Following on the heels of an album where he repudiated his past with his greatest backing band, Blood on the Tracks finds Bob Dylan, in a way, retreating to the past, recording a largely quiet, acoustic-based album. But this is hardly nostalgia -- this is the sound of an artist returning to his strengths, what feels most familiar, as he accepts a traumatic situation, namely the breakdown of his marriage. This is an album alternately bitter, sorrowful, regretful, and peaceful, easily the closest he ever came to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. That's not to say that it's an explicitly confessional record, since many songs are riddles or allegories, yet the warmth of the music makes it feel that way. The original version of the album was even quieter -- first takes of "Idiot Wind" and "Tangled Up in Blue," available on The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3, are hushed and quiet (excised verses are quoted in the liner notes, but not heard on the record) -- but Blood on the Tracks remains an intimate, revealing affair since these harsher takes let his anger surface the way his sadness does elsewhere. As such, it's an affecting, unbearably poignant record, not because it's a glimpse into his soul, but because the songs are remarkably clear-eyed and sentimental, lovely and melancholy at once. And, in a way, it's best that he was backed with studio musicians here, since the professional, understated backing lets the songs and emotion stand at the forefront. Dylan made albums more influential than this, but he never made one better.
I suspect this is the only time Bob Dylan and Bette Midler worked together. I used to play it on my punk rock radio show on KUSF and people would get pissed off. The song was first released in 1975 on Blood on the Tracks and the next year Dylan did it as a duet with Bette. It may have turned him off to the song because he only sang it once after that (at a live show in Detroit in 1990). It soun...
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Steal of a deal.Near mint Blood on the Tracks.$12Hell yea.
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Originally posted on September 4th, 2006:I saw Bob Dylan last night. My brain still refuses to accept that. First, whoever was in charge of the sound should be fired. I couldn't hear the bass at all and I had to strain to hear the organ. The concert was originally supposed to be at Medlar Field, but was moved inside to the Bryce Jordan Center because there was a chance of rain. I understand tha...
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the existentialist jewel "Simple Twist of Fate, another classic which I feel is just as good in it's unpolished state
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Again, this track, for me, has a certain depth of feeling not shown on the official release
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A saxophone someplace far off playedAs she was walkin' by the arcade.As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin' up,She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gateAnd forgot about a simple twist of fate.
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This is a simple beautiful song.Possibly my favourite bob dylan song
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Tangled Up In Blue....one of my favorites and a song that is etched into my memory bank. My Mother was (and still is) a huge Dylan fan so this music became part of me early on. That being said I never bothered to learn any of his song on guitar. The other day this song was playing in my head and my thought was 'wow what a great song with a great story and a masterpiece of Dylan's, I should lea...
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In the days following September 11, 2001, David Fricke (unquestionably one of the best go-to guys at Rolling Stone) wrote a fantastic, heartfelt piece on music as "shelter from the storm":In my lowest moments, though, I keep turning to something without words: Jimi Hendrix’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock in 1969, a fireball of confusion, distress, bloodied optimism
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I suspect this is the only time Bob Dylan and Bette Midler worked together. I used to play it on my punk rock radio show on KUSF and people would get pissed off. The song was first released in 1975 on Blood on the Tracks and the next year Dylan did it as a duet with Bette. It may have turned him off to the song because he only sang it once after that (at a live show in Detroit in 1990). It soun...
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"I've seen love go by my doorIt's never been this close beforeNever been so easy or so slow.Been shooting in the dark too longWhen somethin's not right it's wrongYer gonna make me lonesome when you go.Dragon clouds so high aboveI've only known careless love,It's always hit me from below.This time around it's more correctRight on target, so direct,Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.Purple c.
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Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the pressWhoever it is I wish they'd cut it out but when they will I can only guess.They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy,She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.I can't help it if I'm lucky.People see me all the time and they just can't remember how to actTheir minds are filled with big ideas, i...
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Steal of a deal.Near mint Blood on the Tracks.$12Hell yea.
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"Buckets of rainBuckets of tearsGot all them buckets coming out of my earsBuckets of moonbeams in my handYou got all the love honey babyI can stand.I been meekAnd hard like and oakI seen pretty people disappear like smokeFriends will arrive friends will disappearIf you want me honey babyI'll be there.I like your smileAnd your fingertipsI like the way that you move your lipsI like the cool way y...
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A few days ago, I was walking with a friend along Hematite Lake Trail in LBL National Recreation Area. We came across an observation blind, and took the opportunity to break out the trail mix and rest for a while. All over inside this pace there were people's signatures and quotes. Among these were these words:"I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form."Come in," she said,"I'll giv...
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 "Blood on the Tracks")
