Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits

Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits
Greatest hits album by Bob Dylan
Released	March 27, 1967
Recorded	1962–1966
Genre	Folk, rock
Length	40:21
Label	Columbia
Producer	John H. Hammond, Tom Wilson, Bob Johnston
Bob Dylan chronology
Blonde on Blonde (1966) Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits (1967) John Wesley Harding (1967)

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Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits is the eighth album released by Bob Dylan on Columbia Records, original catalogue number KCS 9643. It contains every Top 40 single Dylan enjoyed through 1967. It peaked at #10 on the pop album chart in the United States, and went to #3 on the album chart in the United Kingdom. Certified five times platinum in the United States, it is one of his very best-selling albums.

Content

Greatest Hits presented his first appearance on records after his epic Blonde on Blonde double-LP of May 1966 and his famed motorcycle accident of that summer. With no activity by Dylan since the end of his recent world tour, and no new recordings on the immediate horizon (the Basement Tapes sessions were still months away if the accepted chronologies are correct), Columbia needed new product to continue to capitalize on Dylan's commercial appeal. Hence the appearance of this package, the label's first Dylan compilation, and its first LP release with a $5.98 list price, one dollar more than that of standard releases.

This album also serves as Dylan's de facto singles collection for the 1960s, as all but three of the tracks present, "The Times They Are a-Changin'," "It Ain't Me Babe," and "Mr. Tambourine Man" had been issued at 45 rpm in the United States during the decade, although "Times" made it to #9 as a single release in the UK. A truncated rock and roll version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" had been a number one hit for The Byrds in the summer of 1965, the Turtles took a folk-rock version of "It Ain't Me Babe" to #8 the same year, and Peter, Paul and Mary enjoyed a huge hit with their #2 single of "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963. The remaining six tracks all made the Billboard Top 40 in 1965 and 1966. Probably the most astounding thing of all concerning this collection is that it documents a time in America when the kind of lyric complexity and philosophic bent on "Like a Rolling Stone," "Positively Fourth Street," and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" could actually become a top ten pop chart hit. "Positively 4th Street" was the only single of the collection not either later released on or taken off of a long-playing album, having been recorded during sessions for Highway 61 Revisited.

When this album was remastered for its 1997 issue on compact disc 30 years later, a slightly longer alternate mix of "Positively 4th Street" was substituted for the original single version. In 2003, this album was released along with Dylan's two other greatest hits compilations in one four-disc boxed set, as Greatest Hits Volumes I-III.

Artwork

The cover photograph of Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits was taken by Rowland Scherman at Dylan's November 28, 1965, concert in Washington, D.C. The cover won the 1967 Grammy award for "Best Album Cover, Photography." The original album package also included Milton Glaser's now-familiar "psychedelic" poster depicting Dylan. A similar image taken at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 was selected for Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II, a compilation Dylan had much more control over.^{[citation needed]} John Berg, Senior Art Director at Columbia Records, recognized that a backlit image such as Scherman's would work because of Dylan's unique sartorial style.^{[citation needed]} It was his design, as well as Scherman's photo, that won the Grammy.

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Dylan.

Side one

1. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35"
   • Columbia single 43592 released March 22, 1966 — chart peak #2
2. "Blowin' in the Wind"
   • Columbia single 42856 released August 13, 1963 — did not chart
3. "The Times They Are a-Changin'"
4. "It Ain't Me Babe"
5. "Like a Rolling Stone"
   • Columbia single 43346 released June 28, 1965 — chart peak #2

Side two

1. "Mr. Tambourine Man"
2. "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
   • Columbia single 43242 released March 8, 1965 — chart peak #39
3. "I Want You"
   • Columbia single 43683 released June 10, 1966 — chart peak #20
4. "Positively 4th Street"
   • Columbia single 43389 released September 7, 1965 — chart peak #7
5. "Just Like a Woman"
   • Columbia single 43792 released August 18, 1966 — chart peak #33

UK version

The UK release of the album had a slightly different track listing. "Positively 4th Street" was omitted, but "She Belongs to Me", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" were added. In the UK, this album was followed up by Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2, which repeated the Blonde on Blonde songs from Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits and also added "I Want You", "Absolutely Sweet Marie", "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", "Gates of Eden", "Chimes of Freedom" and several others. This album was different from the album called Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II in the US, which was released in 1971 and called More Bob Dylan Greatest Hits in the UK.

UK track listing

All songs written by Bob Dylan.

1. "Blowin' in the Wind"
2. "It Ain't Me Babe"
3. "The Times They Are A-Changin'"
4. "Mr. Tambourine Man"
5. "She Belongs to Me"
6. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
7. "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
8. "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"
9. "Like a Rolling Stone"
10. "Just Like a Woman"
11. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35"
12. "I Want You"

UK track listing for Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2

1. "I Want You"
2. "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"
3. "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"
4. "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
5. "Masters of War"
6. "Chimes of Freedom"
7. "Just Like a Woman"
8. "Obviously Five Believers"
9. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35"
10. "Gates of Eden"
11. "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"
12. "Absolutely Sweet Marie"

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1967	Billboard 200	10
1967	UK Top 75	6

External links

• Bob Dylan singles chart positions