Today sees the release of Bob Dylan’s Complete Album Collection, Vol. 1., (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) along with a limited edition of the same set(Amazon.com) which contains the music on a USB stick in a harmonica box. The latter was originally to have the music in 320 kbps MP3 files and high-resolution FLAC files, but somewhere along the line – after people, including myself, ordered the set – the FLAC files became standard CD resolution.
No matter; this set represents much of a life of music making, from the earliest eponymous 1962 album to 2012’s Tempest. There are 30 “side tracks,” live and unreleased tracks, as bonuses. These are all of Dylan’s official releases, not including his Bootleg Series, a total of 11 releases, covering 15 CDs worth of live and alternate takes. Clearly, Vol. 2 is intended to cover the rest of Dylan’s work. Could his record label be banking on the retirement or demise of Dylan to release the second volume? We’ll see.
It goes without saying that this is probably the most important oeuvre in American popular music, and, while there are some weak albums in Dylan’s career, there are more than enough unforgettable ones to make up for the rest.
If you don’t want the CDs, the iTunes Store has four “digital box sets” which cover The 60s, The 70s, the 80s and the 90s-00s. You won’t get the “side tracks,” but you will get all 35 studio albums and 6 live albums that Bob has released over the years. You’ll pay about the same amount for the iTunes versions: $170 for all of them, without the “side tracks,” compared to (currently) $180 on Amazon.com. So if you’re a Dylan fan, it makes a lot more sense to buy the plastic.
Go ahead; you know this should be your Christmas present. You can even open the box and listen to Dylan’s 2009 Christmas in the Heart, a collection of traditional Christmas songs sung by Bob in his own, um, inimitable way. But just remember, every time you play that album, a puppy dies.