Highway 61 Revisited

Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by Bob Dylan, released in August 1965 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. It is the album that completed Dylan's controversial transition from acoustic folk to electric rock, following the 'Judas!' moment of his Newport Folk Festival performance, and is consistently ranked as one of the greatest albums ever made. Dylan wrote all nine tracks, including the eleven-minute opening 'Like a Rolling Stone' (generally cited as the greatest rock song ever recorded in critic polls), as well as 'Ballad of a Thin Man,' 'Desolation Row,' and the surrealist title track. The album's electric band includes Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar and Al Kooper (who had come to the sessions as a spectator and played the now-iconic organ part on 'Like a Rolling Stone' by insinuating himself into the session), a collection of New York session musicians whose energy was entirely different from the acoustic folk context Dylan had previously inhabited. 'Like a Rolling Stone' reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was by far the longest single to achieve significant radio play at the time, at over six minutes; it permanently altered the commercial understanding of what a rock single could be. Highway 61 Revisited debuted on the Billboard 200 and is now regarded as the foundational document of the album era of rock, the record that proved the long-player format could be the primary vehicle for serious rock artistic ambition.