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Blonde on Blonde

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde Audio CD

A fair review of the Bob Dylan "Blonde on Blonde" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Bob Dylan reviews here, or go back to the Bob Dylan tabs.

Band: Bob Dylan
Title: Blonde on Blonde
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-06-01
Media: Audio CD

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: Stuck Inside of Mobile with the 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

The greatest lyrical album of all time
The year after Bob Dylan decided to make everybody try harder with "Like a Rolling Stone" and his accompanying album Highway 61 Revisited. The year was 1966. The year that The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and The Byrds decided to create some of the most mind-warping and innovative albums of all time. Highway 61 Revisited is more important than Blonde on Blonde, only because it was released first and had such an immediate impact on the face of pop culture at the time, but Blonde on Blonde is a better album both lyrically and musically. On Blonde on Blonde, all the songs are about women, be it directly or indirectly. Considering his marriage to Sara and his long-term relationship to Joan Baez, it should come as no surprise that Dylan would be inspired to write less politically-charged songs and more introspective and romantic songs around this time. This album is basically about women seen through the eyes of a genius who also happens to have a romantic soul. This isn't soul music however. This is Dylan doing what he does best: mind-warp poetry set to rock and roll. This is perhaps the most lyrically complex album ever recorded. If you enjoy analyzing lyrics, don't take a sip, take a gigantic GULP because this is as good as it gets. All the songs except for "Just Like a Woman" have either a rocking or bluesy feel to them. Some songs such as "Obviously Five Believers" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" have more style than substance, but that is not a problem because it's good for the listener to take a break from the complexity of the other songs. Blonde on Blonde displays a vast array of emotions that permeate the human condition; humor, longing, frustration, anger, bitterness, and pathos are all found on this masterpiece. To my ears, all the songs are great except for "Just Like a Woman", which so happens to be the second-most popular song on the album (after "Rainy Day Women"). It's a ballad and not very profound when compared to the other riveting ballad on the album "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". "Sad-Eyed Lady" is slower but at least it packs an emotional wallop that "Just Like a Woman" can't even come close to muster. Something about the vocals and lyrics on "Just Like a Woman" rubs me the wrong way and I don't care for Al Kooper's organ on the song either. There are nine songs on Highway 61 Revisited and every single song on it is a classic, but on Blonde on Blonde, Dylan goes thirteen for fourteen, which to me is even more impressive. A+.

to his mind
It's that thin wild mercury sound. "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 metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up. That's my particular sound. . . It was in the album before that too [Highway 61 Revisited]. Also in 'Bringing It All Back Home'. That's the sound I've always heard. "

Enough said, alright. Interested in Bob Dylan and popular music, then click the buy button. .

Blake and Mozart! If You Miss it, You Will not Have Lived!
) THIS is THE ONE, and only, album where Dylan actually sang as people sing who do Dylan impersonations! Notice the blurry cover photo. One of Dylan's masterpieces! (And, I think, the first double album in popular music. Notice the title "Blonde on Blonde". White on White. Drugs, nihilism? How could that be so when the most respected rock musician / artist of all time heads down, in 1966!, to Memphis (!) to play his most creative, musically, songs with country music session musicians! No, as always, Dylan CARED, and DARED, to crash through one more "limit" put before him!

"Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is one song that covers a whole album side, but no one who listens to it can ever want it to stop. So much genius. "Visions of Johanna" is the ultimate of what Dylan called "that wild mercury sound" that he searched for. With beautiful music and lyrics, Dylan captures another eternal truth for all men who dare to love! (He later performed the song in a solo acoustic version. Its amazing! I think it is on "Biograph", Dylan's first "box set". I hope "Biograph" is still available as it is full of outtakes and live performances that, if you know and love the original song, will blow you away again! .

I was stuck inside the mobile and never able to come out :)
The first thing that came in my mind, "boy, he writes in my words; it's the hope ,Joy, depression, cry of mine. This is the first Dylan album That I heard 15 years back when I was A teenager in 90s. . . . ". . . I was stuck inside the mobile :) . . . . . .
Love you Bob.

"...and the Holy Spirit."
If you are a Dylan fan, you know what the other 2 are. "Blonde On Blonde" is the 3rd in Bob Dylan's Holy Trinity of albums. This one includes many of his most recognizable early songs, such as "Rainy Day Women", "I Want You", "Just Like A Woman" and "Memphis Blues Again". It also has 2 songs which rival any I have ever heard for sheer volume and quality of poetic imagery well matched by musical accompaniment: "Visions Of Johanna" and "Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands". Both tracks are rather long, and you can lose yourself in the compact cosmos that each provides. On all tracks in general, Bob and his band go effortlessly from rock to pop to blues to folk, and all combined points therein. I do not dislike one single track. This is simply one of the essential albums of the Universe. It helped to define a generation. I could listen to it forever.

You can see a complete list of all Bob Dylan discography, or go back to the Bob Dylan tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.