BOB DYLAN : BIOGRAPH

 

Disc One (73:18)

  1. Lay Lady Lay
  2. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
  3. If Not for You
  4. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
  5. I'll Keep It with Mine
  6. The Times They Are a-Changin'
  7. Blowin' in the Wind
  8. Masters of War
  9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
  10. Percy's Song
  11. Mixed-Up Confusion
  12. Tombstone Blues
  13. Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar
  14. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
  15. Like a Rolling Stone
  16. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
  17. Subterranean Homesick Blues
  18. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

Disc Two (71:43)

  1. Visions of Johanna
  2. Every Grain of Sand
  3. Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
  4. Mr. Tambourine Man
  5. Dear Landlord
  6. It Ain't Me, Babe
  7. You Angel You
  8. Million Dollar Bash
  9. To Ramona
  10. You're a Big Girl Now
  11. Abandoned Love
  12. Tangled Up in Blue
  13. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
  14. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
  15. Positively 4th Street
  16. Isis
  17. Jet Pilot

Disc Three (71:27)

  1. Caribbean Wind
  2. Up to Me
  3. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You
  4. I Wanna Be Your Lover
  5. I Want You
  6. Heart of Mine
  7. On a Night Like This
  8. Just Like a Woman
  9. Romance in Durango
  10. Seņor (Tales of Yankee Power)
  11. Gotta Serve Somebody
  12. I Believe in You
  13. Time Passes Slowly
  14. I Shall Be Released
  15. Knockin' on Heaven's Door
  16. All Along the Watchtower
  17. Solid Rock
  18. Forever Young

Label : Columbia

Released : 1985

Review (AllMusic) : Historically, Biograph is significant not for what it did for Dylan's career, but for establishing the box set, complete with hits and rarities, as a viable part of rock history. Following Biograph, multi-disc box sets for veteran rockers became accepted and almost the norm, but that doesn't discount this set's strengths as a summary of Dylan's career, using the familiar and the rare to draw a fully rounded portrait of his strengths as a songwriter, musician, and record-maker in a way that conventional choices alone couldn't achieve. Certainly, the chief attraction of this set, even years after its initial release, is its smattering of rarities that aren't just rare, but revealing - ranging from forgotten rock B-sides and singles to demos, alternate takes, and unreleased songs that rival official releases. But Biograph is really remarkable for weaving these songs into a fabric that reveals the true trajectory of Dylan's career, offering as much to the curious as it does to the dedicated. That sets a standard for box sets that has rarely been matched, making Biograph all the more impressive in retrospect. [In 1997, Columbia Records issued an upgraded, reconfigured version of Biograph, with a new catalog number (65298), a lower list price, and with its packaging and booklet reduced from an LP-size box to a CD-size slipcase. The original 1985 set in the large-size box, which marked the first time that the label had gone back to original first-generation tapes on a Dylan CD, was pretty impressive; but the 1997 CD-size box version, remastered in Sony's Super Bit Mapping process, is a significant improvement over that, and is to be preferred.]

Review (Wikipedia) : Biograph is a 53-track compilation spanning the career of Bob Dylan, from his 1962 debut album to the 1981 LP Shot of Love. Released in 1985 by Columbia Records, on both a 5-LP and a 3-CD Box set, it was one of the earliest and most successful examples of the CD Box set. It reached #33 in the US and went platinum. The recordings on Biograph are a mix of rarities, hit singles, and fan-favorite album tracks. They are not presented in chronological order, instead jumping around the 60s, 70s and 80s from song to song. Of the 53 tracks, 22 had not been previously issued on any of Dylan's albums, including "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" (which closes the Martin Scorsese film No Direction Home) and "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?". The set comes accompanied with a 42-page booklet, containing rare photos and liner notes by Cameron Crowe, who also interviews Dylan about each of the tracks.