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We Say...
"Love is so simple, to quote a phrase," Dylan snaps. But breakups aren't so simple, and there's no other record that captures the blinding, complicated pain of a dissolving relationship like this. Full of rage and longing and knotty memories, these are mutable songs — they're a matched set (all of them were written in the same open tuning, and half of them end each verse with a refrain), but he famously rewrote and re-recorded half of them with a pick-up band a few weeks before the album came out. "Tangled Up in Blue," a strong candidate for his greatest song, kept changing shape in concert for decades, sometimes with new lyrics and sometimes simply by virtue of what words Dylan emphasized in each performance. The deeper you go into the emotional labyrinths of these prismatic narratives and aching, painterly observations, the deeper they get. Sometimes their insights are direct, as in "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go," a perfect love song with a permanent leavetaking built into it; sometimes they're oblique, as in "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," a nine-minute Western drama about a sacrifice for love. And sometimes they take the form of naked, blistering pain, especially on the vituperative left-right combination of "You're a Big Girl Now" and "Idiot Wind."
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They Say...
Following on the heels of an album where he repudiated his past with his greatest backing band, Blood on the Tracks finds Bob Dylan, in a way, retreating to the past, recording a largely quiet, acoustic-based album. But this is hardly nostalgia -- this is the sound of an artist returning to his strengths, what feels most familiar, as he accepts a traumatic situation, namely the breakdown of his marriage. This is an album alternately bitter, sorrowful, regretful, and peaceful, easily the closest he ever came to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. That's not to say that it's an explicitly confessional record, since many songs are riddles or allegories, yet the warmth of the music makes it feel that way. The original version of the album was even quieter -- first takes of "Idiot Wind" and "Tangled Up in Blue," available on The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3, are hushed and quiet (excised verses are quoted in the liner notes, but not heard on the record) -- but Blood on the Tracks remains an intimate, revealing affair since these harsher takes let his anger surface the way his sadness does elsewhere. As such, it's an affecting, unbearably poignant record, not because it's a glimpse into his soul, but because the songs are remarkably clear-eyed and sentimental, lovely and melancholy at once. And, in a way, it's best that he was backed with studio musicians here, since the professional, understated backing lets the songs and emotion stand at the forefront. Dylan made albums more influential than this, but he never made one better.
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| 01. |  |
Tangled Up In Blue |
5:42 |
|
| 02. | |
Simple Twist Of Fate |
4:17 |
|
| 03. | |
You're A Big Girl Now |
4:31 |
|
| 04. | |
Idiot Wind |
7:49 |
|
| 05. | |
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go |
2:53 |
|
| 06. | |
Meet Me In The Morning |
4:21 |
|
| 07. | |
Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts |
8:51 |
|
| 08. | |
If You See Her, Say Hello |
4:49 |
|
| 09. | |
Shelter From The Storm |
5:02 |
|
| 10. | |
Buckets Of Rain |
3:24 |
|
10 Total Tracks, 51:39 Total Length
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Credits
- Bob Dylan - Guitar // Bob Dylan - Harmonica // Bob Dylan - Keyboards // Bob Dylan - Vocals // Bob Dylan - Producer // Bob Dylan - Main Performer // Billy Preston - Bass // Deliverance - ? // Eric Weissberg - Banjo // Eric Weissberg - Guitar // Eric Weissberg - ? // Tony Brown - Bass // Steven Berkowitz - Reissue Producer // Charlie Brown - Guitar // Bill Berg - Drums // Buddy Cage - Guitar (Steel) // Greg Calbi - Mastering // Barry Cornfield - Guitar // Richard Crooks - Guitar // Richard Crooks - Drums // Didier C. Deutsch - Tape Research // Paul Griffin - Organ // Paul Griffin - Keyboards // Gregg Inhofer - Keyboards // Tom McFaul - Keyboards // Ken Odeguard - Guitar // Bill Peterson - Bass // Phil Ramone - Engineer // Chris Weber - Guitar // Chris Weber - Guitar (12 String) // Debbie Smith - Tape Research // Kevin Odegard - Guitar // Pete Hamill - Liner Notes // Barry Kornfeld - Guitar // Ron Coro - Art Direction // David Oppenheim - Illustrations // Paul Till - Photography // Paul Till - Cover Photo // Matt Kelly - Tape Research
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