This Review and 199 More Like It Are Available In My
Amazon e-Book
BLOW BY BLOW - 1975
Your All-Genres Guide To
Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters
All Reviews From The Discs Themselves
(No Cut And Paste Crap)
<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B08RDVQJXV&asins=B08RDVQJXV&linkId=e28b896c81e7bebf30e2101a666e021f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
"…In The Tall Grass…In The Ones I Love…"
The
undisputed singer-songwriter champ/people's poet of the Sixties was all but
commercially washed up by 1974. Neither the weedy "Dylan" from 1973
nor "Planet Waves" from 1974 were good as whole albums - with that
old melody/lyrical magic only sporadically evident on songs like "Spanish
Is The Loving Tongue" and "Knocking On Heaven's Door". A
pointless live double "Before The Flood" with The Band followed in
July of 1974 and smacked of contract filler damaging his reputation further.
But come early the following year - all that lost faith was about to change...
Fast
forward to April 1975 - and I'm scouring the singles boxes in Dublin's cool and
trendy Dandelion Market (a sort of indoor Camden Town). Dealers would collect
ex chart singles that were a few weeks past their sell-by-date from the city's
abundant record shops and flog them for 50p or less. New and in their label
bags - you'd pick up deals and take chances on new names. So I'm flicking
through the Dawn and Bell label bubble gum pop when I spot "Tangled Up In
Blue" by Bob Dylan on its Orange and Yellow CBS Records label (3160). I
paid my 50p, took it home and hoped for the best when I put the needle down. My
jaw promptly fell to the kitchen lino...and in many unhygienic ways...its been
there ever since...
There
can't be too many Dylan nuts who don't worship at the feet of CBS Records S
69097 and Columbia PC 33235 released January 1975 in the States and February
1975 in the UK. Charted at 4 in Blighty but going all the way to the top in
America - "Blood On The Tracks" signalled that the man was back - and
how. In all truth he hadn't sounded this vital (or confused) since "Blonde
On Blonde" in 1966.
Let's
get to the CD - two standard versions in 1989 and 1993 preceded the real deal -
a proper remaster on a 2003 Columbia SACD Hybrid CD that contained both an SACD
layer and a Standard STEREO mix. Easily available in a glossy card digipak - it
has beautiful sound quality and should be enough for most. But this is Bob
Dylan's "Blood On The Tracks" and if I can attain another microscopic
ounce of audio quality out of yet another release - I'm gonna spend money on
that sucker. So I bought this gorgeous USA-Only Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
audiophile pressing - and I'm thrilled I did. Here are the buckets of rain...
1.
Tangled Up In Blue
2.
Simple Twist Of Faith
3.
You're A Big Girl Now
4.
Idiot Wind
5.
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
6.
Meet Me In The Morning [Side 2]
7.
Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts
8.
If You See Her, Say Hello
9.
Shelter From The Storm
10.
Buckets Of Rain
USA
released November 2012 (February 2013 in the UK) - this issue of "Blood On
The Tracks" is an "Original Master Recording" CD on Mobile
Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2098 (Barcode 821797209861). An Audiophile Hybrid
Edition - it has both SACD and DSD CD layers and does not require an SACD
player for playback (it will automatically default to the DSD CD layer once in
standard machines). The transfer from the original master tapes used Mobile
Fidelity's patented ULTRADISC UHR GAIN 2 Remaster System with mastering by ROB
LoVERDE (assisted by SHAWN R. BRITTON). It's a straightforward 10-track
transfer of the album at 51:48 minutes housed in oversized hard card repro
artwork. An inner gatefold black and gold card sleeve houses the gold CD
(itself in a gauze protective) and there's a numbered (embossed) square on the
rear cover.
When
you first hear the opening triple-whammy of brilliance - "Tangled Up In
Blue", "Simple Twist Of Faith" and "You're A Big Girl
Now" - the differences to my ear are the acoustic guitars and the
beautiful clarity to the bass - they're floating around the room but not
drowning out his impassioned vocals. The high hats and drum taps on "Big
Girl" are crystal clear but again they're not amped to a point where they
take over. It's properly beautiful stuff.
And
as everyone now knows the album revolved around the dissolution of his marriage
- so the lyrics and songs flit between apathy and stupor ("Meet Me In The
Morning") to slighting bitterness ("Idiot Wind") and a sort of
hurting reconciliation ("If You See Her, Say Hello"). But then they
come roaring back to simplicity and lingering affection ("Shelter From The
Storm" and "Buckets Of Rain"). Dylan ends Side 1 with the short
but oh so sweet "You're Gonna Make Lonesome When You Go". It's
typical of the album - confessional yet still guarded - its Sixties throwback
sound and vocals has to be one of his loveliest songs -with lyrical rhymes that
thrill to this day (words from it title this review). The smacking of the
acoustic guitar strings on "Buckets Of Rain" have fabulous clarity
and that double bass in the background is warm and full too. Wonderfully
done...
In
some respects it's a shame Columbia simply don't just get on with it and do a
DELUXE EDITION of this most iconic of his albums - maybe they will with its
40th Anniversary looming in 2015. There are two outtakes on Biograph and a
further four on "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1 - 3" and with the
original withdrawn album mix - would make a corker of a reissue.
In
the meantime - if it's the best sound you want - then the spondulicks spent on
this lovely reissue of "Blood On The Tracks" will pay dividends...
No comments:
Post a Comment