ears better than ever.
Total time for Disc One is 56:24, Disc Two 68:31, and the sound quality varies somewhat from song to song, but overall it is excellent.


Shame On You Columbia!   November 1, 2000
 26 out of 42 found this review helpful

Another shameless compilation by columbia to cash in on the up-coming holiday market sales. If anyone at columbia cares at all about one of the most improtant bodies of work in music of any era, start remastering the complete Dylan catalog beginning with his first. His catalog is of such poor quality I still listen to the LPs for anything before Of Mercy. My god, if you can remaster the Bands music (which was lnog overdue and in even worse shape), give bob his due. Quit producing mindless greatest hits complilations and give us whatwe really want: Quality dylan cds. And for those of you out there that think a cursory overall of dylans career is acceptable, find another artist to latch on to.


Surely not the best available Bob Dylan-compilation   August 17, 2004
 22 out of 22 found this review helpful

Whether or not you agree with the compilers' choice of songs is obviously a question of taste, and very subjective, too. And I'm sure that a lot of people will think that this collection is all good and fine, but despite the high quality of almost every song, I still believe a significantly better "essential" collection could have been made - and has been made, too.

First of all, this is obviously a collection for relative newcomers rather than seasoned Dylan-fans. Second of all, those newcomers should stick to the original "Greatest Hits" and "More Greatest Hits" for the 60s and early 70s material, and hand-pick the best of Dylan's later releases for the rest of his most important output.
There are just too many of Bob Dylan's best songs missing here, especially from the 70s and 90s. "Blood On The Tracks" is represented by only two songs, "Desire" is (mis-)represented only by "Hurricane"...and if non-album classics like "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and "Watching The River Flow" shouldn't be on a supposed "essential" collection, where should they be?

The compilers have opted for songs like "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Silvio", "Everything Is Broken" and "Tight Connection To My Heart", and they are certainly not bad songs, but they could have done much better.
Leave this album alone, and go get the original Bob Dylan compilations, 1967's "Greatest Hits" and 1972's "Greatest Hits volume 2" - the one with 21 tracks on two CDs, leading off with "Watching The River Flow" on disc 1. Or pick up the classic albums "Highway 61 Revisited", "Bringing It All Back Home", and "Blood On The Tracks". Those will get you turned on to Bob Dylan much better than this good-but-not-great attempt at making a definitive Dylan compilation.


For a beginning interest in Dylan   January 4, 2001
 20 out of 24 found this review helpful

Let me begin by saying I used to think Dylan had one of the worst voices in modern music. I am also not a child of the 60s or 70s folk music. This is the only Dylan album I own. I believe I am the market this is targeted towards.

This is an excellent overview of Dylan classics, capturing the musical history in a chronological format. Even if you are not a life long Dylan fan or did not protest Vietnam, you will recognize most of these songs. Even the songs you will hear for the first time will be very likable and enjoyable. The producers avoided picking some hard-core folk songs out of a 60s pot festival. Because the selections span about 30 years, you get a broad view of Dylan's music, making this one of the better "best of" albums available from any artist. You will also realize what a talent the man was as a performer and a songwriter. It is evident that he wrote outstanding music in that so many bands covered his music. Those songs borrowed by others, along with recognizeable Dylan classics, are all on this 2 CD set. I am sure there were some good songs left off, but if you are not a big Dylan fan, you will not know the difference anyway. What I do know is that if you have ever thought of buying a Dylan album but stopped short of doing it, or if you have one or two only, then get this one. It will be a great start towards enjoying Dylan and appreciating one of the best talents in the past 50 years.

Regarding his voice - it grows on you the same way a singer like Nanci Griffith does. Besides, Dylan's combination of lyrics, style, tune and voice all combine to allow him to offer something sorely lacking in music - originality.