Bob Dylan and The Band prove that musicians don’t have to be technically flawless to make great pop records. Dylan lets loose on “Odds and Ends,” gets wild on “Million Dollar Bash,” and intoxicated on “Please, Mrs. Henry.” Politically speaking, Dylan never sounds as soulful as he does on “Nothing Was Delivered.” He sang like a bird with a broken wing: “Nothing was delivered / But I can’t say I sympathize / With what your fate is going to be / Yes, for telling all those lies.”

They say an artist makes his best record when his heart is broken. Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks is the result of his failed marriage. Retreating to his acoustic recording, Dylan quietly drowns his soul, sorrow and pain in the heartfelt “If You See Her, Say Hello.” From the starkness “Tangled Up in Blue” to the bitterness “Idiotic Wind,” Dylan’s words remain his killer assets.

Dylan’s ninth album kicks off with a charming duet with countryman Johnny Cash. Followed up with a cheerful “Nashville Skyline Rag,” an instrumental piece featuring Bob Wilson’s ragtime skills on the piano. “To Be Alone With You” continues the joyful vibe with Wilson’s savory bluesy accompaniment to Dylan’s vocals. The rest of album is a rock solid country spirit.

Something sounds familiar on this record? Yes, it’s “All Along the Watchtower,” a track I have listened too all these years from Jimi Hendrix. Dylan’s original is softer and quieter than Hendrix’s rock cover. As with the rest of the album, Dylan returns to his acoustic twang and harmonica twirl for a laid-back, mysterious country sound. “I’ll Be Your Baby, Tonight” is just achingly beautiful. Dylan sounds as charming as ever: “Kick your shoes off, do not fear / Bring that bottle over here / I’ll be your baby tonight.”

The double album kicks off with a hypnotizing, tantalizing blues about being stoned and never letup. Musically speaking, Dylan is at his most expansive up to this point of his career. Weaving blues, folk and country, Robbie Robertson of The Band rocked hard the whole way through. Dylan’s lyricism continued to be poetic, inventive and idiosyncratic as ever: “With your mercury mouth in the missionary times / And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes.”

“Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine / I’m on the pavement thinking about the government,” Dylan kicks off his fifth release with a rock-up energy and makes a remarkable transition into electric territory in the first half of the album. In the second half, however, he returns to the acoustic for the subliminal “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” and the tearful closing “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

I’ve been hooked on Thanh Thao’s non-stop remix jams. Her voice is not that great but she knows how to market herself. She selected songs that suit her style. My favorite ‘Lien Khuc’ is the upbeat track contains songs such as: Ngong Trong, Mat Bo Cau, Trai Tim Dau, and Oi Tinh Yeu. I also love the slow track that includes: Co Quen Duoc Dau, Em Van Cho, and Tam Biet Tinh Yeu. The whole album is hot as hell, though. Saw her at concert in Vietnam two years ago where she first performed ‘Oi Tinh Yeu.’ At that time she wasn’t well-known but I knew right away she would be popular. It didn’t take long for her to blow up.

Released in the same year of the dark, protest-heavy The Times They Are A-Changin’, this album shows the light-hearted, whimsical side of Dylan. Although his singing is bordering irritation at times, you can’t help but laugh your ass off to “Motorpsycho Nightmare.”
Another Side reveals Dylan at his most personal, vulnerable youth.

“Come gather ’round friends / And I’ll tell you a tale,” Dylan starts off “North Country Blues” as if he’s two inches away from you with a guitar on his hands. The raw intimacy, in which Dylan seemed to be more interested in telling stories than singing, captured in this album brings out the bleakness images in disturbing lyricism including “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” “With God on Our Side” and “Only a Pawn in Their Game.” Fifty years after its release, The Times They Are A-Changin’ remains one of the most provocative musical statements on social injustice, class and race.

For the 1963 release of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which goes down in history as a “global phenomenon,” Dylan channels his personal perspective on love, war and racism through an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. In “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” Dylan stripped the accompaniment down to just simple ostinato and focused on his startling lyricism: “I met a white man who walked a black dog / I met a young woman whose body was burning.”