Blood on the Tracks

Bob Dylan

album cover

"Like It Was Written in My Soul"

Shortly after initial test pressings of this album began to circulate in November 1974, Bob Dylan had a change of heart. The sessions, which took place in New York in September, had been arranged quickly, and in characteristic fashion, Dylan gave the musicians (from Eric Weissberg's band, Deliverance) little instruction. The singer and songwriter expected them to simply follow what he was doing. Listening to the results, Dylan decided that several of the key songs—including "Tangled Up in Blue," "Idiot Wind"—needed more. He hastily assembled a band in his native Minnesota, and over two days in late December recorded versions that were more to his liking. The originals became a bootlegger's bonanza—a few of them were eventually released on Volume 3 of the authorized Bootleg Series. Meanwhile, the sleeve notes printed at the time of the initial pressings refer to several lines that Dylan excised in rerecording.

There's nothing wrong with the originals, of course. These songs of disillusionment, many inspired by the rocky end of Dylan's marriage to Sara Lownds, are sturdy enough to withstand all sorts of interpretation. But in the rerecording, Dylan summons a raw, overtly wounded tone that magnifies the feeling behind the words; there's no misunderstanding the vulnerability that saturates "Tangled Up in Blue," or the veiled fondness behind "If You See Her, Say Hello."

And really, the slightly desperate shouts of the Minnesota versions help make Blood on the Tracks an ultimate breakup album. Though it's filled with allegories and cryptic riddles, somehow the basic plotline—she's gone, he's overcome with sadness—is inescapable. Virtually everything has that energy: The nine-minute odyssey "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts" and the feral rant "Idiot Wind" form an eerie self-portrait of a man who's been blindsided, knocked flat by that "Simple Twist of Fate," and is gradually beginning to apprehend where, exactly, he stands.

Genre: Rock
Released: 1975, Columbia
Key Tracks: "Tangled Up in Blue," "Simple Twist of Fate," "Idiot Wind," "Shelter from the Storm"
Catalog Choice: Blonde on Blonde; Planet Waves; Oh Mercy
Next Stop: Joni Mitchell: Blue
After That: Beck: Sea Change
Book Pages: 245–246

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Comments:

#1 from Bill, Greenville, Illinois - 01/15/2009 5:34

This isn’t just one of America’s greatest musical works, it’s possibly its greatest poetry book.

I can’t think of a flaw. The perfect record.

#2 from Louise, Toronto, Canada - 04/21/2009 9:42

I was obsessed with this album when I borrowed it from my brother in the summer of 1986 (when I was 22). After reading your book I bought it second hand last week, and after one listen, I fell in love with it again-nearly every song is a gem.
Thanks for a great book, by the way.

#3 from fashion and vintage - 06/11/2009 4:07

Cool points. The album, which followed several years of lukewarm reception for Dylan’s work, was greeted enthusiatically by fans and critics. In the years following its release, it has come to be regarded as one of his very best albums — making it quite common for subsequent records fashion and vintage to be labeled his “best since Blood on the Tracks.”

#4 from Adam, New Jersey - 06/12/2009 1:04

I’ve always thought of this album as kind of an anomaly for Dylan. Sort of, there are a bunch of folk Dylan albums, and a bunch of rock and roll Dylan albums, and a bunch of country Dylan albums (you get the idea), but this one is really the only one that sounds like this and is as direct in its narratives. Another item about this album is on the official live albums that he has produced, he changes the words around - especially on Simple Twist of Fate on the Rolling Thunder live album.

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