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CLASSIC 1960s MUSIC On CD - Exception Remasters
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"…Once Was A
True Love Of Mine…"
A hairs-breath
away from perfection (where's those missing 7" single sides?) - nonetheless
this exceptional Columbia Box Set along with EMI's stellar work on The Beatles
In Mono has set standards for presentation and quality remastering. There's a
lot to get through - so onwards to the tambourines and Memphis mobiles...
Released October
2010 in the USA on Columbia/Legacy MONO-88697761042 (Barcode is the same no) - "The Original Mono
Recordings" by BOB DYLAN offers you 8 studio albums (one a double) onto
9CDs in their original MONO mixes and breaks down as follows...
1. "Bob
Dylan" - debut LP released 19 March 1962 in the USA on Columbia CL 1779
(Mono) and July 1962 in the UK on CBS Records BPG 62022 (Mono) - 13 tracks, CD
playing time 37:07 minutes
2. "The
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" - 2nd album released 27 May 1963 in the USA on
Columbia CL 1986 (Mono) and November 1963 in the UK on CBS Records BGP 62193
(Mono) - 13 tracks, CD playing time 50:18 minutes
3. The Times
They Are A-Changin'" - 3rd album released 13 January 1964 in the USA on
Columbia CL 2105 (Mono) and May 1964 in the UK on CBS BPG 62251 (Mono) - 10
tracks, CD playing time 45:48 minutes
4. "Another
Side Of Bob Dylan" - 4th album released 10 August 1964 in the USA on
Columbia CL 2193 (Mono) and November 1964 in the UK on CBS Records BPG 62429
(Mono) - 11 tracks, CD playing time 51:20 minutes
5.
"Bringing It All Back Home" - 5th studio album released 27 March 1965
in the USA on Columbia CL 2328 (Mono) and May 1965 in the UK on CBS Records BPG
62515 (mono) - 11 tracks, CD playing time 47:25 minutes
6. "Highway
61 Revisited" - 6th studio album released 30 August 1965 in the USA on
Columbia CL 2389 (Mono) and September 1965 in the UK on CBS Records BPG 62572
(Mono) - 9 tracks, CD playing time 49:19 minutes
7. "Blonde
On Blonde" - 7th studio album (a double) released 16 May 1966 in the USA
on Columbia C2L 41 (Mono) and August 1966 in the UK on CBS Records DDP 66012
(Mono) Disc 1 has 8 tracks, 40:07 minutes - Disc 2 has 6 tracks, 33:09 minutes
8. "John
Wesley Harding" - 8th studio album released 17 December 1967 in the USA on
Columbia CL 2804 and February 1968 in the UK on CBS Records BGP 63252 (Mono) -
12 tracks, CD playing time 38:24 minutes
Because all of
his Sixties 45's were issued in MONO - this set will allow fans to sequence
'most' of his 7" singles for the entire decade as follows (1/2 = Track 1
on Disc 2 - 2/5 = Track 2 on Disc 5 etc):
1. Mixed Up
Confusion b/w Corrina, Corrina
Released 14
December 1962 in the USA but then withdrawn
[Note: the mix
on "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album is not the version on the
7" single]
2. Blowin' In
The Wind [1/2] b/w Don't Think Twice, It's Alright [7/2]
Released 13
August 1963 in the USA on Columbia 4- 42856
3. Subterranean
Homesick Blues [1/5] b/w She Belongs To Me [2/5]
Released 8 March
1965 in the USA on Columbia 4-43242
4. Like A
Rolling Stone [1/6] b/w Gates Of Eden [9/5]
Released 28 June
1965 in the USA on Columbia 4-43346
5. Positively
4th Street b/w From A Buick 6 [4/6]
Released 7
September 1965 in the USA on Columbia 4-43389. The A-side was non-album at the
time and isn't included on this box set.
6. Can You
Please Crawl Out Your Window b/w Highway 61 Revisited [7/6]
Released 12 June
1965 in the USA on Columbia 4-43477
Note: the A-side
was non-album at the time and unfortunately isn't included on this compilation
7. One Of Us
Must Know [4/Disc 1 of 7] b/w Queen Jane Approximately [6/6]
Released 14
February 1966 in the USA on Columbia 4-43541
8. Rainy day
Women No. 12 & 35 [1/Disc 1 of 7] b/w Pledging My Time [2/Disc 1 of 7]
Released 22
March 1966 in the USA on Columbia 4-43592
9. I Want You
[5/Disc 1 of 7] b/w Just Like Tom Thumb Blues
Released 10 June
1966 in the USA on Columbia 4-43683
Note: the B-side
is different to the album version on "Highway 61 Revisited" and is
unfortunately not included on this box
10. Just Like A
Woman [8/Disc 1 of 7] b/w Obviously 5 Believers [5/Disc 2 of 7]
Released 18
August 1966 in the USA on Columbia 4-43792
11. Leopard-Skin
Pill-Box Hat 7/Disc 1 of 7] b/w Most Likely You Go Your Way [1/Disc 2 of 7]
Released 27
March 1967 in the USA on Columbia 4-44069
The packaging is
classily done. Each of the oversized card facsimiles of the album covers all
have pasted-on back sleeves and MONO artwork aping the American originals. The
debut "Bob Dylan" even has its 'Columbia Records' advert inner
bag reproduced. The 'two women' photographs on the inner gatefold of original
copies of the 1966 "Blonde On Blonde" double that was withdrawn is
unfortunately AWOL probably due to licensing (Columbia have used the more
commonly seen replacements). The 56-page booklet is visually and thoughtfully
put together too - gorgeous black and white photos of Dylan in bookshops, in
the studio, having a cigarette, at his typewriter, chatting to tea-ladies -
there's full track-by-track info, an American Discography and extensive reissue credits.
STEVE BERKOWITZ produced the reissue and MARK WILDER did the superlative
remastering from original first generation master tapes.
As the GREIL
MARCUS liner-notes exhaustively tell you - STEREO through the early to late
Sixties was something of an afterthought. The MONO mixes were where it was at
for the artists and the producers (and they claim the public too). But for
those of us who have grown up from the Seventies onwards on the STEREO versions
- hearing these `overplayed' recordings in such stark one-channel force is a
revelation. You also forget how pretty and touching some of the songs were/are
- the brilliance of his lone original on the cover-heavy debut album -
"Song For Woody" - the sweet longing of "Girl From The North
Country" (lyrics from it title this review). There's the gorgeous amble of
"Corrina. Corrina" and "She Belongs To Me" - with the
B-side cool of "From A Buick 6". The sheer aural kick that comes off
"Pledging My Time" from 1966 still whacks me sideways - same goes for
the electric and acidic wit of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat". And the
side long "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands" has more genius lyrics in
it than most people know what to do with. It's also cool to see that Columbia
followed the SACD route by splitting the "Blonde On Blonde" album
into its two CDs so you get the original album experience of flipping Sides.
Having grown so used to the 2003 STEREO SACD of John Wesley Harding - the mono
of "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" comes as a visceral shock to me -
now so much starker and raw. And don't get me started on the sheer genius of
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" - even now it's combo of rollicking
rhythm and rhyming brilliance floors me. And in MONO - it's even punchier
(watch those parking meters). Niggles: it's a shame the missing single sides
weren't put onto a separate Disc 9 so that fans could have gotten the FULL Mono
picture - but the brief was always the albums. Apart from that - an exemplary
release - and one that reeks of pride.
Was Bob Dylan
really that good? Did he deserve the Godlike status he was held in? Does he
still warrant that crown of glory to this day? You bet your subterranean rainy
day women he does!
Good on ye Mister Zimmerman.
Extraordinary stuff...
