Bob Dylan Sunday - Blonde On Blonde Studio Sessions

Bob Dylan, Blonde On Blonde Studio Sessions

It's been too long since we had a Bob Dylan Sunday; we should never go this long without hearing a little bit from Robert Zimmerman, I promise to do better. I figured this would be a good follow-up to our last edition, where we looked at the outtakes to Blood On The Tracks. Here you have the entire studio sessions of another of Dylan's masterpieces, Blonde on Blonde. Recorded in late 1965 and early 1966, this bootleg covers everything that came out, good and bad. You get multiple versions of songs, a few unreleased ones including the great post-breakup song, "She's Your Lover Now" and a chance to see this album come into being.

I was going to discuss the background of these sessions, but feel like it would be easier to just send you to this wikipedia entry on the album. It seems accurate to me, and gives a good sense of the frustration and failures that lie behind this work. It's especially interesting to see how unsuccessful Dylan and The Band were in the studio, coming up with nothing to use on the album in 10 sessions. A move to Nashville and a new studio band would provide the spark that brought this album together.

Blonde on Blonde is probably Dylan's most acclaimed album, the culmination of a tremendous creative period which saw the man go electric and shock the world with his new sound. Remember that this album comes out in the midst of all that madness, when Dylan's live shows were being booed and heckled in the US and abroad. The album spawned some of his most famous songs, from "Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35", "Just Like A Woman" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again." It is a perennial contender in the greatest albums lists, reaching #9 in Rolling Stones' recent 500 Greatest Albums list. It's rock music's first double album. If you don't own the official release, stop, do not pass go, head here and buy a copy right now.

If anyone has any info on these CDs, please let me know. I couldn't find a listing on Bob's Boots, the bible for Dylan bootleg recordings, and would love to hear more info or thoughts. I hope that everyone enjoys this, although the multiple versions of songs might not be for everyone, this is a great chance to hear an artist's behind-the-scenes work.

P.S. Doing an image search for "Blonde on Blonde" was a nice surprise, hey-oh!