Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan - album review

It is often said that the series of albums recorded and released by Bob Dylan in the period 1965-66 represents one of the most fertile bursts of creativity of any artist, ushering in the "rock" era by making mainstream popular music socially relevant and worthy of critical and erudite analysis. I too subscribe to these theories, but in recent times the worthiness of Blonde On Blonde to belong in the same company as its two predecessors has become questionable to me. I sense a propensity to bracket the record with those which went immediately before it, simply because it was Bob Dylan, and that it must be similarly wonderful because to say otherwise would spoil the narrative...

The two albums which came before, Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, were effervescent efforts, brimming with creativity, bearing all the hallmarks of a man with lots to say, and who was eager to express himself. There was a breathlessness, spontaneity and urgency about the songs, which must have seemed at the time to form an inexhaustible reserve.

It is curious that Dylan himself has been quoted as saying that Blonde On Blonde constituted the "sound" which he had been aiming for all along.  There is certainly a "progression" of sorts in the character and ambience of the three albums, from the vitality, energy and bite of Bringing It All Back Home to the jaded cloudiness and ennui of Blonde On Blonde. The fact that the great man's career took a dramatic detour immediately afterwards may or may not be instructive....

There is a deceptive listlessness to many of the songs, particularly the longer "epics" such as "Visions of Johanna" and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". On the other side of the coin, I have come to regard many of the tracks as bordering on "comedy songs" ("Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, "Just Like A Woman", "Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat"). This may indicate that my hipster antennae are insufficiently developed. Their exuberance does at least balance out and alleviate some of the gloominess which otherwise pervades the work.

When saying that on close inspection the songs are not as instantly and spectacularly memorable as those on the two earlier records, it is also true to say that Blonde On Blonde hangs together very well as a mood piece, the kind of album to immerse oneself in on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The lack of immediate accessibility demands a patience which not everyone possesses!

The lyrics are less cryptic and oblique than on earlier records, but in their own way just as enigmatic and impenetrable, if less conventionally evocative.  Equally, the soundscapes are more murky and nebulous. These factors do contribute to the album's relative absence of overt sparkle and immediacy, but they also imbue it with its distinctive quality.

Although it is commonly asserted that the "turning point" in Dylan's career occurred shortly after this album was released, it might be more accurate to state that Blonde On Blonde itself signals a new beginning. Despite all all my caveats, provisos and reservations, it is still a rewarding and ultimately enjoyable listen, and essential to an understanding of the Dylan mystique....

My blog posts about other Bob Dylan albums:

Blood On The Tracks

Highway 61 Revisited

Bringing It All Back Home