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Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

Where the lyrics of Another Side of Bob Dylan take you, and where it was really made.

Fourteen songs were recorded in a single three-hour session on June 9, 1964, and only eleven of them made the album.

Key places

The one recording session at Columbia Studio A (1964)

Recording site A&R Recording Studios — The first and only recording session for the album was held on June 9, 1964 at Columbia's Studio A. Dylan recorded 14 original songs in one three-hour evening session, and 11 of them were chosen for the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Another Side of Bob Dylan: fourth studio album by Bob Dylan
• Released August 8, 1964 by Columbia Records
• Departs from the more socially conscious style of The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)
• Dylan performs every song solo, with his usual acoustic guitar and harmonica
• Piano on one track only: Black Crow Blues
• Some influential folk figures criticized the change, including Sing Out! editor Irwin Silber
• A high-definition 5.1 surround sound edition was released on SACD in 2003

Background

• Throughout 1963, Dylan worked on a novel and a play
• Several publishers were interested in signing him, but his manager Albert Grossman chose a major publisher
• February 1964: 20-day trip across the United States in a station wagon with friends Paul Clayton, Victor Maymudes and Pete Karman
• Chimes of Freedom was composed during this trip and premiered at a Denver concert
• Mr. Tambourine Man was also composed during this trip
• Dylan later traveled through Europe, ending at Vouliagmeni, a village outside Athens, Greece
• He finished many songs there; nine of them were recorded after his return to New York

Recording

• The first and only recording session was held June 9, 1964 at Columbia's Studio A, 799 Seventh Avenue in New York City
• Tom Wilson returned as producer
• Dylan recorded 14 original compositions in one three-hour session, 7pm to 10pm
• 11 of them were chosen for the final album
• Rejected: Denise Denise, Mr. Tambourine Man and Mama, You Been on My Mind
• Ramblin' Jack Elliott joined part of the session and sang harmony on the chorus of Mr. Tambourine Man
• The master take of My Back Pages was recorded at 1:30 in the morning

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing, Minnesota.
• Moved to New York City in January 1961 to pursue a music career.
• Signed to Columbia Records after playing harmonica on Carolyn Hester's album; debut album Bob Dylan released in 1962.

Members

• Solo artist; backed over the years by bands including the Hawks/the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his touring band led by bassist Tony Garnier.

Career

• Breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); protest songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.
• Went electric with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), provoking controversy among folk fans.
• Motorcycle accident in 1966 led to nearly eight years without touring; Basement Tapes recorded with the Band.
• Converted to Christianity in the late 1970s and released gospel albums; won Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind (1997).
• Has toured since 1988 on the Never Ending Tour; won an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards; awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Dylan premiered his new songs at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1964
• Irwin Silber wrote an open letter in Sing Out! saying the new songs seemed inner-directed and that the paraphernalia of fame was getting in Dylan's way
• David Horowitz called the songs an unqualified failure of taste and self-critical awareness
• Phil Ochs defended Dylan in an open letter for Broadside, calling his writing as brilliant as ever
• Ochs praised Ballad in Plain D and It Ain't Me, Babe as masterpieces of personal statement
• The album was a step back commercially and did not reach the Top 40 in the United States

Reappraisal

• Tim Riley called it a bridge between folkie rhetoric and the electric rants that followed, a rock album without electric guitars
• Bill Wyman dismissed it as a lesser relationship album, but conceded that Chimes of Freedom was a lovely hymn
• Clinton Heylin called My Back Pages the least successful example of the new style
• Critics later viewed the album as a transitional record

Records

• United States: peaked at No. 43, although it eventually went gold
• United Kingdom: peaked at No. 8 on the charts in 1965
• Voted number 133 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums, 3rd Edition (2000)
• High-definition 5.1 surround SACD edition released by Columbia in 2003

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Four songs from this album were recorded by The Byrds: Chimes of Freedom, My Back Pages, Spanish Harlem Incident and All I Really Want to Do
• The Byrds' breakthrough hit Mr. Tambourine Man came from an acetate copy of Dylan's unreleased June 9, 1964 session take
• Johnny Cash recorded his own hit version of It Ain't Me, Babe soon after the album came out
• Denise Denise and California use the same music as Black Crow Blues but have different lyrics
• A complete take of Mama, You Been on My Mind was recorded for the album but rejected for reasons unknown; Dylan's version was released in 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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