Back Home to Highway 61

Has anybody out there on the corner of some virtual Tin Pan Alley ever written a song with the title “Back home on Highway 61?” If not then why not? Just another passing thought that I’ve recorded here and will likely forget as quickly as it came to me. So ... which in the name of heaven, earth and sourdough is the better album; “Bringing it all back home” or “Highway 61 Revisited”? Never mind the rest of his output, because I’m writing this, and a simple comparison of two albums is way is easier than any other evaluation piece that’s looking across Dylan’s whole career. Also, on which album sleeve does he sport the better haircut? It was the 60s after all.

Bringing It All Back Home is transitional by design; half acoustic, half electric, Dylan testing the voltage. Highway 61 Revisited on the other hand is the album where Dylan’s zappy electric upgrade stops being a provocation and becomes a fully realised world. Highway 61 is him saying that he’s found a new language. That kind of artistic confidence matters. Blah blah.

Also the songs themselves are more expansive and mythic. “Like a Rolling Stone” alone proves that, it doesn’t just redefine Dylan, it redefines what a pop single can become; length, structure, attitude, psychological depth. But then you get “Ballad of a Thin Man,” which turns alienation into a gothic horror story, “Desolation Row,” which feels like a surrealist epic poem smuggled into a cranked up folk festival and “Tombstone Blues,” which is basically Beat poetry strapped to a freight train, (I’ve a nagging doubt that it’s an example of a song that’s not aged as well as the others) but all of these aren’t simply powerful songs. No. At the time, in some NYC/Greenwich Village kind of “La Belle Époque” they reprogramed the world of popular music.

On 61 the backing band are sharp and mean. Rowdy with a chance of screwballs. Mike Bloomfield’s guitar isn’t just accompaniment; it’s gritty and antagonistic, pushing back against Dylan’s vocals in a way that heightens the tension. The album feels like it’s constantly on the verge of flying apart, something that suits Dylan’s sneering and doomed yet still prophetic delivery perfectly.

Bringing It All Back Home is playfully brilliant, witty, and an absolutely essential listen. “Subterranean Homesick Blues” kind of invents urban rap, “Mr. Tambourine Man” is pure, floating transcendence and the acoustic side might be Dylan’s sharpest folky style writing ever. “It’s Alright Ma” a scary car crash of images and pain woven into the tortured lyrics. Structurally, it’s split in two, and you feel that split, well an LP record had two distinct sides back in the day - still does. BIABH is the sound of an artist in an early state of metamorphosis, Highway 61 Revisited is the sound of that metamorphosis thundering towards completion. Until the next album ...

Bringing It All Back Home Dylan is kicking down the door, Highway 61 Revisited is him walking into the room, setting all the old school rules of song writing on fire, and grinning broadly as they burn. That said if you value intimacy, slick wordplay, and the last gasp of the folk hero Mr Dylan, choose Bringing It All Back Home. (Big) but if it’s all about an album where Dylan becomes an icon rather than an artist, it’s Highway 61 Revisited. Och aye. It all took place a long time ago, many good people were lost on the way, so not much of this opinion matters now. Get on with your life. Work on Maggie's Farm.