Track Listing

1. You're No Good
2. Talkin' New York
3. In My Time of Dyin'
4. Man Of Constant Sorrow
5. Fixin' To Die
6. Pretty Peggy-O
7. Highway 51 Blues
8. Gospel Plow
9. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
10. House Of the Risin' Sun
11. Freight Train Blues
12. Song To Woody
13. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9881 in Music
• Released on: 2005-06-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
This album now seems as remarkable as his mid-'60s breakthroughs. Like Presley's Sun Sessions, it is both the remnant of a lost rural America and the seed of rock culture. The music is primarily Dylan, with acoustic guitar, barking traditional folk, and blues. He was 20, a Northern hick who came to New York to be the next Woody Guthrie. It's amazing that at 20 he sings "In My Time of Dying" and "See That My Grave is Kept Clean", not as traditional songs, but making their doom and resignation sound personal. --Steve Tignor EMD

From Amazon.com
This album now seems as remarkable as his mid-'60s breakthoughs. Like Presley's Sun Sessions, it is both the remnant of a lost rural America and the seed of rock culture. The music is primarily Dylan, with acoustic guitar, barking traditional folk, and blues. He was 20, a Northern hick come to New York to be the next Woody Guthrie. It's amazing that at 20 he sings "In My Time of Dying" and "See That My Grave is Kept Clean," not as traditional songs, but making their doom and resignation sound personal. --Steve Tignor

Customer Reviews

Overlooked but indispensible.
It sold terribly...it was mostly covers...even Bob said it was not the album he wanted to make...
Certainly the last remark can be taken with a pinch of salt, for within a few months Bob was a serious star and the darling of the folk world with his self-penned anthems such as Blowin' In The Wind and A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. As ever, he moved on so darned fast. It might not have been the album he wanted to make, but it was the one that he was able to make at the time.
This album burns with youthful exuberance, an absolute joy of music and and a voice that cries, 'I'm here! Now listen to this!'. The lack of Dylan songs should not detract from the experience, for his idiosyncratic reading of the songs almost negates the 'trad.arr.' status. Tellingly, the only song that sounds like Woody Guthrie is his own Song To Woody. Make no mistakes, this album is Bob Dylan writ large.
Clearly, the songs that first stand out are the ones that we instantly regognise: In My Time Of Dyin', great enough for Led Zeppelin to remake on Physical Graffiti; House of the Rising Sun, that influenced the Animals to make that unforgettable classic; Baby Let Me Follow You Down, a song that Bob was so enamoured with that he toured with it in 1966 and reprised it on the great film, The Last Waltz.
The album also contains the unforgettable 'Man Of Constant Sorrow' (a big feature as a result of the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou? for the uninitiated!), the truly dazzling Highway 51 Blues (this actually sounds like Zepp for heaven's sake! A joy to hear!) and the stupendous See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, a song that I first heard when Bob was seriously ill 10 years ago. It belies his tender (21!) age and is, like most of his future works, purely timeless.
Its not the best place to begin if you're wanting to start hearing the genius of Bob Dylan, but if you love him and want to listen to him reaching towards the next plane, its all here.

A Piece of Dylan History
This album is an essential purchase to go alongside Dylan's infamous set of albums in your collection.

The self-titled 'Bob Dylan' is Bob in his pre-songwriting phase, he has just moved to New York, has recently got his foot in the door at coffee house's around 'the village' and has been signed to Columbia by John Hammond after being rejected by many a record label.

The spectre of 'death' hangs over this album, it is mentioned many a time in various songs. Song's which are all covers except for the quaint 'talkin new york' and poigniant 'song to woody'.

This album should not be overlooked, it is a young, fresh faced dylan, before his 'protest era' delivering rollicking hillbilly esque numbers as well as the delightful 'talkin new york' and 'song to woody' which capture first hand what was passing through Bob's mind at the time.

Now that it has been remastered, you can enjoy it even more than previous!

Underrated Dylan
This is an album I bought by chance and I was completely amazed its not a more talked about Dylan album. The main difference between this album and his others that he released a few years later was that the songs here are not his except for "Song for Woody" and "Talkin New York". This means that on this album its more about the playing and the feel of the music and voice rather than the lyrics itself. I think this album shows how talented and skillful Dylan really was on guitar and he had pretty much mastered the blues by the time this was out.
I absolutely recommend this album but just don't expect songs with lyrics like "Blowin in the Wind" or "The Times They Are a-Changing", this is simple plain music played from the heart.