Bob Dylan's 'Another Side' at 50 (2014)

Another Side stood in sharp contrast to its predecessor, The Times, They Are A-Changin’. It was totally devoid of topical songs.

In my memory, Another Side of Bob Dylan appeared at the end of August in 1964, not at the beginning as various books and web sites proclaim.  Another Side would prove to be a pivotal album, one that signaled various beginnings and ends at the same time, though at the time no one knew that.  It was the first time Dylan released two albums of new original material in the same year, something he would repeat the following year.  And while there would eventually be other years that saw the release of two albums, the material either wasn’t new or wasn’t entirely original.  It would be his last solo album of original songs (to this date) and his last solo album for 28 years until Good As I Been To You in 1992.  And it was the first time he played piano on a record.