But Sooner or Later, One of Us Must Know

I friends with a lot of people, some are music guys like myself and some are just casual listeners and some are obsessive fans of an artist or artists. Take my friend Jim, I met him through my best friend one night when I was a teenager. He is a music guy and an obsessive fan of a few artists, some these include Guided By Voices, Pere Ubu and the general obsessive (because there are so many of them), Bob Dylan. I would say I am on a thin line of being obsessive with Bob Dylan. I have more bootlegs then any artist that of him. That does include King Crimson and Neil Young. I have two true bootleg Box Sets of Dylan compared to the one of Neil Young and one of Zappa. I look everywhere for first pressings of him on vinyl. I have Dylan's and Highway 61 and Freewheelin' in original mono vinyl.

My Dylan craziness extends to helping other Dylan fans find other artist who cover Dylan and make mix discs for them. I go so far as when I put a mix of music for the iPod I make sure there is at least 3 Dylan songs. Dylan was never mentioned in this blog because I had no idea of all the Dylan albums there are I like about 11 albums that I like of him and they change position on what Dylan era I like at the moment.

I have seen Dylan 12 times, the most out of any solo artist. I was at the epic Toad's Place show that lasted 5 hours. I was in High School when that show was happening and of all the times getting in trouble this was the best time to get in trouble because I witnessed history.



So the delay on what Dylan album has come to this. It was a tight race. I mean most of my Dylan albums that I like are from the 1960's. The harder part is to put them in order of likability from the 1960's was not even a thought because each in there own way they are great albums. I am not sure how I became a great fan of his 60's music, let alone him in general because my parents are not fans of his work. My father would change the radio just to not hear him.

So without any flair or drama I decided to pick as my first Dylan album the one everyone should but does not have in their collection Blonde on Blonde. I like this album for many reasons. The first reason and not the main reason is because it's a double album. I really think when he put this out he had intentions of doing a double record. If you look at the body of his work from Freewheelin' to Blonde on Blonde each album is longer then the albums of that time. Over that time period albums were no more then 38 minutes in length. Dylan was averaging about 45 minutes in length. He wanted to get all of your attention. It was only a matter of time before he did his double album. He was the first to do a studio double album too.

What I like about this album is the fact it grabs your attention right away. It's Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 that has this feel your about to go on a ride of epic proportions. Most of his backing band for this LP was none other then The Band. He also had Al Kooper on there as well. So looking back it was an all star group.

One of my favorite songs on Blonde on Blonde is "Visions of Johanna" It's a great story in the only way Dylan can. He makes the song last over 7 minutes and keeps his reputation as a long storyteller. I like also "Just Like a Woman" that song is his hidden gem on the album. It seems to be the most unusual that this song is the oddest song covered. "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" is the opener for side three. It seems its cut from the same as "Rainy Day Women" mold.

Lastly the big gem for me is "4th Time Around" because it's one of my top 10 Dylan songs. It was a great Dylan relic for me. I have a 2Cd set of just Blonde on Blonde out-takes and its great to listen how the album progresses. One of the songs that is not on the album and should be is Jet Pilot. The rocker is only 30 seconds on Biograph but on the bootleg I have it is over two minutes. I am sure there is a circulating full version out there.



With all that high praise this is the Dylan gem for me. It was the first Dylan I ever got and it was the first Dylan that I overplayed in my collection. In the future I am sure I will discuss the importance of his other classics, but to me this is where it all started. Dylan is amazing and if I could turn back time and follow him or at least see him on tour this is the era I would see. Even if you don't like Dylan like I do at least try out this one. Enjoy the first Double LP Classic.