They lie next to each other in most people’s I-Tunes or alphabetised record collections. Be the latter, wish I was. They lie next to each other in terms of the object of the albums. They also lie next to each other in terms of legacy and in a word brilliance. Dylan’s two great odes to Sara Dylan; Blonde On Blonde and Blood On The Tracks.
So that ugly question rears its head; which is better? First of all to try and retain some veneer of intelligence let me rephrase the question. Which do you find preferable? Both are truly superb albums BOB being slightly more upbeat whereas BOTT is, as attested by Hank Moody, a sublimely melancholic heart break album.
All sorts of highlights everywhere; the jangling almost Let It Be-esque piano on You’re A Big Girl Now, the howling chorus on Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again’. The opening tracks; Rainy Day Woman and Tangled Up In Blue are damn near inseparable. Charles Cross biography of Jimi Hendrix contains a wonderful anecdote about the first time Hendrix listened to BOB with Linda Keith (then boyfriend of Keith Richards whilst Hendrix was a struggling guitarist in Harlem). It tells further of his first acid trip and his reaction (delight and awe) to the opening track. No such succinct anecdote for Tangled Up In Blue. Although I did hear it on the radio in a doctor’s waiting room in Chicago, not bad really. It made the waiting room a little more entertaining. The only magazines they had were ‘Healthy Pregnancy’ (5 issues) and ‘Disney Life’ (2 issues, the second of which was dire).
The first two big-super-massive stand out songs for me are Visions of Johanna and I Want You on BOB, conversely the only equally impressive song on BOTT is If You See Her, Say Hello. Visions is an awe inspiring song, its epic length never threatens to cheapen its effect. The initial description of long empty nights is so beautifully poignant. Dylan’s voice recalls gently over the snapping cymbals a whole series of images, metaphors and more beautiful images. The drawn out singing of ‘That conquer my mind’ certainly makes me conscious of the effect of his mind being conquered. I Want You is a completely different song, it has a jangle and a swagger to it. The over emphasis of the final word on most lines in the verses and the stress on want in the chorus line is a perfect yet subtle opposite and a nod to Dylan’s mastery of words. My favourite Dylan lyrics, ever and of all time are also in this song, so it sort of has to get a mention from me. ‘And I wait for them to interrupt, me drinking from this broken cup’. I won’t even get into it, it is further down the blog in the piece about Springsteen’s cover of the song. Go on, go find it, the increased page views will tickle me with all seven shades of delight.
My personal decision on the two albums lies with If You See Her Say Hello. Consider the album, devoted to the divorce with Sara Dylan and the suddenly the meaning is clear. It is his closure, the return of the natural good will that is the result of sharing so much happiness with someone. This is the same Sara, the subject of Sara on the album Desire. He recounts to her in that song that he stayed up in the Chelsea Hotel, writing Sad Eyed Lady for (you). Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, which took up one entire side of the LP on release is another epic love song and showcases the strength of feeling he had for his wife.
I have always felt that it is easier to fall in love than to climb out of the hell hole that follows and so in it’s relatively miniscule length (about 35% as long as Sad Eyed Lady) it manages to do a whole lot more. The pain in BOTT is somehow more appealing to me than the more mirthful BOB, a heartbreak album just somehow means more. I guess the slightly lower profile appeals to me too. Bring up Dylan and most pseudo intellectual muso’s can tell you all about how great Just Like A Woman is, think of that scene in Annie Hall when he goes out for a date with the Rolling Stone journalist. I think it is knowing those first few lines; ‘If you see her say hello, she might be in Tangiers, she let here last early spring, is living there I hear, say for me that I’m alright, though things get kind slow, she might think that I’ve forgotten her, go tell her it isn’t so’. It is all there, the time away from her and his dealing with it. He has gone on to remember her fondly;’ if you get close to her, give her a kiss from me’, and ‘oh whatever makes her happy, I won’t stand in her way’. The sheer emotion contained in this song is indicative of the album as a whole and for that I think it just shades it for me. So there you go, if you like misery, you might prefer Blood On The Tracks!
Peace
