Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #200691 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.co.uk Review
Considered an unprecedented magnum opus when it arrived on two records in May of 1966 (1997's Time out of Mind is actually only about a minute shorter), Blonde on Blonde featured Dylan continuing to demonstrate remarkable powers over the course of 14 new numbers. Working in Nashville with session men and a few conscripted recruits (Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson), Dylan continued to bend minds with his warped lyrics and phrasing. Even dashed-off numbers such as "Obviously 5 Believers" and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" contribute to the crazed, fun-house ambience. Dylan will never be this wild again. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Bliss
Blonde on Blonde

When you've had a rubbish week and the hum-drum routine is starting to get you down, put this record on and be reassured. I love all of Dylan's work but not all of it is as joyful and pleasurable as this. Like fine food and wine, Blonde on Blonde is one of life's great indulgences.

This really is a masterpiece
Probably the best album ever easily up there with anything by the beatles or radioheads ok computer or anything else you want to name. This may not be instantly likeable but then anything that is is always likely to be forgotten as quickly. The lyrics are like nothing else and so is the sound. Dylans voice is something of an aquired taste but once you understand it you cant see how anyone else could sing in his place. This really is an awesome album.

Warning: try before you buy
For me, Bob Dylan's status is built on the period from 1962's 'Freewheelin'' to 1968's 'John Wesley Harding'. Everything else he did is second class at best, including the overhyped 'Blood On The Tracks'. That early period covers the full range of his rapid development and by the time of this album he'd left the more direct folk-protest genre behind. Perhaps, though, my expectations of 'Blonde On Blonde' were too high. There's no doubt that Dylan was on a lyrically-creative high, but he chose to be a musician rather than a poet and that's where his inconsistencies lie. One of the major strengths of this album is undoubtedly his band of Nashville sessioneers, who would record in their own right as Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry. Thanks to them, this is about as close as Dylan ever got to rocking out convincingly, especially on 'Absolutely Sweet Marie'. Dylan himself, however, chose to deliver his lyrics in a tuneless style which worked fine on 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue', but which across a 70-minute album sounds like a tedious gimmick.

There are, as a result, great songs which should have been better, notably 'Visions Of Johanna' and 'Stuck Inside...' The blues numbers meanwhile owe almost everything to the performance of Buttrey, McCoy and co. 'I Want You' and 'Just Like A Woman' are a reminder that Dylan can turn his hand to a pop tune sometimes. 'Rainy Day Women...' though is a joke, only not a very amusing one. Does anyone really enjoy listening to this?

Certainly, Dylan was still breaking new ground with his songwriting at this time, but this is not one of his best albums, let alone a top 100 album of all time. My advice to anyone thinking of buying this is make sure you hear it before you decide.