Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde

Mono Edition

Following Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, critics consider Blonde on Blonde to be the triumphant conclusion to Bob Dylan's "rock trilogy."  Noted scribe Dave Marsh called it one of Dylan's "best albums and one of the greatest in the history of rock and roll."  It is consistently ranked in numerous "best albums of all time" polls and was the first significant double album in rock history.  Reflecting on the album, Dylan himself remarked, "The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the Blonde on Blonde album. It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up."  Indeed, it conjures a far-flung range of emotions over four sprawling sides of vinyl, culminating in one of its creator's greatest achievements.

The album's recording sessions began in New York on October 5, 1965, under the direction of producer Bob Johnston, who had served that role on Highway 61 Revisited.  Recruiting Dylan veterans Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield, they were joined in the studio by The Hawks, a group that had made its debut as Dylan's backing band two weeks earlier in Austin, Texas.  Their initial goal was to record a follow up single to "Positively 4th Street."  They made several attempts at a new Dylan composition, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window," but failed to get a satisfactory take.  They reconvened on November 30th and this time captured a successful recording, but not without considerable effort.  Disillusioned with The Hawks' studio work, Dylan and Johnston resumed recording on January 25, 1966, with different studio personnel.  Still, progress was slow and Dylan's frustration grew, compounded by a shortage of new songs.

Sensing this exasperation, Johnston suggested moving the sessions to Nashville, which greatly angered Dylan's manager Albert Grossman.  He reportedly told Johnston, "If you ever mention Nashville to Dylan again, you're gone."  While Grossman may have been vehemently against it, Dylan was open to the idea.  He had already worked with Nashville session ace Charlie McCoy who, while visiting the New York recording sessions for Highway 61 Revisited, wound up playing guitar on "Desolation Row."  Consequently, a plan was made to head down to Columbia Studio A in Nashville on February 14th.  Accompanying Dylan and Johnston were Kooper and Hawks guitarist Robbie Robertson, the only holdovers from the New York sessions.  In addition to multi-instrumentalist McCoy, they were joined by a core group of Nashville session players including Wayne Moss and Jerry Kennedy on guitar, Kenny Buttrey on drums, Joe South on bass and Hargus "Pig" Robbins on keyboards.  The move proved to be extremely beneficial, with Dylan able to get down finished tracks quickly due to the "Nashville cats" legendary expertise.  His writing muse also came back strong, with several songs completed in his hotel room and in the studio, often taking shape as they were recorded.  This 'writing in real time" was greatly facilitated by the session players ability to follow Dylan's lead.

The New York - Nashville cultural exchange was fruitful for Kooper and Robertson as well, with Robertson especially impressing the seasoned Music City musicians.  After nailing a fiery lead on "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat," Wayne Moss shouted, "Robbie, the world'll marry you on that one!"  Kooper served as the de facto band leader, working with Dylan privately on the songs and then teaching them to the band.   Together, the session players and Dylan achieved triumph after triumph on what was perhaps his most outstanding set of songs.  As the sessions concluded and mixing began, Dylan and Johnston realized that they had enough stellar material to fill a double album.  Significantly, they worked on the album's mono mix for several days while completing the stereo mix in about four hours.  A blurred shot of Dylan by photographer Jerry Schatzberg was chosen for the album's cover.  Printed sideways so that it formed a full-length image when the gatefold cover was opened, it contained no text other than the artist name and album title printed discretely on the spine, a radical departure from the tried-and-true liner notes/track listing tradition of the day.  As for the album title's inspiration, it remains an enigma, like so much of the artist's oeuvre.  For the record, Dylan claims not to remember where the title came from.  It could have come from interpreting his first as an acronym or perhaps it was a nod to the stage production Brecht on Brecht.  Whatever the origin, Blonde on Blonde is without questions one of the most significant works of the rock era and one that Dylan himself recognizes as a career highlight.

 

Sundazed Music is proud to present this seminal album in its superior mono form.  It has been sourced directly from the original Columbia analog mono masters to provide a superior listening experience.

TRACKS: 1. Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 / 2. Pledging My Time / 3. Visions of Johanna / 4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) / 5. I Want You / 6. Memphis Blues Again / 7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat / 8. Just Like a Woman / 9. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine / 10. Temporary Like Achilles / 11. Absolutely Sweet Marie / 12. 4th Time Around / 13. Obviously 5 Believers / 14. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

ITEM IS BRAND NEW, NEVER PLAYED & STILL SEALED.

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