John Wesley Harding

Ranking near the top of anyone's list of Dylan's masterpieces, this post-motorcycle-accident career-turning-point finds Dylan veering from the razor-edged desperation of "All Along the Watchtower" to the gentle, back-porch sway of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" -- and all points in between. Back at last, in its ultra-rare original mono mix, this landmark LP -- cut with the cream of Nashville's studio cats and generally credited as a blueprint for the era's country-rock movement -- sizzles on Sundazed high-definition vinyl.

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Bob Dylan's remarkable first album after his debilitating 1966 motorcycle accident isn't as urgent as the ambitious folk and rock songs he wrote earlier in the decade. Even considering the rocking "All Along the Watchtower" (covered famously by Jimi Hendrix), the album's overall feeling is soft and laid-back, all gently strummed guitars, perfectly timed harmonicas, and some of Dylan's best pure singing to date. The 1968 release sounds as if the songwriter and his three sidemen set up a few tape recorders in a bedroom and began playing as soon as they woke up in the morning. They open with the title track (a folk fable), move into the piano-driven "Dear Landlord," and close with the sweet love song "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." --Steve Knopper