Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II, also known as More Bob Dylan Greatest Hits in certain territories, is the second greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released on November 17, 1971, through Columbia Records. A double album, the set contains previously released material spanning The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) to the "Watching the River Flow" single (released in June 1971), as well as previously unreleased recordings of songs written by Dylan which had been hits for other artists.
Compiled by Dylan himself, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II contains then-recent singles such as "Lay Lady Lay" and "If Not for You" as well as popular album tracks. The cover art features Dylan photographed performing at The Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971. The album was moderately successful, reaching the top 20 in both the US and UK. It has been well-received by critics, particularly for its inclusion of previously unreleased material.
Background
1970 saw the releases of two new studio albums by Dylan – Self Portrait and New Morning. The former, a mix of covers, live tracks and a few new originals, received scathing reviews, and was seen as far below the standard set by Dylan's previous efforts, while the latter was more favorably received and tentatively considered by critics to be a return to form. However, the following year would see Dylan release few new recordings. Recording sessions produced by Leon Russell were held in March of 1971, but the only recordings to result were "Watching the River Flow" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece", with the former receiving a single release in June and both of which being included on the forthcoming greatest hits album.
New material
In addition to the recent single, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II contains five previously unreleased tracks. "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", which has been covered by more than forty other artists, appears as a live performance recorded at Town Hall in New York on April 12, 1963. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" was first released by The Band on their album Cahoots (1971). Biographer Clinton Heylin has noted both this song and "Watching the River Flow" as expressing Dylan's frustration with "a dearth of inspiration". In "When I Paint My Masterpiece", the narrator journeys "through space and time", searching for a "muse" to provide him with inspiration while also hinting at the likelihood that he will never create the titular "masterpiece".