"Blonde On Blonde" by BOB DYLAN [CD Variants You Want] – June 1966 US 2LP Set on Columbia Records (August 1966 UK on CBS Records) in Both MONO and STEREO – Musicians Included Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss and Kenneth Buttrey of Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry, Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Hargus Robbins, Jerry Kennedy, Joe South, Bill Aikins, Paul Griffin, Will Lee, Bobby Gregg of The Devil’s Anvil, Wayne Butler of Charlie McCoy & The Escorts, Henry Strzelecki of The Teenagers and Robbie Robertson of The Band (credited as Jamie Robertson) (September 2003 Columbia 2xSACD Reissue in STEREO, March 2004 CD Reissue in STEREO, October 2010 Reissue Inside A 9CD Box Set in MONO – Plus Outtakes in the November 2015 "Cutting Edge: The Bootleg Series Vol.12" Compilation Itself Released in 3 Different Variants) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Pledging My Time..."

Critiquing Bob Dylan's universally acclaimed 1966 double-album "Blonde On Blonde" in 2020 is hardly going to win me the 'Kellogg’s Cornflakes Truly Scrumptious Humanitarian and All-Round Tasty Guy Of The Century’ Award (yet again).

But having said that and as we start the new 20's decade – seriously - what CD variant of this 60ts humdinger do you buy? I'm going to go all reviewer-feral and suggest that this fantastically creative 2LP splurge is one of those very rare occasions in the excesses of reissueland where you can never get enough - so I'm plumbing for five purchases or more. Here are Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hats...

1. Rainy Day Women # 12 and 35 [Side 1]

2. Pledging My Time

3. Visions Of Johanna

4. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)

5. I Want You [Side 2]

6. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (originally credited as 'Memphis Blues Again')

7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

8. Just Like A Woman

9. Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine [Side 3]

10. Temporary Like Achilles

11. Absolutely Sweet Marie

12. 4th Time Around

13. Obviously 5 Believers

14. Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands [Side 4]

Tracks 1 to 14 are his 7th studio album "Blonde On Blonde" - released as a 2LP set 20 June 1966 in the USA on Columbia C2L 41 (Mono) and Columbia C2S 841 (Stereo) and 13 August 1966 in the UK on CBS Records DDP 66012 (Mono) and CBS Records SDDP 66012 (Stereo). Produced by BOB JOHNSTON - Rock's first double-album entered the US LP charts 23 June 1966 for the first time and the UK LP charts 20 August 1966 - peaking at No. 9 and No. 3 in each country respectively (it beat "Freak Out!" by The Mothers Of Invention by one week, 27 June 1966).

After some well-documented rubbish digital starts in the 80s and 90s when Columbia actually docked something like two whole minutes off the double-album in order to make it fit onto a sonically dullard single CD – enter renowned Audio Engineer GREG CALBI in 2003 to properly sort out huge chunks of the Mighty Zim's voluminous back-catalogue accompanied by MARK WILDER who coordinated and Mastered the amazing Mono Box Set in 2010 and large numbers of The Bootleg Series before and since that date. Here are details for all relevant CD reissues surrounding the "Blonde On Blonde" album…

ESSENTIAL "Blonde On Blonde" CD REISSUES TO CONSIDER: 

1. First up came the SACD reissues of 15 September 2003 that put all of the STEREO "Blonde On Blonde" onto a 2-Disc Hybrid Multi-Channel set with dual SACD-Audio and Stereo-Audio layers built into both discs (5.1 Channel Surround Sound too). Grammy-winning Audio Engineer GREG CALBI did the mastering honours. UK issued Columbia 512352 6 (Barcode 5099751235262) is currently on sale for about £10 used and more if new (Disc 1: 39:59 minutes, Disc 2: 33:02 minutes).

2. That STEREO Mix and Greg Calbi Remaster was then reissued 29 March 2004 onto a normal single CD – UK issued Columbia 512352 2 (Barcode 5099751235224) is currently on sale for just over £5 new and less used (73:01 minutes)

3. All of Bob Dylan's MONO variants from the 1960s appeared 18 October 2010 in the "The Original Mono Recordings" 9CD Box Set on Columbia MONO-88697761042 (Barcode 886977610424) including the double-album "Blonde On Blonde" (Disc 1: 40:07 minutes, Disc 2: 33:09 minutes).

4. "The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12" which features Previously Unreleased Outtakes from three albums "Bringing It All Back Home", "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde On Blonde" was issued 6 November 2015 in three forms

(i) "The Best Of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12" is a 2CD Hard-Card Slipcase set on (UK) Columbia/Legacy 88875124422 (Barcode 888751244221) - a 36-Track 2CD Compilation where the 11 songs on Disc 2 (Tracks 7 to 17) are Alternate Takes of "Blonde On Blonde" material (Disc 1: 70:21 minutes, Disc 2: 75:00 minutes)

(ii) "The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.12" is a 6CD Box Set with 111 Tracks on Columbia/Legacy 88875124412 (Barcode 888751244122) where the whole 30 songs of Discs 5 and 6 are given over to "Blonde On Blonde" outtakes (Disc 1: 69:16 minutes, Disc 2: 75:16 minutes, Disc 3: 65:32 minutes, Disc 4: 68:22 minutes, Disc 5: 76:01 minutes and Disc 6: 75:17 minutes). Of the 30 versions across both discs, three have been issued before on varying compilations whilst the fourth is the finished album cut of "Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35" (Take 1) but it has added on some preceding studio dialogue. The other three are Track 2 on Disc 1 and Track 3 on Disc 2 - "Visions Of Johanna (Take 8)" and "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" (Take 5) both of which appeared on the 2005 issue of "The Bootleg Series Vol. 7". Fourth is Track 6 on Disc 1 ' "She's Your Lover Now (Take 15)" which first appeared in 1991 on "The Bootleg Series Vol.1-3".

(iii) "The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vo.12 - COLLECTOR'S EDITION" is a Worldwide Limited Edition of 5000 copies (Numbered Certificate Inside). This behemoth contains 379 tracks across the CDs, 9 Mono 7" singles in varying picture sleeves from around the world (18 songs), three hardback books and two further Digital Audios - the first that gives access to the entire set in varying Hi-Res forms - while the second entitled "Bob Dylan 50th Anniversary Collection: 1965" gives download access to a further huge cache of 208 songs, 14 full concerts with 10-hours of music. Whilst this has to be the actual 'motherlode' as far as Dylan geekozoids are concerned, accessibility for the rest of us in 2020 is now a problem. This beast has of course sold out, is deleted and last I saw, was happily garnishing an astonishing £1,250 price tag on a certain well-known auction site (with the distinctive blue hessian cover slightly damaged).

5. Before 2015 previously unreleased outtakes and live variants of tracks from 1966's "Blonde On Blonde" have also turned up on: 
(a) Three on the November 1985 5LP/3CD retrospective "Biograph"; "Visions Of Johanna (Live)" from 26 May 1966 at The Royal Albert Hall in London and two outtakes - "Jet Pilot" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover" 
(b) Two outtakes on the March 1991 5LP/3CD retrospective "The Bootleg Series Vol.1-3"; "I'll Keep It With Mine", "She's Your Lover Now" 
(c) Three outtakes on the August 2005 2CD retrospective "The Bootleg Series Vol.7 - No Direction Home - The Soundtrack"; "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Take 1)", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (Take 5)" and "Visions Of Johanna (Take 8)"  

Some might say that a body should just keep it simple - buy the 2004 Greg Calbi single-CD remaster in Stereo for a fiver and be done with it (Barcode 5099751235224 will locate it on Amazon). But as I said earlier, when you listen to any of "The Cutting Edge" releases, you realize the sessions between January and May 1966 were so ridiculously creative that these extracurricular releases aren't just padding - they finally allow us (young bucks and old codgers alike) hear what creative lightning in a bottle actually sounds like.

Rehearsals for "Visions Of Johanna" (he announces this is initially called "Freeze Out") and the acidic tongue-lashing giving to lovers in "She's Your Lover Now" are hair-raising moments. And to hear juicy alternates of "Just Like A Woman", "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" and the stunning rock-swing of "Pledging My Time" has me reaching for a clever words card index bigger than Alaska (see also my review for the Mono Box Set).

Will we ever see the likes of it again - maybe - maybe not. But Dylan's "Blonde On Blonde" is one of those releases where once in indeed never enough. Buy em all I say, big and small…