The historical significance of BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME has been discussed ad nauseum: It was Dylan making a strong break away from his folk roots. Its rock sound reshaped the music of the Beatles and just about everyone else who picked up a guitar forever after its 1965 release. It featured five of Dylan's most often covered and replayed classics -- "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Maggie's Farm," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" -- as well as three more favorites of Dylan's core group of fans -- "She Belongs to Me," "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" and "Gates of Eden." It melded rock, folk and beatnik poetry for the first time in a major album. It was the start of the phase of Dylan's career that would soon include his two most lauded albums, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED and BLONDE ON BLONDE.

But what is often not mentioned is how much FUN this album is to listen to.

Granted, "Mr. Tambourine Man," "It's Alright Ma" and "Gates of Eden" are classic Dylan epics -- long, complex, packed with striking imagery and poetic wordplays in each line. But this album also features rocking pop hits that leave the listener bouncing in his seat ("Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Maggie's Farm"), beautiful and melancholy love or love-gone-wrong songs ("Love Minus Zero/No Limit," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue") and even shaggy dog stories showcasing the impish sense of humor that would later bring Dylan to mind when interpreters were attempting to identify the man behind the jester character in Don McLean's "American Pie" ("On the Road Again," "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream").

In other words, there's something on this album for every mood. Which may be why it's even more beloved for its singles than the future album epics HIGHWAY 61 and BLONDE ON BLONDE. And, in fact, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME doesn't hang together as well as the succeeding two releases, and certainly not as well as JOHN WESLEY HARDING or NEW MORNING. But it's more versatile than any of those other albums. On the one hand, you can sit down and really LISTEN to it, catching all the nuances of Dylan's lyrics, admiring his musical fireworks, laughing at his jokes. Or you can play it in your car, at work, as background music while you write or clean or work out, and it's not distracting.

Best of all, you can take advantage of an aspect of CD's not available to the original vinyl audience. Simply press the "Shuffle" button, and this becomes a whole new album to be rediscovered.

Long having denied the implication that he created the folk-rock genre, rather giving the credit to Gene Clark of The Byrds, this release by the Bard from Hibbing would undoubtedly serve as the cornerstone of folk-rock through the ages! "Bringing It All Back Home" continues Dylan's introspection from "Another Side Of Bob Dylan" while adding electric instruments to the mix (a fact that, for some reason, would be acceptable to fans on record but not live at Newport). Here, Dylan can be at his most romantic one minute, with the Baez-inspired "Love Minus Zero / No Limit" or "She Belongs To Me," and simultaneously prophetic and surreal the next!

Introducing classics like "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "Maggie's Farm" alongside concert stalwarts "Gates Of Eden" and "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," this release would be the first of a trilogy ended all too soon by Dylan's supposed "motorpsycho nitemare." The other two albums in this trilogy are, of course, "Highway 61 Revisited" and the double-disc "Blonde On Blonde."

Many will say that this is Dylan at his finest, placing the artist into an uncomfortable categorization or time capsule, but he would continue to produce highly creative and innovative work both with The Band and The Traveling Wilburys, as well as via his solo career throughout the 1970's and 80's. "Bringing It All Back Home" merely brings folk-rock to the forefront, introduces his audience to "Another Side Of Bob Dylan," and provides some excellent entertainment for the unsuspecting yet open-minded listener.

This album is wonderfully surreal. The imagery is gorgeous, smoky and cold. The title of this review is a quote from "Gates of Eden" which is in my opinion one of the best songs on the album. This album fits words together seamlessly. Sometimes the songs make sense and other times they almost make sense.... but that's the point isn't it? It allows you to make what you will of the meaning.
The album is half electric and half acoustic. This is the transition album! I could never pick my favorite Dylan album but this is surely one of them. Other great songs include "It's alright ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", the hilarious and almost sensical "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" - e.g. every song is a winner. The liner notes which were written by Dylan are hilarious and also almost sensical. If you're a Dylan fan and don't already have this, shame on you. If you're a literature buff, you should have it also. You can't go wrong!

By the time of this 1965 release, Dylan had already proven himself a lyrical master and a new legend in the folk universe. With his electrified performance at the Newport Folk Festival, and this half-electric/half-acoustic LP, he showed that he was not only far from done with pushing the envelope, but that he'd really only begun. In particular, his music and subject matter were now catching up to his revolutionary words and lyrical structures.

The album opens full-bore with the blistering word-puzzle "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Backed by a vamping electric blues band Dylan is at once a protesting outsider, a sardonic social critic, and a free-associating poet. It stands on it's own as an incredible piece of rock music, but as the introduction to Dylan's fifth LP it was something of a warning shot. The electric blues return for the near-rockabilly arrangement of "Maggie's Blues" and a Chuck Berry (ala "Memphis") styled "Outlaw Blues." In between, Dylan crafted extraordinary ballads, including the acidic "She Belongs to Me" and one of his best-ever love songs, "Love Minus Zero/No Limit."

Side two (tracks 7-11) retreats to mostly acoustic presentations, but even here Dylan expanded upon his earlier work with surreal stories like "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" and the poetic folk-rock standard "Mr. Tambourine Man." The latter stretches to over 5-1/2 minutes and includes a trio of verses dropped by The Byrds in their hit cover. One of the album's most effective cuts is the 7-1/2 minute "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding," a song Dylan had been performing live for several months before recording it. Though recorded with only an acoustic guitar, the venomous lyrics spare no target in their criticism, providing as much fire as any of the electric tunes on side one.

All in all, this is as good a portrait of Dylan's inventions as can be found. It's a showcase for his brilliant writing, his evolving musical exposition and his ability to parlay his unconventional voice into some of the world's most expressive and effective vocals.

Shhh, don't tell your folkie aunt, but this is THE rock album of the mid 60's. Dylan stunned folk audiences all over the world with his electric debut, and not everyone dug it. If I had lived in the 60's, I would most likely have been a folk purist, so I would have been mad at Bob too for plugging in. But looking back objectively at this album as a 20 year old, I realize that this rocks the pants off any of his previous work, and anything and everything after 1969. His folk sound is astonishing, but his electric sound is mind blowing. Classics like "Subterrainian Homesick Blues," "Maggie's Farm," and " It's Alright Ma...." are imprinted in my mind as the antithesis of all electric rock in the mid 60's. This album is a main source of John Lennon's intellectual developement as a songwriter. Check the Beatles 1965 album "Help," and then compare it with 1965's "Rubber Soul" which was recorded after John and Bob met personally, and you may hear Dylan's influence. Dylan drove the Beatles from pop to intelli-rock with this barnstormer. Good move, Bob. "Bringing It All Back Home" is essential.