Album: Blood On The Tracks
Artist: Bob Dylan
Born: Duluth, Minnesota
Released: January 1975
Genre: Folk
Influenced: Patti Smith, Steely Dan, Tom Waits, Billy Bragg, Bruce Springsteen
What to say about arguably (no, sod it, the) best collection of songs ever released that hasn't been said already? So much has been written about this album (much of which I've read), that it's hard to know where to start in such a short blog. To focus my thoughts, I've picked out a trio of important figures that influenced the development of Blood On The Tracks:
Sara: Dylan's wife from 1965 until 1977, and mother to four of his children, had nursed him back to health after his motorcycle accident and been the cornerstone of his idyllic family life during the late 60s and early 70s. By 1974, however, the cracks were appearing in their marriage. Until then, Dylan said in his Chronicles that, "outside my family, nothing held any real interest for me … I was fantasising about a nine-to-five existence, a house on a tree-lined block with a white picket fence." He hadn't released a studio album for four years since New Morning, but on 1974's underrated but erratic Planet Waves the darkness had reappeared, especially on Dirge ("I've paid the price of solitude but at least I'm out of debt"). When they divorced in 1977, part of the agreement was that Sara would never talk publicly about their relationship, and this remains the case. Dylan would write a more direct song to his wife, titled Sara (on 1976's Desire), in which he also admits that Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands was a tribute to her, but despite his protestations to the contrary, it's pretty obvious that Blood On The Tracks explores the emotions he's feeling about the breakdown of their marriage. He's metaphorically pouring his bleeding heart into the grooves of the record.
Chekhov: In Chronicles, Dylan says, "eventually I would record an entire album based on Chekhov short stories – critics thought it was autobiographical – that was fine." The album referenced is clearly Blood On The Tracks, and while Dylan's words strike me as another of his clever ploys to throw critics and fans off the scent, I'm sure there's truth to his assertion that Chekhov inspired the songs. There is a Chekhov story, The Steppe, which contains the line of dialogue, "They found him by the track of blood", but that's hardly conclusive proof and points more to the fact that Dylan was inspired by a variety of literary voices from the past (poets Verlaine and Rimbaud are both mentioned on the album).
Norman Raeben: What is clear is that Dylan experienced a shift in artistic consciousness, reflected in the maturity and changing perspectives of the songs, which are a long way from his wild lyrical leaps and stream-of-consciousness experiments in the mid-60s. Having hooked up with the Band, on both Planet Wave and on tour (1974's Before The Flood is one of Dylan's best live albums), he clearly had recaptured his love of playing live and rediscovered his muse, but his time spent painting with mentor Norman Raeben also helped to unlock the creativity that comes bursting forth on Blood On The Tracks. Dylan himself has been quoted about the effect Raeben had on his songwriting, "I was trying to be somebody in the present time, while conjuring up a lot of past images. I was trying to do it in a conscious way. I used to be able to do it in an unconscious way..." Nowhere is this new quality in his songwriting more evident than on Tangled Up In Blue, one of the finest works not just in pop music but in the Western canon.
There's so much wisdom and humour in these songs ("he helped her out of a jam, I guess / but he used a little too much force") and I love the sound of his playing, with the band in Minnesota (the original New York versions are much darker), as well as his singing. There really is no sense in me talking about these songs or picking highlights (everything is magnificent), just go ahead and give it a spin.
What to say about arguably (no, sod it, the) best collection of songs ever released that hasn't been said already? So much has been written about this album (much of which I've read), that it's hard to know where to start in such a short blog. To focus my thoughts, I've picked out a trio of important figures that influenced the development of Blood On The Tracks:
Sara: Dylan's wife from 1965 until 1977, and mother to four of his children, had nursed him back to health after his motorcycle accident and been the cornerstone of his idyllic family life during the late 60s and early 70s. By 1974, however, the cracks were appearing in their marriage. Until then, Dylan said in his Chronicles that, "outside my family, nothing held any real interest for me … I was fantasising about a nine-to-five existence, a house on a tree-lined block with a white picket fence." He hadn't released a studio album for four years since New Morning, but on 1974's underrated but erratic Planet Waves the darkness had reappeared, especially on Dirge ("I've paid the price of solitude but at least I'm out of debt"). When they divorced in 1977, part of the agreement was that Sara would never talk publicly about their relationship, and this remains the case. Dylan would write a more direct song to his wife, titled Sara (on 1976's Desire), in which he also admits that Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands was a tribute to her, but despite his protestations to the contrary, it's pretty obvious that Blood On The Tracks explores the emotions he's feeling about the breakdown of their marriage. He's metaphorically pouring his bleeding heart into the grooves of the record.
Chekhov: In Chronicles, Dylan says, "eventually I would record an entire album based on Chekhov short stories – critics thought it was autobiographical – that was fine." The album referenced is clearly Blood On The Tracks, and while Dylan's words strike me as another of his clever ploys to throw critics and fans off the scent, I'm sure there's truth to his assertion that Chekhov inspired the songs. There is a Chekhov story, The Steppe, which contains the line of dialogue, "They found him by the track of blood", but that's hardly conclusive proof and points more to the fact that Dylan was inspired by a variety of literary voices from the past (poets Verlaine and Rimbaud are both mentioned on the album).
Norman Raeben: What is clear is that Dylan experienced a shift in artistic consciousness, reflected in the maturity and changing perspectives of the songs, which are a long way from his wild lyrical leaps and stream-of-consciousness experiments in the mid-60s. Having hooked up with the Band, on both Planet Wave and on tour (1974's Before The Flood is one of Dylan's best live albums), he clearly had recaptured his love of playing live and rediscovered his muse, but his time spent painting with mentor Norman Raeben also helped to unlock the creativity that comes bursting forth on Blood On The Tracks. Dylan himself has been quoted about the effect Raeben had on his songwriting, "I was trying to be somebody in the present time, while conjuring up a lot of past images. I was trying to do it in a conscious way. I used to be able to do it in an unconscious way..." Nowhere is this new quality in his songwriting more evident than on Tangled Up In Blue, one of the finest works not just in pop music but in the Western canon.
There's so much wisdom and humour in these songs ("he helped her out of a jam, I guess / but he used a little too much force") and I love the sound of his playing, with the band in Minnesota (the original New York versions are much darker), as well as his singing. There really is no sense in me talking about these songs or picking highlights (everything is magnificent), just go ahead and give it a spin.
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