Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde review

Blonde on Blonde follows Highway 61 Revisited delivering another  stunning release. This release has a host of sensational back-up session players primarily from Nashville.

After recording Highway 61 Revisited Dylan went on first tour with an electric band, which can be heard on his Bootleg Series 4 release. Back from the tour with more songs in hand, Dylan began his next musical endeavor, the recording of Blonde on Blonde. Going to Nashville, Dylan recruited seasoned Nashville session players, along with guitarist Robbie Robertson from his touring band and keyboardist Al Kooper, who performed and recorded with Dylan in the past.

One of the things that’s striking about the Blonde on Blonde is the diversity of material. Much of it is blues oriented, but even that is diverse, hitting on New Orleans themes with the opening track “Rainy Day Women #12 and #3,” to Chicago blues with “Pledging My Time,” with a psychedelic blues on “Temporary Like Achilles,” to European blues, in the style of the Yardbirds and John Mayall, with “Obviously 5 Believers.” Plus the hardest rocking of the blues material, ”Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” with its gutsy twangy guitar solo.

Tracks like “Just Like A Woman” and “I Want You” offer that Nashville charm that really define this album as well as point to the future. Add to that “Vision of Johanna” with its sensational beat, mood, and groove that is perfectly delivered with Dylan’s well-placed vocal innovations and harmonica. But, the back-up bands haunting organ, and electric guitar fills add just as much to the song. Another classic, “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again,” has excellent musicianship from the bass and drums to the guitar and organ; just as Dylan is telling a story with the lyrics, the guitar riffs have their own message to tell.

The album concludes with a fairly lengthy track, “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” that points to the direction he would take with his next album, John Wesley Harding, a thin sounding complementary band over story-telling songs.

Really, there are no bad songs on this classic Bob Dylan album yielding my favorite studio Dylan studio recording.

by Barry Small ©
Grade A +

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Label - Sony  - 1966
Recorded Jan. - March 1966, released in May.

Much of Bob Dylan's catalogue was reissued with SACD with significant sonic upgrades. Be sure to get that version of the CD.

The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 has an essay by Al Kooper. A few notes from that relating to Blonde on Blonde read "Just a few credits to pass out that have been hidden over the years. Joe South is playing the soul guitar on "Stuck Inside..." He is also playing the great bass line on "Visions of Johanna." We, of course, all learned to treasure his talents on "Down in the Boondocks," "I knew You When," and "The Games People Play." Wayne Moss plays the amazing 16th note guitar lick that recurs each chorus in "I Want You." The first time he came up with that my jaw dropped--not only for that lick, but for the effortlessness he played it with..." 

There is more to read in the essay including Charlie McCoy's simultaneous trumpet and bass contributions on "Most Likely You Go Your Way...."