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CLASSIC 1960s ROCK ON CD
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No Need To be Nervous!
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...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…
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
(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)"
(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…
