It may not have the one spectral stand alone song that Highway 61 or the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan offered, but the album itself is a piece of art, a brilliant artifact, it's whole is better than the parts, much like the Stone's Exile On Main Street. It opens with the Salvation Army salvo of Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35, and ends with Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, the lengthy ode to Dylan's wife, Sara. That wild, thin mercury sound is how Dylan himself described the sound on this album, and no other description could fit better. These are samples of a needledrop I did of the Sundazed mono Bob Dylan 'Blonde On Blonde': Setup 1) Technics SL-QD33 turntable-> 2) Pioneer SX-2300 integrated receiver -> 3) Radial JDI DI Box (convert unbalanced signal to balanced) -> 4) Elextro-Harmonix 12AY7 tube microphone preamp -> 5) Echo Audiofire 12 I recorded it at 44.1/16 and did no. This album is the ideal Dylan record, a sprawling epic masterpiece loaded with acoustic jangling guitar chords intertwined in dew drop webs of organ synth weaving along with a simplistic bass line, all while Dylan, in his elegantly repugnant nasal sarcasm speaks words of a prophecy. The dent he made in popular music was so severe, not even everyone's critical darling that is the Beatles Sgt. Most thought that Highway 61 with the anthematic Like A Rolling Stone, was Dylan's peak, however, with Blonde On Blonde, Dylan finally climaxed with such sonic orgasmic force, he broke down all barriers in music forever. Dylan is arguably the greatest songwriter of all time, and this album, released in 1966, is his lyrics at their most surreal and ambiguous.īlonde On Blonde is the last of the so-called Electric Trilogy, the first being Bringing It All Back Home, and second being Highway 61 Revisited, both garnished in critical acclaim were churned out in rapid sucession in the year of 1965.
This is one of the finest recordings ever by anybody, ranking #9 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.īob Dylan was America's response to The Beatles, and in all honesty, the only musical figure who can compare to the Fab Four. Two things stand out: the uniform high quality of the songs (in the past Dylan’s LPs have usually, in my opinion, been quite uneven) chosen for this extra-long LP. Decades later this album still rewards and surprises. Perfect.Blonde On Blonde is not only Dylan's greatest album, it is the apex of popular music, channeling the greatest of blues, folk, & country lineage, thus culminating into a magnificent brew of American music. With that in mind, let’s take a cursory look at Blonde on Blonde, an excellent album which everyone with any admiration for the work of Bob Dylan should rush out and buy at once. BLONDE ON BLONDE surrounds the folk-rock bard with the likes of Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson, Charlie McCoy and Kenny Buttrey, all seasoned musicians giving this album a relaxed confidence quite unlike the youthful energy of HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. It’s like a great reprise at the end of a film while the credits role and there’s a sense of reflection and completion, with perhaps just a hint of sadness. The whole song sounds like something coming to an end. You just happened to be there, that’s all” The song, which is about a relationship that has come to its end, is perfectly placed on the album, closing the first side. My current number one favourite track from Blonde on Blonde, however, has to be One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later). There’s a novel just waiting to be written about him!
I particularly enjoy the idea of a “guilty undertaker”. I love the determined chorus of “I want you” amongst the madness of the verses and the huge cast of characters we encounter, from the “dancing child with his Chinese suit” to the “drunken politician”. In second place is I Want You, which was released as a single in 1966 with this fantastic cover: Just Like A Woman is probably the most well-known track on the album and is currently at number three in my list of favourite Blonde on Blonde tracks (a list which, admittedly, I only formed in my head a few hours ago). It has ‘classic’ status and Dylan described it as “the closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind… that thin, that wild-mercury sound”.
Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan’s seventh studio album, is frequently found in the top ten of ‘Best Albums of All Time’ lists.
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