The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
CD: Bob Dylan,The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

AMAZON
With tracks including "Blowin' In The Wind," "Masters Of War," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," few could deny this album's claim to classic status. The Freewheelin'. saw Dylan emerge, fully-formed, from the shadow of his influences (Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, Muddy Waters) and find his own voice: a vividly poetic stance, effortlessly merging social protest (de rigeur at the time for any self-respecting folk singer) with more personal statements, as in "Bob Dylan's Dream" and "Girl From The North Country." He was, at the time, just 21 years old. This is Dylan at his most unadorned, accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar and harmonica; John Hammond's production is suitably sparse, allowing the singer's language to resonate. Occasionally the result is whimsical ("Talking World War III Blues," "I Shall Be Free"), but mostly, it's the sound of an intensely ambitious, prodigiously gifted young man, passionately engaged with his subject matter and his times, single-handedly hauling American folk music into the late 20th century. --Andrew McGuire