Blood on the Tracks
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| Blood on the Tracks | |||||
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| Studio album by Bob Dylan | |||||
| Released | January 17, 1975 | ||||
| Recorded | September and December 1974 | ||||
| Genre | Folk rock | ||||
| Length | 51:42 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Producer | Bob Dylan | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
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| Bob Dylan chronology | |||||
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Blood on the Tracks is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 15th studio album, released in 1975 by Columbia Records, which marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records.
The album, which followed several years of lukewarm reception for Dylan's work, was greeted respectably by fans and critics. In the years following its release, it has come to be regarded as one of his very best albums — making it quite common for subsequent records to be labeled his "best since Blood on the Tracks."[1][2][3][4] It is also commonly seen as a standard for confessional singer-songwriter albums; though Dylan has denied that the songs are autobiographical, his son Jakob Dylan has stated: "The songs are my parents talking."[5] Most of the lyrics on the album revolve around heartache, anger, and loneliness.
The album reached #1 on the Billboard U.S. pop charts and #4 in the UK. The single "Tangled Up in Blue" peaked at #31 on the Pop singles chart. The album remains one of Dylan's all-time best-selling studio releases, with a double-platinum US certification to date.[6]
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[edit] Notes
The songs are largely seen as inspired by Dylan's personal turmoil at the time, particularly his separation from his then wife Sara Dylan.
All ten songs on the album were originally recorded at New York City sessions produced by Phil Ramone. With Columbia set to release the LP, Dylan pulled back at the last minute, and at year's end re-recorded five of the ten songs in Minneapolis with a crew of area session musicians assembled by his brother, David Zimmerman.
Dylan's fans theorize endlessly about his reasons for revamping the album, with one unconfirmed view being that the musical feel of the album had been monotonous, with too many songs in the same key and the same languid rhythm. It has also been said that, just two weeks before the release of Blood on the Tracks, Dylan played an acetate of the record for his brother, his ensuing comments leading Dylan to re-cut the album.[7]
Told of the album's lasting popularity, Dylan was later to say (in a radio interview by Mary Travers): "A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It's hard for me to relate to that. I mean, it, you know, people enjoying the type of pain, you know?"
In Dylan's 2004 memoir, Chronicles, Vol. 1, he claims that although one album of his songs was entirely inspired by short stories by Anton Chekhov, many of his fans and critics treat it as autobiographical. This passage is often cited as a reference to Blood on the Tracks.
The song "Up to Me", which plays like a companion of "Shelter from the Storm" (and perhaps a bookend to the record), was not released on this record but appeared on Biograph.
In Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, Jimmy McDonough relates how, prior to releasing Blood on the Tracks, Dylan visited Young in his home in Florida to showcase the songs on the album and seek out Young's opinion of them.[8]
[edit] Track listing
All Songs By Bob Dylan
[edit] Side one
- "Tangled Up in Blue" – 5:42 (Minneapolis)
- "Simple Twist of Fate" – 4:19 (NYC, Sept 1974)
- "You're a Big Girl Now" – 4:36 (Minneapolis)
- "Idiot Wind" – 7:48 (Minneapolis)
- "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" – 2:55 (NYC, Sept 1974)
[edit] Side two
- "Meet Me in the Morning" – 4:22 (NYC, Sept 1974)
- "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" – 8:51 (Minneapolis)
- "If You See Her, Say Hello" – 4:49 (Minneapolis)
- "Shelter from the Storm" – 5:02 (NYC, Sept 1974)
- "Buckets of Rain" – 3:22 (NYC, Sept 1974)
[edit] Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Billboard 200 | 1 |
[edit] Personnel
- Bob Dylan – Vocals, Guitars, Harmonica, Organ, Mandolin
- Bill Peterson – Bass
- Eric Weissberg – Banjo, Guitar (NYC Sessions)
- Tony Brown – Bass (NYC Sessions)
- Charles Brown, III – Guitar (NYC Sessions)
- Bill Berg – Drums
- Buddy Cage – Guitar (Steel)
- Barry Kornfeld – Guitar (NYC Sessions)
- Richard Crooks – Drums (NYC Sessions)
- Billy Preston - Bass
- Paul Griffin – Organ, Keyboards
- Gregg Inhofer – Keyboards
- Thomas McFaul – Keyboards (NYC Sessions)
- Chris Weber – Guitar, 12 String Guitar
- Kevin Odegard – Guitar
- Phil Ramone – Engineer
- Pete Hamill – Liner Notes
- Ron Coro – Art Direction
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Rosen, Jody. "Bob Dylan's Make-Out Album", Slate, August 30, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "Not Dead Yet", Spin, March 1998. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Lankford, Ronnie D. (March 27, 2003). Tangled Up in Contentment: Bob Dylan in Love. PopMatters.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Connelly, Christopher. "Bob Dylan: Infidels - Album Review", Rolling Stone, November 24, 1983. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Sounes, Howard. Down the Higway The Life Of Bob Dylan Doubleday 2001. ISBN 0-552-99929-6 p333
- ^ The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone (November 1, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Salon | Sharps and Flats
- ^ "Shakey: Neil Young's Biography" by Jimmy McDonough
| Preceded by AWB by Average White Band |
Billboard 200 number-one album March 1 - March 14, 1975 |
Succeeded by Have You Never Been Mellow by Olivia Newton-John |
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