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Album #64 of 1001

Blonde on Blonde

Bob Dylan

“Don’t tell anyone you don’t own “Blonde on Blonde”. It’s gonna be okay.”

It’s that line from “High Fidelity” that keeps jumping out at me me when I think about this album. Fresh from meandering around university and having money in my pocket for the first time, that was the line that made me buy this album – I NEEDED to have it whether I knew it or not.

So maybe it took me a while to actually discover it for myself, and twelve years later, it’s still an album that eludes me. As a follow-up to “Highway 61 Revisited”, it’s more mature, more layered and way bolder. It’s got more of its fair share of standalone classic songs – “Just Like a Woman”, “I Want You” and of course student-giggle fave “Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35” – everybody must get stoned apparently.

But it’s more than that. As much as anything it’s a double album from a time when such things just weren’t done. And it’s an album where each song is done on a massive scale, layered and with songs like “Visions of Johanna” stretching his songwriting chops further than ever before, this was a landmark for Dylan.

For my uncultured ears, it’s not quite as accessible as “Highway 61 Revisited”, but it’s still a stunner, even if it’s going to take me another twenty listens to really get the hang of it.

Track listing

  1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 4:37
  2. Pledging My Time 3:50
  3. Visions of Johanna 7:33
  4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) 4:55
  5. I Want You 3:08
  6. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again 7:06
  7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat 3:58
  8. Just Like a Woman 4:51
  9. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine 3:30
  10. Temporary Like Achilles 5:03
  11. Absolutely Sweet Marie 4:57
  12. 4th Time Around 4:35
  13. Obviously Five Believers 3:36
  14. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands 11:21

14 tracks, total running time 72:59. Track data from MusicBrainz.