According to Dennis L. Merritt, HW61Revisited is themed around alienation, so you're not going to expect a load of laughs while listening to it, although JLTTB starts off quite cheerfully until the vocalist chips in, and the cheerfulness evaporates immediately. Here's Toxic Universe on BD's voice at that time: "..way back in 1965, Dylan's voice was a hot, spurting geyser of petulance, boredom, self-satisfaction, amusement, cruelty, pride, rock, roll, and misanthropy...Dylan in '65 sounded like Jagger imitating Dylan, which is interesting, because that presupposes an R & B and Delta blues influence, and there's nothing black about the way Dylan sounded in the mid-'60s. He sounded like the hippest f*ckin' hillbilly on the block." Nevertheless, I find the album, and especially these outtakes, one to which I return at regular intervals; something to do with the ambiguity in many of the songs - each listen reveals new possibilities of meaning, although Positively 4th Street always strikes me as one of the most misanthropic songs I've ever heard - no new possibility of meaning there! Dylan once said his songs were written “with a melodic purring line of descriptive hollowness”, and Desolation Row is an archetype of "descriptive hollowness." “They’re selling post cards of the hanging." WTF? Postcards are supposed to be pretty views. “Here comes the blind commissioner They’ve got him in a trance One hand is tied to the tight rope walker The other is in his pants.” The commissioner, the leader/arbitrator, is not only blind, but he's also in a trance. On top of all that he's joined to the tight-rope walker, a dangerous job, and he's got one hand in his pants. So what sort of leadership can we expect from him? BD's alienation is getting infectious. DR is one of BD's greatest songs, and that's saying a lot. Songdog covers it very nicely on HW61 Revisited Revisited, and God Nose have a very precise parody titled The Enormous Room - " "a slow, passionate torrent of apocalyptic imagery unrelenting in its social indictment." Let me finish with Bobsboots on HW61RA - "A great little package. Recorded from a rejected alternate acetate, there are a few inevitable pops and crackles. Less forgivable is a ground problem with the turntable used for recording. This causes an intermittent buzz. Don't let these minor distractions deter you from this great CD, however. Fantastic (acetate) sound quality. Worthy of any collection."