Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits

I’ve always enjoyed Dylan’s Greatest Hits albums as much as I’ve liked his early formal releases, especially when it came to later albums, where there were often only a couple of songs that held my interest. While it’s often difficult to settle into a greatest hits assemblage because so many albums are themed or locked into a timeframe, Dylan’s songs manage to stand on their own with a sense of brilliance and wonder.

One of the things that made this vinyl album so memorable and special was the Milton Glaser poster of Bob Dylan, complete with swirling hair, rendered in saturated colors, where the energetic design evoked the visual effects of the psychedelic drugs everyone seemed to be consuming at the time; a poster which of course my parents hated, nevertheless, it hung on my wall. Add that that this album came out shortly after Dylan was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and rumored to be dead, with many believing that this package was perhaps one of the last deliveries the man.

Every song on this album, which is now identified as Dylan’s Greatest Hits I, is simply some of the best chart topping songs of his career, and there’s not one number found here that is not top notch, a collection with no filler. Also noteworthy, at the time there were no outtakes or B-sides on greatest hits releases as there are today. Yet with all of that being said, the brilliance of this album was improved on by Audio Fidelity, releasing it as a numbered limited edition gold high fidelity disc, making the record pretty much the only version of this album you need to own … though sadly, no poster was included. Audio Fidelity tapped the musical wizard Steve Hoffman with the task of mastering this album in order to allow it to resound with even more vibrancy than ever, separating the instruments so that they have a defined place within your listening space, and a masterful job he did.

I realize that gold disc are rather pricey, yet the sonic delivery found here is emancipating, very breathable and flows with an elegance not found on the record.

Review by Jenell Kesler