"The Best Of Bob Dylan", is a very thin overview at best, and I can only recommend this disc to someone who has never owned a Dylan cd, and they want a small sampling[and I mean small], of a career that has spanned over 40 years. Most Dylan fans already own his more expansive collections, like "Biograph", and the "Greatest Hits Vol, 1,2, and 3" compilations. If you are new to Dylan, I would recommend the "Essential Bob Dylan", if you just want one CD. That double disc gives a healthy serving of Dylan classics, and is more complete. If you have never owned a Dylan collection before, and you buy this, try listening to his "Blonde On Blonde" or "Blood On The Tracks" cd to see what you have been missing!

I had never really paid much attention to Bob Dylan prior to listening to this CD 2 years ago. He has since become a favorite of mine and I have since acquired 25 Bob Dylan CDs including many of his compilations.

As a now avid fan of Bob Dylan, I can understand the feeling that many of the core fans have expressed and the low ratings they attributed this CD, however I also remember the feeling that I had when I walked into Tower Records and upon seeing "The Best Of Bob Dylan" on sale, and feeling the price was right I made the purchase with the thought that 'this CD could offer me some exposure to Dylan'.

I played this CD every day for weeks, until I started researching his music in order to decide just what CDs to order, and now, I have quite a Bob Dylan collection.

But let me also say this: though the "Essential" double CD is a much better deal, if at the time I had a choice between "The Best Of Bob Dylan" and "Essential", I would still have chosen "The Best Of Bob Dylan", as it represented a sampler of his best songs which at the time was all I was interested in. For me this CD was perfect. I never would have purchased a double CD "sight unseen" no matter what the sale price.

I was torn in writing my review of this CD, but came to the conclusion that the problem with this CD is that it is mistitled. This could aptly be titled "An introduction to", "the Idiots Guide to" or a "A Dylan Sampler", and I would have rated it higher. But as many reviewers have pointed out, this is a very limited CD, and I think it is more designed to give an intro and stimulate sales of other Dylan CDs. So we can probably thank the marketing folks for the title.

I DO own this CD (my wife bought it for me) and I am a longtime Dylan fan. My first album of his was 'Highway 61', which I consider his second best after 'Blood on the Tracks'.

So bottom line, if you are new to Dylan or want a quick refresher this is really quite good. If you really want a Best Of, get the Essential set. My copy of this CD is going in the car, for when I want a little Dylan on the road. I think it's well suited to that.

This set is for the extremely casual fan who thought the 2-disc "Essential" collection was just too much. This is roughly the best of that, and better than his "Greatest Hits" because of the inclusion of what he's done since. This is also almost exactly the same as the UK only "Best Of" right down to the cover photo, just two tracks shorter. Anyway, this gives you his early classic material like "Blowin' In The Wind", "Like A Rolling Stone", and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", as well as his better later stuff like "Tangled Up In Blue", "Gotta Serve Somebody", and "Jokerman". My personal favorites are the cool "Lay Lady Lay" and the moving "Not Dark Yet". Both are excellent. Obviously this is missing a ton of great songs, and I would recommend more, but for a single disc it does the job well.

Can not ever tire of RZ, he's one of the greatest musicians/poets of our time. And some of his finest on one album. Awesome.