A Fool Such As I AKA Dylan

Whilst accepting that this is not one of Dylan's greatest albums, in my opinion it is not that bad, and I have given it five stars for its rarity, and thus its desirability, value. Some tracks are excellent. I particularly like Lily of the West, The Ballad of Ira Hayes, Mr. Bojangles and, yes, Spanish is the Loving Tongue. I was fortunate enough to get this for £24 in excellent condition. I'd certainly have been prepared to pay more. If the price puts you off, keep looking in charity shops - you never know, it might just turn up!The above review is for the vinyl album and Amazon will not allow you to write a second review for an album of the same name, even though it is a completely different product. So, the following is my review for the Bob Dylan CD 'A Fool Such As I', which comes as a Digipack. I thought this would be the same album, but on CD, but in fact it is completely different and an absolute gem. Not only does it contain all nine songs from the original vinyl album (originally called simply 'Dylan' and later 'A Fool Such As I'), but it also contains 12 tracks from the Dylan/Cash Nashville sessions in 1969, together with 'Yesterday' performed by Dylan and George Harrison. For any Dylan fan who doesn't already have a bootleg of the Dylan/Cash sessions this is an absolute must have. I cannot recommend this too highly.

As mentioned elsewhere, this was originally released under the name "Dylan" (not the greatest hits compilation of the same name)and had bits not put on "Self Portrait" plus other cover tunes that most likely were never considered for anything. Having said that, I actually enjoy this release. It has a certain floppy, unpretentious quality that I like. I'm one of the few people, however, that likes "Self Portrait" so buyer beware. This was released against Dylan's wishes and was put out by Columbia when Dyaln released "Planet Waves" on Asylum. This particular version, however, was transferred from a vinyl record in places, so the sound quality is variable and at times seems akin to a bootleg. There are many bonus cuts on this which are from sessions with Johnny Cash that were never released and are interesting and enjoyable in places. I'm not sure of the source of these recordings. Finally, it ends with a George Harrison / Dylan duet on the Beatles' "Yesterday" which is awful. It sounds like they were extremely drunk when this was recorded, and again, I'm unsure of the source for this. The digipack that the cd comes in is very well done, with the front cover being a very good image/copy of the original lp cover; it folds out to reveal the same picture but with different color schematics, so the package is superior. If you are a Dylan fanatic, this is a must. If you, however, only have/want a handful of his best, you can pass on this one.

I bought this album back in '73 when it was first released by CBS after Dylan had left the label. It was widely viewed then as an act of revenge by the label in response to what they presumably perceived as disloyalty by the artist. It was universally panned by the critics and I have often wondered why. Certainly, it was no masterpiece and most ,if not all, of the tracks were probably never recorded with any intention to release them. Having said that, there is nothing on this collection that is awful (apart from his duet with George Harrison on "Yesterday")and it certainly outpunches some of the rubbish he released in the '80's. If this album had never been released back then but was to be distributed now as part of the ongoing "Bootleg Series", I wonder if the press reaction would be quite as negative today. I suspect not.

When this album came out ,I purchased the vinyl and the cassette. Years later when cd'sbecame popular, this one was hard to find, when it eventually became more widespread,it also became very expensive. To have bought this for the price I paid was a gift.Now it fits perfectly into the space between all the other Dylan cd's that are in mycollection, all still sealed and unplayed, where it should have been years before.Thank you very much.

This album was panned on release but contains good cover versions and a few Bob was not happy with. Worth buying for the good tracks.

So glad I finally got hold of this album. The real gems are the Dylan - Johnny Cash outtakes fyom the Nashville Skyline sessions.Excellent service. Would buy from this seller again without hesitation. 5 / 5.

E' in prezioso documento a completamento della discografia del più grande cantautore di ogni tempo , colui che accomuna almeno 4 generazioni di ascoltatori. da avere assolutamente nella propria discografia

I love this LP, it's hard to come by, especially at such a fair price!