"John Wesley Harding" - Bob Dylan

"John Wesley Harding" was Bob Dylan's first album in 1 1/2 years when it was released in December 1967. While this doesn't sound like much in this day and age when groups take 6-7 years between albums, this was an eternity when most artists released two albums a year. The reason for this delay was a motorcycle accident Dylan had suffered in the Woodstock, NY area. Being released as it did after such sonically complex masterpieces as The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely  Hearts Club Band," this album was decidedly stripped down, even threadbare compared to those releases. Yet with that being said, this album does not suffer one bit from its stripped down sound. Quite the opposite; had these songs been as heavily orchestrated as those albums, they certainly would not have the same power that they possess in the versions found on this album.

This album is one of mythmaking. Thomas Paine, the title character, St. Augustine, The Drifter and many others all fill the songs with mythical tales and cryptic meanings. The most famous song off the album is "All Along The Watchtower," principally through Jimi Hendrix's fairly radical reworking of it, on his double-album "Electric Ladyland".  Another hard rock connection is the fact that the band Judas Priest got its name from the quizzical "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest". The songs ends with the Countryish love song "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight;" its pedal steel accompaniment and straightforward lyrics pointed the way to his next album, "Nashville Skyline".

Being a very big Bob Dylan fan, and having listened to the vast majority of his albums, I would have to rate this as being my second or third favorite Dylan album. I would put "Blood On The Tracks" higher, and possibly "Highway 61 Revisited". While I think "Blonde On Blonde" is a great album, I would still place "John Wesley Harding" above it.