Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: October 2, 1984
• Label: Columbia
• Copyright: (P) 1974 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
• Record Company Required Metadata: Music file metadata contains unique purchase identifier. Learn more.
• Total Length: 51:32
• Genres:
  • Pop
• ASIN: B00138H876
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (425 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,946 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect 10: Dylan's heartfelt masterpiece, Dylan's Best July 3, 2000

By "foxinthebox"

Format:Audio CD

What is Bob Dylan's greatest album? Is it Highway 61 Revisited, an album that revolutionized rock and roll by combining the meaningful lyrics of folk with the rhythm of rock; or is it Blonde on Blonde, another mid sixties classic album with some of Dylan's best lyrics, epic songs, and vivid imagery; or is it Blood on the Tracks, a sweet unambitious album about a man's heart during his crumbling marriage? The answer is Blood on the Tracks, a simple but powerful masterpiece that captures the human emotions of love, anger, sadness, fear, regret, and hope. 'Tracks' doesn't take us into the mind of Bob Dylan, as 'Blonde on Blonde'and 'Highway 61' did, they take us inside Bob Dylan's heart, and inside our own. Dylan writes honest, emotional, beautiful lyrics. The album is the story of a man hanging on to his love, and at the same time letting it go. The album is a snapshot of Dylan's soul. The most beautiful song on the album that stands out is the least assuming. In 'Buckets of Rain,' Dylan's looking out into the rain, and reflects on life and love like no one else has ever done, and finally makes peace with his lonliness and longing for his love, moves on, but will always share a part of his heart for her. I could write for days about this album, but I'm sure you get this picture. Never before have I been moved by a piece of music like this album has, because we all know what Dylan is writing about is not only what's in his heart, but what's buried inside all of our hearts.

115 of 123 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The album that set the benchmark in confessional songwriting March 5, 2004

By Lawrance M. Bernabo HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

It has been thirty years since "Blood on the Tracks" was released and of all of the albums recorded by Bob Dylan it is the one that has most increased in stature simply because every album produced since then has failed to rise to this level. I think the reason for this is mainly because it was born in a creative burst of pointed lyricisim as his marriage to Sara Lowndes collapsed, with all the songs written in two months in the middle of 1974. I would no more expect any personal turmoil to provide similar inspiration any more than I would have expected any of the songs on this album to rise to the level of social rhetoric found in his greatest songs of the Sixties.

In "Blood on the Tracks" Dylan also turned his back on his greatest backing band, returning to his artistic routes on an album that is largely acoustic-based. The songs run the emotional gamut from sorrow and regret to bitterness and pain. At the same time, despite the obvious point of origin for most of these songs, this is not an openly confessional album (cf. Courtney Love's "America's Sweetheart"). After all, we are talking the lyrics of Bob Dylan, which means cryptic riddles and allegories abound all laid out in ten classic tracks:

"Tangled Up in Blue" is the best song on the album and the ambguity about the characters and relationships Dylan sings about has only increased over the years with the shifting lyrics in various performances. The cover version by the Indigo Girls remains my favorite Dylan cover.

"Simple Twist of Fate" is another great four-word phrase in a song that represents the most overtly personal song on the album. The stark instrumentation only serves to highlight the heartbreak of the existentialist lyrics and the mournful sound of the vocals.

"You're A Big Girl Now" is a ballad on the end of a relationship and a sort of benediction in that clearly the woman is right to move on, but Dylan is still haunted by their physical encounters. You would think that this would have been the logical final track for the album, but it is not.

"Idiot Wind" is song on the album that most reminds me of an earlier Dylan composition, namely "Like a Rolling Stone," the pair being a set of put-down songs. The difference is that while both song lash out in lots of directions, this one keeps coming back to a certain "babe." This is another song that has changed over the year for various reasons that could well inspire a doctoral dissertation.

"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" is a rather upbeat track, despite the descending chord progressions, and is usually considered a song hopeful of reconciliation rather than one eulogizing the breakup.

"Meet Me in the Morning" stands out musically as the most blues oriented track that always struck me as cleansing the palatte for what was coming next on the album.

"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is a 8:50 story song that basically wears down the listener's insistence that this is a biographical album. It also has a line that Dylan seems to sing with nice pitch and without affection, to wit, "and Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair." Pay attention next time through to that one phrase.

"If You See Her, Say Hello" probably represents the emotional low point of the album, with lyrics reflecting a singer who is crushed and embittered by the end of the relationship, turning his anger in on himself.

"Shelter from the Storm" is a song of simple beauty, based on three chords and a simple melody, underscoring a profound sense of loss. The song provides an avalanche of symbols and metaphors, but actually seems to end on an optimstic note.

"Buckets of Rain" provides a fitting finale, suitably depressing lyrics against a rather upbeat melody as irony once again abounds. After this song there is no where left to go.

"Blood on the Tracks" is listed by "Rolling Stone" magazine as the #16 record on the list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, between #15 "Are You Experienced?" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and #17 "Nevermind" by Nirvana. It is one of ten Dylan albums on the list, behind #4 "Highway 61 Revisited" and #9 "Blonde on Blonde." This For pretty much the complete story on the making of this classic album, check out "A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks" by music journalist Andy Gill and guitarist Kevin Odegard, who played on the five tracks recorded in Minneapolis. You can also listen to "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3" to hear the original version of "Tangled Up in Blue," "Idiot Wind," and "If You See Her, Say Hello" recorded in New York City in September to compare with the Twin Cities versions from December of 1974.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars flawless April 27, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

Simply put, Blood On The Tracks is one of the greatest albums of the rock era and stands, arguably, as the greatest album in Dylan's long career.

It's an incredibly honest album, achingly so at times. Though Dylan has scoffed at the notion of Blood On The Tracks as a paean to his recently ended marriage to his wife Sara, it's hard to ignore the intensely personal nature of these songs - almost all of which deal with the loss of love.

The instrumentation is spare - guitar, drum, bass and, occasionally, harmonica. Somehow nothing else seems appropriate, as if anything more complicated would negate the power of these songs. Dylan has never sounded better, although arguments about his voice have always somehow missed the mark.

Which, of course, brings us to the songs. The record starts with one of Dylan's best and most loved story-songs, "Tangled Up In Blue," which manages somehow to be both joyous and tragic at the same time. For fans who were still listening by the mid `70s, this opening track must have signaled that the winds had changed.

Their hopes were borne out by the remaining nine tracks, all of which hit their mark. Both "Simple Twist Of Fate" and "You're a Big Girl Now" reveal Dylan to be a changed man from the youthful rebel of the mid `60s. Never an optimist, these songs show an even sadder, more resigned side of the songwriter.

"Idiot Wind" is perhaps the most bilious piece in Dylan's entire canon of work, but its power is impossible to deny.

"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and "Meet Me In The Morning" are simple expressions of loss, pending and present, respectively.

"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is another classic Dylan story-song, psychically akin to "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" from John Wesley Harding.

"If You See Her, Say Hello," is quite possible the saddest song that Dylan ever wrote, and his vocal performance here is enough to draw tears from the attentive listener.

"Shelter From The Storm" offers a more positive theme, and it doesn't come a minute too soon. The album closes with the simple and sad "Buckets of Rain." By the time he sings "Life is sad/Life is a bust/All you can do is do what you must," you either believe him, or you weren't listening.