Number 9: Blonde on Blonde, Pt. 2

Album: Blonde On Blonde

Artist: Bob Dylan

Year: 1966

Information: The last album released in Dylan's trilogy of acclaimed works, it is commonly regarded as his finest. Leaving behind his garage rock tendencies (Maggie's Farm, From a Buick 6) for a deeper, more complex record. The first album fully produced by Bob Johnston had many unfruitful sessions. For these early, unfruitful sessions, he used Ronnie Hawks backing-band, The Hawks (now known as The Band), Dylan was getting frustrated with the current situation of his recording sessions so far, which added up to about ten, none of which had satisfactory takes. He decided, after advice from Bob Johnston, to move down to Nashville to record further, leaving behind most of The Hawks. He then finally started to get things going with his new band. They frequently got satisfactory takes, opposed to the zero that were achieved in New York. Dylan was ultimately satisfied with the album stating “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."

High Points: The best song on disc 2 is "4th Time Around." The song itself is can be interpreted as playful or as a warning. The Beatles were coming under heavy Dylan-influence and had begun to take cues from him. Perhaps they're most influenced point was Rubber Soul, a mostly acoustic album released in 1965. On said album, there is a song called "Norwegian Wood," which was written by John. The song is widely regarded to be John mimicking Dylan and Dylan must have thought this as well. "4th Time Around" has a very similar melody and story (however, Dylan seems more like a parody of John's) to "Norwegian Wood" and the song ends with "I never asked for your crutch, so don't ask for mine." Whether the song the song was light-hearted or an attack is open to interpretation.

With that aside, the song has nice guitar accompaniment to Dylan's voice and odd story.  

Low Points: I think "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" goes on too long.

Is it Great? This is another record that I think is one of the greatest ever made, along with most of the albums I've reviewed so far.

"Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is probably the most criticized song on the album, but I enjoy it. However, as I did mention, I do think it goes on a bit too long, but the length is almost hypnotic. The beat and rhythm suck you into a different place while Dylan describes her mercury mouth for eleven minutes.

---

With all that praise being sung about this album, it would be worthy to note that this is one of the Dylan albums I listen to least. Perhaps because it is such a long album, or perhaps it's because it's so dense.