The harmonica is also present in the beginning of the song, like many songs on this album. 3/5Ī more laid back song with a blues guitar throwing in licks here and there. The thing that makes Blonde on Blonde so good is its ability to have good songs, if not great ones. A very good song with a lot of blues and folk mixed, but again, nothing really special. Off the bat, a very bluesy song with a standard blues guitar groove and harmonica added. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The song could've been shorter I guess, because essentially it's Dylan telling everyone to get stoned. It's a slow song with a lot of harmonica and marching drum beat, but not much else. "Everybody must get stoned" is the anthem of this song. From the epic 'Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' to the simple 'I Want You', Dylan merges many styles and ideas to make one helluva an album. Blonde on Blonde was originally released as a double-album, and is known as being one of his best works.
Great stuff & worth buying again, even if you owned the previous stereo-only SACD version, like I did.Īnd if you don't like harmonica, you shouldn't be listening to Dylan in the first place, period.Bob Dylan is well-known for his musical talent and his amazing, if not a bit strange, writing talents. This SACD corrects all that, and you get to hear all sorts of details (inclusive screw-ups) that the older mixes obscured. Previous CD mixes of this classic were shrill & lacked bass. It _is_ a vintage 4-track recording, so do not expect miracles, but the vox and instruments are intelligently placed in the front, and center speakers-mostly, Dylan's voice is hovering above the listener, while his guitar is in the center. The MC mix is the best of the three available (if you include the RB CD layer). In most cases, the surround speakers are used for room ambience, with Rainy Day Women 12 & 35 being an obvious exception-it literally sounds like you're in the middle of a drunken Salvation Army march rolling down the French Quarter of New Orleans. I'm rather shocked this hasn't been reviewed sooner-it's definately an essential SACD surround release, not the least because it has always been a great album of Dylan at his 1960s peak. Review by FivePointOne (4 of 4 found this review helpful) It's a joy to listen to my favorite Dylan album reproduced so nicely. The enhancements are transparent and do not distract from the album's original sound. Pay attention especially to the acoustic guitars and harmonica.Īll that has been missing from the original LP is restored. The SACD stereo layer brings new joys to the listener. Adjust the volume and compare, both recordings sound great. The stereo version is equal to the gold disc but might sound livelier since it plays at a louder volume level. Sony released a "gold" disc CD later which did wonders for resolving these issues, but this disc was hard to find and expensive too much of an investment for many collectors.īoth the stereo and the SACD stereo layers sound very good. Other tracks suffer from missing or de-emphasised intruments as well. The organ is completely missing from "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". When Sony first released "Blonde on Blonde" on compact disc, the overall sound was bright and lively but it was not faithful to the original LP. The SACD release of this album finally restores what's been missing from the the original CD release.