The first sounds you hear when you drop the needle — or click the digital file — on Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks are guitars ringing and chiming, almost like bells. They serve as a kind of preface or overture or opening statement or call to prayer for what the listener is about to hear: 56 minutes of a journey through dark heat into the heart and soul of an artist at the depths of sadness driving him to the heights of creative achievement.

Revisit the very first season of The Opus podcast as we explore the legacy of Dylan's 15th album. Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks 50th Anniversary: The Opus Podcast Re-Release Ben Kaye

The singer-songwriter revisited his folk-music roots on this classic album, bringing an acoustic sound to mysterious, poetic tales of longing and lost love.

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited debuts at No. 31 on the U.K.'s albums downloads chart, becoming a top 40 hit for the first time on that tally, 60 years after its release.