''Biograph'' is a 53-track

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

compilation spanning the career of American singer-songwriter

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, released on November 7, 1985, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. Consisting of 53 released and unreleased tracks from 1962 to 1981, the box set was released as a five-LP set, a three-

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ott ...

set, and a three-

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in O ...

set. ''Biograph'' reached on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the U.S. and has been certified platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

.RIAA Gold & Platinum database retrieved 22 October 2012.
/ref>

Content

The recordings on ''Biograph'' are a mix of rarities, hit singles, and album tracks. They are not presented in chronological order; 18 of its 53 tracks had not been previously issued, and three more had only been previously available on

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

. Every studio album released by Dylan prior to the appearance of this box set is represented by at least one track, with the exceptions of ''

Self Portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

'', '' Dylan'', ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like " wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of ...

'', ''

Infidels An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or the irreligious. Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Church ...

'', and ''

Empire Burlesque ''Empire Burlesque'' is the 23rd studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 10, 1985 on Columbia Records. Self-produced, the album peaked at in the U.S. and in the UK. Accompanied by multiple session musicians—i ...

'', although two songs from ''Desire'' appear in live versions and "Abandoned Love" is from the ''Desire'' sessions. The set comes accompanied with a 36-page booklet, containing rare photos and liner notes by

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at '' Rolling Stone'' magazine, for w ...

, who interviews Dylan about each of the tracks. While too comprehensive to be strictly a greatest hits album, it does include nine of the dozen

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

hits by Dylan during the time period covered. Missing are " Rainy Day Women#12 & 35", " George Jackson", and "

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...

". Nine of the ten tracks from '' Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits'' appear on this compilation. Initially released in all formats in a box conforming to the dimensions of a vinyl long-playing album, on August 19, 1997 it was reissued by

Legacy Records In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

in a smaller compact disc brick package, the tracks remastered using Sony's Super-Bit Mapping process. On August 6, 2002, it was reissued again in a booklet format with three discs; yet another new issue of this edition appeared in the marketplace on April 5, 2011. The 2011 edition was mastered at

Sterling Sound Studios Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Track listing

All tracks written by Bob Dylan except "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" by Gary Davis,

Dave Van Ronk David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of M ...

, and

Eric von Schmidt Eric Von Schmidt (May 28, 1931 – February 2, 2007) was an American singer and guitarist, songwriter, painter and illustrator, and Grammy Award recipient. He was associated with the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s and a key part o ...

, and both "

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

" and " Romance in Durango" by Dylan and

Jacques Levy Jacques Levy (July 29, 1935 – September 30, 2004) was an American songwriter, theatre director and clinical psychologist. Early life and education Levy was born in New York City in 1935 and graduated from the City College of New York in 1956. ...

. The compact disc running order is the same, except disc two ends with "Jet Pilot" inserted after "

". Disc one ends with "

I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and released on his fourth studio album ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' in 1964. Recording The album recording was done in a single take, and Dylan ...

", and disc two begins with "

Visions of Johanna "Visions of Johanna" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan on his 1966 album ''Blonde on Blonde''. Several critics have acclaimed "Visions of Johanna" as one of Dylan's highest achievements in writing, praising the allusiveness and subtle ...

". Disc three begins with "Caribbean Wind".

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1985 compilation albums Bob Dylan compilation albums Columbia Records compilation albums