Maps of Music

Blonde on Blonde (1966)

Where the lyrics of Blonde on Blonde take you, and where it was really made.

Dylan's double album was built in Nashville after the New York sessions had produced just one finished track.

Key places

The Nashville studio where most of the album was recorded (1966)

Recording site Nashville — The New York sessions yielded only one track for the final album, so the remaining songs were recorded at Columbia's Nashville studio in February and March 1966. The point is placed at the city centre, not at a confirmed building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Blonde on Blonde: seventh studio album by Bob Dylan
• Released as a double album on 20 June 1966 by Columbia Records
• Completed a trilogy of Dylan rock albums that began with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
• One of the first double albums in rock music

Background

• After Highway 61 Revisited in August 1965, Dylan set about hiring a touring band
• Mike Bloomfield chose not to tour with Dylan and stayed with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
• Al Kooper told Dylan he did not wish to continue touring after late-August concerts
• Dylan's manager was setting up a grueling schedule covering the U.S., Australia and Europe
• Dylan contacted Levon and the Hawks, a group with members from Arkansas and Canada

Recording

• Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians
• The New York sessions yielded only one track for the final album: "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"
• Producer Bob Johnston suggested moving to Nashville, Tennessee
• Nashville session musicians augmented the group, and the remaining songs were recorded in February and March 1966

Cover

• Cover photo: 12-by-12-inch close-up portrait of Dylan
• Photographed by Jerry Schatzberg in the cold, with the image later chosen by Dylan

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

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

• Los Angeles Times: Pete Johnson praised Dylan as a superbly eloquent writer of pop and folk songs
• Crawdaddy! editor Paul Williams wrote in July 1966 that the album is a cache of emotion and a well handled package of excellent music
• The album received generally favorable reviews.

Reappraisal

• Critics often rank Blonde on Blonde as one of the greatest albums of all time.
• Michael Gray: the album offers a persona awash inside the chaos, with a grand-scale feel and music
• Robert Shelton: a hallmark collection that completes Dylan's first major rock cycle, which began with Bringing It All Back Home

Records

• Billboard Top LPs chart peak: number 9 (US)
• UK album chart peak: number 3
• US certification: double platinum
• Two US top-20 singles: "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and "I Want You"
• Certified gold disc in August 1967
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999
• Ranked number 38 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list in 2020

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• A piano was installed in Dylan's Nashville hotel room, and Kooper played it to help Dylan write lyrics before teaching the tunes to the musicians.
• The album debuted on Billboard's Top LPs chart on 23 July at number 101, six days before Dylan's motorcycle accident in Woodstock.
• The release date was 20 June 1966, though for many years May 16 was thought to be the correct date.
• It has been described as rock's first studio double LP by a major artist, released one week before Freak Out!
• Al Kooper played keyboards on every track of the album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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