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Bob Dylan's
eighth album followed a lengthy hibernation in which the
singer re-evaluated his art. He emerged with a set of
stark simplicity and heartfelt intensity. Neither folk,
nor rock, nor country, the selection boasts elements of
all three, slipping into consciousness with a mesmerizing
power belying its setting. A biblical purity encompasses
the collection as Dylan paints graphic portraits of the
disenfranchised - hobo, immigrant, drifter, messenger -
articulating the uncertainty of the times. The mood lifts
for the final track, a beautifully tender love song,
suggesting that this is where salvation lies. John Wesley
Harding repays repeated play with ever-unfolding metaphor
and interpretation, including four hidden Beatles on the
cover.
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