Greatest Hits (1967)


 

  1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
  2. Blowin' in the Wind
  3. The Times They Are A-Changin'
  4. It Ain't Me Babe
  5. Like a Rolling Stone
  6. Mr. Tamborine Man
  7. Subterranean Homesick Blues
  8. I Want You
  9. Positively 4th Street
  10.Just Like a Woman

 

By the time Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits was released in 1967, the singer had already reshaped the trajectory of modern songwriting. This compilation, drawn exclusively from the six albums issued between 1962 and 1966, offers less a retrospective than a canonization. It is, in effect, the distillation of Dylan’s first golden age—the era in which he evolved from folk provocateur to electrified oracle in the span of just a few years.

Covering only a fraction of his available output, the album nonetheless captures the essence of Dylan’s early transformation. From the austere power of Blowin’ in the Wind to the venomous surrealism of Like a Rolling Stone, the collection presents not merely a songwriter, but a cultural phenomenon operating at the absolute height of his influence. These are the songs that stopped conversations, provoked protests, and, more than anything else, compelled a generation to listen.

What elevates this set above the status of a mere label cash-in is the inclusion of Positively 4th Street—a standalone single never before featured on an LP. Its acid-tongued indignation, directed at false friends and fawning detractors, remains one of Dylan’s most bracing lyrical assaults. That it sits comfortably alongside titanic cuts such as The Times They Are A-Changin’, Mr. Tambourine Man, and Subterranean Homesick Blues is a testament to both its craft and its cultural resonance.

Inevitably, a single LP cannot hope to contain the full breadth of Dylan’s creative explosion during this period. Missing are numerous deep cuts—many of them as revered by aficionados as the selections present. But this was never meant to be comprehensive. Rather, it serves as the ideal initiation point: a carefully chosen sampler for the unconverted and a powerful reaffirmation for those already under the spell.

Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits is not just a collection of songs; it is a curated window into a moment when one artist, through sheer force of imagination and nerve, altered the vocabulary of popular music. As a historical document and as a listening experience, it remains essential.


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