Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding

After the electric storm of the mid-1960s, Bob Dylan went quiet, then returned in 1967 with John Wesley Harding, a lean, mysterious record that rewrote the rules again.

Recorded in Nashville with Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenny Buttrey on drums under producer Bob Johnston, it arrived while much of rock was chasing psychedelic excess. Dylan went the other way entirely, stripping his songs back to acoustic guitar and harmonica, with spare verses that read like outlaw parables and Old Testament riddles.

"All Along the Watchtower" is the most famous of them, a terse, apocalyptic vignette that Jimi Hendrix would soon turn into a towering electric anthem. "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" spins a long, wry moral tale over a loping rhythm, and "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" carries a haunted, confessional ache that lingers long after the song ends.

Then the closer, "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", lets the sunshine in, with Pete Drake's pedal steel pointing toward the country sound Dylan would embrace next on Nashville Skyline.

It is one of his most quietly influential albums, short on running time and long on atmosphere, and a record that reveals something new with every spin. Any serious Dylan shelf needs a copy.