Blood on the Tracks

Blood on the Tracks
Studio album by Bob Dylan
Released	January 17, 1975
Recorded	September 16–19, 1974 A&R Recording Studios, New York City, and December 27, 30, 1974 Sound 80 Studio, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Genre	Rock, folk rock
Length	51:42
Label	Columbia
Producer	Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan chronology
Planet Waves (1974) Blood on the Tracks (1975) The Basement Tapes (1975)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Q
Allmusic
Rolling Stone	(positive)
Robert Christgau	A
Pop Matters	(favorable)
BBC Music	(favorable)

Blood on the Tracks is Bob Dylan's 15th studio album, released by Columbia Records in January 1975. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records.

The album, which followed on the resurgence of critical acclaim for Dylan's work after Planet Waves, was greeted enthusiastically by fans and critics. In the years following its release it has come to be regarded as one of his best albums; it is quite common for subsequent records to be labeled his "best since Blood on the Tracks." It is also commonly seen as a standard for confessional singer-songwriter albums; though Dylan has denied that the songs are autobiographical, his son Jakob Dylan has stated: "The songs are my parents talking." Most of the lyrics on the album revolve around heartache, anger, and loneliness. In 2003, the album was ranked number 16 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 charts and #4 on the UK Albums Chart. The single "Tangled Up in Blue" peaked at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The album remains one of Dylan's all-time best-selling studio releases, with a double-platinum US certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Recording

Initially, Dylan considered recording Blood on the Tracks with an electric backing group, and even contacted Mike Bloomfield, a guitarist who had worked with him on Highway 61 Revisited. The two met, and Dylan showcased the songs he was planning to record, but he played them too quickly for Bloomfield to learn. Bloomfield later recalled the experience: "They all began to sound the same to me; they were all in the same key; they were all long. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. He was sort of pissed off that I didn't pick it up". In the end, Dylan rejected the idea of recording the album with a band, and instead substituted stripped-down acoustic arrangements for all of his songs.

Dylan arrived at Columbia Records' A&R Recording Studios in New York City on September 16, 1974, where it was soon realized that he was taking a "spontaneous" approach to recording. The session engineer at the time, Phil Ramone, later said that he would "go from one song to another like a medley. Sometimes he will have several bars, and in the next version, he will change his mind about how many bars there should be in between a verse. Or eliminate a verse. Or add a chorus when you don't expect". Eric Weissberg and his band, Deliverance, originally recruited as session men, were rejected after two days of recording because they could not keep up with Dylan's pace. Dylan retained bassist Tony Brown from the band, and soon added organist Paul Griffin (who had also worked on Highway 61 Revisited) and steel guitarist Buddy Cage. After ten days and four sessions with the current lineup, Dylan had finished recording and mixing, and, by November, had cut a test pressing on the album. Columbia soon began to prepare for the album's imminent release, but, three months later, just before the scheduled launch, Dylan re-recorded several songs at the last minute, in Minneapolis' Sound 80 Studios, utilizing local musicians organized by his brother, David Zimmerman. Even with this setback, Columbia managed to release Blood on the Tracks by January 17, 1975.

Notes

The songs that make up Blood on the Tracks are seen by most Dylan biographers as having been inspired by his personal turmoil at the time, particularly his separation from his then-wife Sara Dylan. However, Dylan has never said as much, and in his 2004 memoir, Chronicles, Vol. 1, he stated that the songs have nothing to do with his own personal life, and that they were inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov.

Dylan's fans theorize endlessly about his reasons for revamping the album, with one unconfirmed view being that the musical feel of the album had been monotonous, with too many songs in the same key and the same languid rhythm. It has also been said that, just two weeks before the release of Blood on the Tracks, Dylan played an acetate disc pressing of the record for his brother, his ensuing comments leading Dylan to re-cut five of the songs. Although the original test pressing is widely bootlegged, only one of the five original takes from it has seen official release ("You're a Big Girl Now", released on 1985's Biograph). Alternate takes of "Tangled Up in Blue", "Idiot Wind", and "If You See Her, Say Hello" from the same sessions were released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1–3, which also includes "Call Letter Blues", an outtake. "Up to Me", another outtake from these sessions, was released on Biograph. "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is the only song from the New York sessions that has not been officially released.

Told of the album's lasting popularity, Dylan was later to say (in a radio interview by Mary Travers): "A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It's hard for me to relate to that. I mean, it, you know, people enjoying that type of pain, you know?" When speaking as to how the album seems to speak of the artist's own personal pain, Dylan replied that he didn't write "confessional songs".

According to Jimmy McDonough, prior to releasing Blood on the Tracks, Dylan visited Neil Young in his home in Florida to showcase the songs on the album and seek out Young's opinion.

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Dylan.

Side one

1. "Tangled Up in Blue"  – 5:42 (Sound 80 Studio – Minneapolis, MN – December 30, 1974)
2. "Simple Twist of Fate"  – 4:19 (A & R Studios – New York, NY – September 19, 1974)
3. "You're a Big Girl Now"  – 4:36 (Sound 80 Studio – Minneapolis, MN – December 27, 1974)
4. "Idiot Wind"  – 7:48 (Sound 80 Studio – Minneapolis, MN – December 27, 1974)
5. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"  – 2:55 (A & R Studios – New York, NY – September 17, 1974)

Side two

1. "Meet Me in the Morning"  – 4:22 (A & R Studios – New York, NY – September 16, 1974)
2. "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"  – 8:51 (Sound 80 Studio – Minneapolis, MN – December 30, 1974)
3. "If You See Her, Say Hello"  – 4:49 (Sound 80 Studio – Minneapolis, MN – December 30, 1974)
4. "Shelter from the Storm"  – 5:02 (A & R Studios – New York, NY – September 17, 1974)
5. "Buckets of Rain"  – 3:22 (A & R Studios – New York, NY – September 19, 1974)

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position	Certification
1975	Billboard 200 (United States)	1	2× Platinum
	UK Albums Chart	4	Gold
	Canadian Albums Chart	1	Platinum

Personnel

• Bob Dylan – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Organ, Mandolin
• Billy Peterson – Bass (Minneapolis Sessions)
• Eric Weissberg – Banjo, Guitar (NYC Sessions)
• Tony Brown – Bass (NYC Sessions)
• Charles Brown, III – Guitar (NYC Sessions)
• Bill Berg – Drums (Minneapolis Sessions)
• Buddy Cage – Steel guitar (NYC Session)
• Barry Kornfeld – Guitar (NYC Sessions)
• Richard Crooks – Drums (NYC Sessions)
• Paul Griffin – Organ, Keyboards (NYC Sessions)
• Gregg Inhofer – Keyboards (Minneapolis Sessions)
• Thomas McFaul – Keyboards (NYC Sessions)
• Chris Weber – Guitar, 12 String Guitar (Minneapolis Sessions)
• Kevin Odegard – Guitar (Minneapolis Sessions)
• Peter Ostroushko – Mandolin (Minneapolis Sessions)
• Phil Ramone – Engineer (NYC Sessions)
• Pete Hamill – Liner Notes
• Paul Till – Photo
• David Oppenheim – Illustration
• Ron Coro – Art Direction

See also

• The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

External links

• Blood on the Tracks Test Pressing at bobsboots.com
• A Review, along with many others, at superseventies.com

Preceded by AWB by Average White Band

Billboard 200 number-one album March 1–14, 1975

Succeeded by Have You Never Been Mellow by Olivia Newton-John