Another Side of Bob Dylan

History has already judged Bob Dylan. No one doubts that he will go down as the greatest American songwriter of our time. Yet, what is left to consider is which album of the dozens he made best captures the spirit of Dylan as an artist. Or, if Dylan, as he sometimes says, was merely a vessel through which these divine songs flowed, at which point in his career was he the most closely attuned to perfection?

I can't actually answer the second question; it's just something to think about when you listen to any Dylan record. But I do have an inkling that the album which truly embodies Dylan' spirit is the appropriately named "Another Side of Bob Dylan."

This album falls into Dylan's acoustic period, buried somewhere between two of his more signature works. "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," which gave us his greatest protest song, "Blowing in the Wind," and "Highway 61 Revisited," which introduced electric guitars to the mix. Beginning with "Highway 61," Dylan committed himself to constantly overhauling his sound every few years to keep fresh. It's possible he ended up father from where he really wanted to be through these evolutions.

On "Another Side of Bob Dylan," he is content to stick to the patented formula of his early songwriting. The album contains a mix of protest songs and songs about women, with a surprising proportion of the tunes qualifying as the latter. Dylan is rarely labeled a romantic, largely because when he does write a love song, it's usually about the end of love. Yet, "Spanish Harlem Incident" finds Dylan pining after a "gypsy gal," crooning to her, "I got to know, babe, if it's you my lifelines trace." Meanwhile, "All I Really Want to Do," shows Dylan's boyish side, as he tries to soothe a girl's mind by assuring that he won't cause her any grief; all he really wants to do is be friends with her.

Even when he does write a sad song, such as "Black Crow Blues," about his temporary estrangement with his then wife Sara, the atmosphere is far more relaxed and even whimsical than on his other albums. It's as though he's just relaxing on his back porch with a beer in hand talking about his life.

Another Side combines all the moods of Bob Dylan, from the somber recognition of "It Ain't Me Babe" to the bemused irritation of "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)." But perhaps the key track on the album is "My Back Pages," which reads like a condensed memoir of all his self-seriousness as a young man. He writes of having romanticized war as a kid, of being preachy and even of trying to be smart in school to impress girls.

However, like his actual autobiography, every truth about himself is probably camouflaged in two fibs. Still, there appears to be more truth about Dylan on this record than any other.