It seems hard to believe now both as to the performer as well as to what was being attempted that anyone would take umbrage at a performer using an electric guitar to tell a folk story (or any story for that matter). It is not necessary to go into all the details of what or what did not happen with Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 to know that one should be glad, glad as hell, that Bob Dylan continued to listen to his own drummer and carry on a career based on electronic music.This is probably one of the strongest Dylan albums from first song to last that he ever recorded. Its virtue lies in the story-like quality of each song that, unlike some earlier unsuccessful attempts to tell a story in song, clicks here. Starting with the dream-like, forlorn tattered romance in Tangled Up In Blue that one knows can only lead to sorrow everything moves higher from there. Idiot Winds as close to knowing how Dylan will really feel in a relationship. The quietly beautiful, haunting message of If You See Her, Say Hello (`I had always respected here for getting free.'). And the finale Buckets of Rain is well done (if not as well done as Dave Van Ronk's mournful cover, well done nevertheless). If you like high symbolism, a la the French poets Rimbaud and Verlaine in your lyrics this one is for you.
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