Blonde on blonde

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Blonde on blonde
Studio album by Bob Dylan

Publication
(s)

May 16, 1966

admission

October 5, 1965 - March 10, 1966

Label (s) Columbia Records

Format (s)

LP , CD , MC , SACD

Genre (s)

Folk rock

Title (number)

14th

running time

71:40

occupation
  • Hargus "Pig" Robbins - piano
  • Henry Strzelecki - bass

production

Bob Johnston

Studio (s)

chronology
Highway 61 Revisited
( 1965 )
Blonde on blonde John Wesley Harding
( 1967 )

Blonde on Blonde is the seventh studio album of Bob Dylan and appeared on 16 May 1966. It is his third album for Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home (both 1965), in which he, the Folk Music electrically amplified and the transition from folk to the rock finally completed. Blonde on Blonde is considered the first double album in rock music.

meaning

Blonde on Blonde is described as the first release of a rock album on two LPs with a total of 4 pages and, along with Revolver by the Beatles , Aftermath by the Rolling Stones and Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, is one of the outstanding musical releases of 1966. The Stylistically self-contained double album occupies top places in various leaderboards. The music magazine Rolling Stone ranks it number 9 of the 500 best albums of all time . In the selection of the 500 best albums of the New Musical Express it reached number 62. Pitchfork Media selected it as number 6 of the 200 best albums of the 1960s. It ranks 9th on Mojo's list of 100 best albums . The Guardian picked it 24th out of 100 best albums. The magazine Time took Blonde on Blonde on in the compilation of the 100 most important albums.

Emergence

The recordings began on October 5, 1965 in the New York studios of Columbia , but it was not until March 10, 1966 that the final version of the pieces was finalized in the less hectic Columbia Recording Studios - in the country stronghold of Nashville / Tennessee , of all places . Musically Dylan was supported by the Hawks , who were accompanying him on his extensive tour at the time (see also The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 Bob Dylan Live 1966 The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert ) and only a little later under the name The Band made a name for itself. On the final Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, which takes up a full page of the album, Al Kooper can be heard on the organ.

The meaning of the album title Blonde on Blonde remains as mysterious as many of the dark, cryptic and apocalyptic text passages full of surrealist drug metaphors and furious rimbaud- like dream fantasies. One of the many legends attributes the title to the Monroe- blonde beauty Edie Sedgwick from Andy Warhol's circle , with whom Bob Dylan allegedly had an affair. Blonde on Blonde could also refer to the then sensational affair between Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and actress Anita Pallenberg .

The cover shot was taken by the American photographer Jerry Schatzberg , who later explained the blurring of his picture by saying that it was bitterly cold outside on the day of the photo session and that he was shivering when the photo was taken.

The album reached number 9 in the US Billboard charts in 1966, its highest rating.

Track list

All songs are written by Bob Dylan .

Page 1:

  1. Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 - 4:33
  2. Pledging my Time - 3:42
  3. Visions of Johanna - 7:27
  4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) - 4:53

Page 2:

  1. I Want You - 3:06
  2. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again - 7:04
  3. Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat - 3:50
  4. Just Like a Woman - 4:39

Page 3:

  1. Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine - 3:22
  2. Temporary Like Achilles - 5:03
  3. Absolutely Sweet Marie - 4:46
  4. 4th Time Around - 4:26
  5. Obviously 5 Believers - 3:30

Page 4:

  1. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands - 11:23

Single releases

Billboard chart listings with entry date:

  • 1966: Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 - No. 2 - April 16 (despite the boycott of many radio stations that saw the song as a call to drug use)
  • 1966: I Want You - No. 20 - July 20
  • 1966: Just Like a Woman - No. 33 - September 10th
  • 1967: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat - No. 81 - May 20

Published versions

vinyl

Two vinyl versions have been released; In addition to the double LP, both records were also sold individually.

CD

In addition to the first release on double LP , various equipment variants were and are offered on the CD :

  • By Sony Music appeared in the series Mastersound two releases on CD, the recordings were digitally remastered and a 24-carat Goldverspiegelung was applied instead of the aluminum layer. There are two versions of this series, on the one hand a limited edition in a storage box that can be opened to the side in an elongated book shape with a glued-in and enlarged booklet, on the other hand a collector's edition in which the CD case is kept in a cardboard slipcase. The front of the slipcase has a semicircular cutout the size of a CD, through which the gold layer of the sound carrier is visible.
  • As part of the SPIEGEL Edition - The Vinyl Classics series , the album was also released as a black CD with a grooved vinyl look on the label side, with the CD case in a gray cardboard slipcase with a punched-out window.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. 500 Greatest Albums of All Time on rollingstone.com (accessed May 19, 2018)
  2. The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time on nme.com (accessed May 19, 2018)
  3. The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s on pitchfork.com (accessed May 19, 2018)
  4. Mojo: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made on rocklistmusic.co.uk (accessed May 19, 2018)
  5. The Guardian 100 Best Albums Ever by The Guardian (1997) on besteveralbums.com (accessed May 19, 2018)
  6. All-TIME 100 Albums on time.com (accessed May 19, 2018)
  7. ^ Frank Sawatzki: Bob Dylan. Just a legend? In: Musikszene, No. 7/8, 1985
  8. Edie Sedgwick biography by Gary Comenas at www.warholstars.org
  9. Photographer Jerry Schatzberg , Spiegel-online from February 4, 2019.
  10. Highest billboard placement (AMG)