Customer Reviews

Blood on the Tracks (Hybr)

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

Blood on the Tracks stands with the best of Bob Dylan the best of American music. This is latter day saint Dylan Bob after poet for the masses Bob after RnR hero Bob pre- country crooner Bob 70's comeback as wished by Elvis.
This 5.1 recording stands fine up against the other 5.1 re-mixes of "Bringing It All Back Home" and "Blond on Blond".
The guitars are sharp, clear and in your ear. The vocals whisper when they want and shout when they should.
This is as good as it gets.......

I discovered Bob Dylan a few years back and grew a heavy liking to his 1960s material (especially the electric albums). I was delighted to hear about his back catalogue being remastered and quickly bought 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde On Blonde', then about a week later decided to change things up and buy 'Blood On The Tracks'. I knew 'Tangled Up In Blue' and 'Shelter From The Storm' from the retrospective discs I had, but then discovered other gems on the album (my new favorite might just be 'Buckets Of Rain' for just its sheer depressive emotional quality). Musically this is a simple album, somewhere in-between 'John Wesley Harding' and 'Highway 61 Revisited', mostly jangly acoustic guitars with organ backing. Lyrically, this is a very personal outing, mostly based on his recent, at the time, divorce. There's nothing much to say that hasn't been said before, this is just as good as any other Dylan release from his mid-1960s prime. 'Idiot Wind' wouldn't sound out of place on 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts' is a folk ballad epic (almost 9 minutes) much like something from 'John Wesley Harding'.

Sonically, the cd's audio quality is just as good, if not a little clearer than the other releases I've gotten, and is a definite improvement over the 'Essential Bob Dylan' disc I bought a few years back. The vocals aren't quite as separated and centered as on 'Highway 61', but the clarity of Dylan's acoustic guitar is crystal and his harmonica fills are balanced perfectly, and not overpoweringly, into the mix. After this, I definitely want to give 'John Wesley Harding' a try despite the bad reviews on the site. This is a five-star release all the way.

Dylan never wrote a better album than this. His most personal and introspective work; the emotional fragility and brutal honesty of these tracks showcase a facet of Dylan's music that is too often overshadowed by his reputation as a 60s "protest" singer. Heartbreak and rejection as the human condition are squarely on display, and should appeal to anyone who has ever loved, lost, and lived on hoping to find love again.

I admit to tremendous bias regarding Bob Dylan but this CD would be a deal if it were priced at 110 dollars. No other work contains as much emotion and grand talent as this one. I heartily recommend it and know you will enjoy for many years to come. It's best at around it's tenth listen due to the complexity of the music.

Few artists can match the impact that Dylan has had on the music industry and Blood On The Tracks is simply on of the best albums ever made. No one before or since has been able to match the passion and the brilliance that Dylan demonstrates on this record. "Idiot Wind" is one of the best written songs of all time and "If You See Her, Say Hello" still manages to stop me in my tracks whenever I hear it...possibly my favorite of all Dylan's songs. This record should be a cornerstone in every music lover's collection and is the perfect place to start for those who are new to Dylan. Quite simply the perfect album.

That's right.
I have a lot of CDs, enough for me to have lost count a long time ago, but this one I keep coming back to.
I'm not saying that this is necessarily my all-time favorite album, although it is certainly one of them. But I do believe that it is the best.

A quiet, understated album, "Blood On The Tracks" is dominated by strummed acoustic guitars, the occational piano, and once in a while a drummer playing a gentle rock shuffle.
The melodies, and the lyrics, too, are among the best things that Bob Dylan has ever written. Lovely and melancholy all at once, and the production is superb.


And there is literally not a weak track on this entire album. It opens with the wonderful "Tangled Up In Blue", Dylan singing softly and pleasently, accompanied by a shuffling backbeat and gently ringing guitars, one picked, one strummed.
"Simple Twist Of Faith" is just a bass and two or three acoustic guitars, and a superb, slightly folkish tune, almost a ballad.
And the sparse, acoustic instumentation works perfectly. These tunes are too beautiful to be buried beneath layers of electric guitars and pounding drums.

The slow, mellow "You're A Big Girl Now" starts of with an immediately catchy guitar intro, two acoustic guitars playing Spanish-style melodies, and sports a similarly Latin-tinged tune.
And then follows the eight-minute "Idiot Wind". Dylan sings without pause for seven minutes and three seconds with not a single instrumental break, accompanied by drums, organ and guitars (still acoustic). The chorus is lovely, superbly melodic, yet the lyrics are whithering:
"Idiot wind / blowing through the flowers on your tomb /
Blowing through the curtains in your room /
Idiot wind / blowing every time you move your teeth /
You're an idiot, babe /
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe!"

"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" is a fast, country-like song with lots of harmonica, one of only two songs on the album less than four minutes long. It is followed by one of the few lesser-known songs off this album, "Meet Me In The Morning" (again, great job arranging those guitars), a genuine blues, A-A-B and everything. I mean, who doesn't love a slow, bluesy groove and an acoustic slide guitar?

"Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts", an up-tempo folk rock song, goes on for sixteen verses and almost nine minutes. "If You See Her, Say Hello" is a gentle tale of lost love set to a simple, yet very pretty tune. Kudos again to the superb studio musicians who backed Dylan on "Blood On The Tracks", guitarists Charlie Brown, Barry Cornfield and Kevin Odegard among them.
And if you've only heard "Shelter From The Storm" played live, you'll be surprised how pleasant and melodious it sounds here, as does the closing number, the bluesy "Buckets Of Rain", which opens with a groovy bass riff and a clanging guitar figure.

All the tunes on this magnificent album, every single one of them, are musical and lyrical masterpieces. I have never heard a finer collection of songs than "Blood On The Tracks".

Blood on the Tracks, an already classic album, just got better with this SACD hybrid version. The 5.1 surround mix is wonderfully clear, revealing lots of previously hidden details, especially in the numbers Dylan recorded with Eric Weissburg & Deliverance. The vocals are crisp and fill the room like never before. The overall experience is like hearing this album again, but in the studio, sitting in between the musicians as they play.

The only thing is that the packaging, though much better than the original CD version, is not up to the same standards as Sony's own Legacy re-issues. A song-by-song analysis (like the ones for the Byrds, for example) would've been nice--and that goes for most of the classic albums of this Dylan re-issue series, unfortunately.

Still, it's a must-have, if you're any kind of Dylan fan at all...

My God it's great. It's the closest thing I will ever come to experiencing the "Oceanic feeling" Freud writes about in Civilization and its Discontents. I can't stop listening to it, and I probably never will.

I hate to sound like an annoying audiophile, but I owned this album for years in the original CD version (never heard the vinyl) and always thought it was a very overrated. I'd always been partial to Dylan's 60s albums and never cared for much after John Wesley Harding. On this album, Dylan always sounded shrill, irritable and his studio band sounded flat, dull and colorless. Maybe that was the Dylan's intention--I wasn't sure.

Upon hearing the SACD-Hybrid version, I realized that previous digital technology just hadn't caught up and done it justice this album until now. I would like to go on the record as say that I was wrong--this is, as most have claimed over the years, one of Dylan's greatest albums.

I can not state enough how much the new format compliments this album. While most of the Dylan reissues have shown a major improvement over their original 1980s versions, Blood On The Tracks perhaps benefits most, finally revealing itself as the nuanced masterpiece people have always claimed it to be. As a child of the 70s/80s, listening to it in this format is like hearing it for the first time.