Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan

Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan's sixth album, came out on Columbia on August 30, 1965, and it's the sound of Bob Dylan pushing further from his acoustic folk roots and refusing to look back. Rock musicians back him on every track except the last, the 11-minute "Desolation Row", and the whole thing crackles with electric blues and bad attitude. Tom Wilson and Bob Johnston produced.

The centerpiece is "Like a Rolling Stone", the hit single released ahead of the album, a swirling, clattering blast with Dylan's voice at its most sneering. From there it's a carnival of weirdos and wise guys: "Ballad of a Thin Man" is a slow, menacing taunt, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" wanders through a boozy haze, the title track barrels along like a runaway train, and "Desolation Row" unspools a long, strange acoustic parade. What makes it all land is the way Dylan pairs driving, blues-rooted music with poetry, catching the country's politics and mood as it went. He named the record after the highway running from his birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, down through St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans and the Delta blues country of Mississippi.

It went to number three in America and number four in Britain, and it was well received from the start. Its standing has only grown: it placed fourth on a 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and "Like a Rolling Stone" went top ten in several countries. Dylan has kept "Ballad of a Thin Man" and the title track in his live shows ever since.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.