Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (Hybr)

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Free Music Notes for John Wesley Harding (Hybr)

Free Music Review: The music is so good, it's painful to give it a low rating
Hit: 5 Stars

This was the fourth of the Dylan re-issues I've bought and have grown a huge liking to this side of Bob Dylan. I gave the release five stars because this is a work of integrity, though this re-issue definitely does not deserve five stars. The sound is listenable, and far from being too awful, but after listening to the superb remastering on 'Highway 61 Revisited', I know Sony could have done a much better job with this. Basically everything other reviews have said is right, though maybe a bit too harsh and picky. The guitar is tragically buried much, much too low in the mix, and his harmonica is up much, much too high. Most of all though, the mixing is very erratic. The opener, 'John Wesley Harding' is probably the truest-sounding of all the songs, but in other songs there are all kinds of unusual audio problems. The mix, from song-to-song is inconsistent, with some drum tracks being louder on certain songs, oddly loud bass (or very muffled), and always Dylan's guitar being shoved way too low in the mix. The remastered 'All Along The Watchtower' from the Sony 'Essential Bob Dylan' release from a few years ago sounds much, much better in comparison with this 2003 remaster. I'm never one to complain too much about remastering, but at times the way this re-issue was handled is downright puzzling.

The reviews on website definitely shouldn't prevent anyone from buying this album, however. The main problem with the sound is that it's muffled and a bit patchy, the music is still great and worth the time to listen to it. 'John Wesley Harding' is ESSENTIAL to any Dylan enthusiast and is easily among the finest albums of the tail end of the 1960s. Coincidentally, this was released the same year as 'The Doors', 'Are You Experienced?', 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' and 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.

John Wesley Harding (Hybr) Poster

Ranking near the top of anyone's list of Dylan's masterpieces, this post-motorcycle-accident career-turning-point finds Dylan veering from the razor-edged desperation of "All Along the Watchtower" to the gentle, back-porch sway of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" -- and all points in between. Back at last, in its ultra-rare original mono mix, this landmark LP -- cut with the cream of Nashville's studio cats and generally credited as a blueprint for the era's country-rock movement -- sizzles on Sundazed high-definition vinyl.

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