Blonde on Blonde review

The 7th album by Bob Dylan. This is his first double album and widely regarded as one of his greatest works. It also includes some of his most famous and beloved songs.

Tracks:

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35: 7/10 while one of Dylan's most repetitive and simplistic songs, whether you see it as an ode to drugs or another rebellious counter-culture song, it works and makes for an amusing and interesting listen.

2. Pledging My Time: 8/10 even with its repetitive nature, this song ends up being highly effective.

3. Visions of Johanna: 10/10 an achingly sad and affecting masterpiece, this is the lost lover song that all lost lover songs want to be.

4. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later): 8/10 another smashing song with a great instrumental, even if the lyrics are confusing at times.

5. I Want You: 10/10 A song which often nearly makes me cry, this is one of Dylan's most beautiful songs. Dylan is known for his lyrics and yet another thing that makes this song so great is that it contains possibly Dylan's greatest instrumental of all time.

6. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again: 9/10 another collection of surreal, society-dissing metaphors from Bob Dylan, but one of his best songs of this type. A crazy journey through the surreal lows of society you'll never want to end.

7. Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat: 8/10 an excellent and highly witty meditation on sexual jealousy and materialism, although it can be confusing.

8. Just Like a Woman: 9/10 a deeply touching relationship song, with a great narrative shift in the final verse. It's also not as sexist as many believe.

9. Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine: 9/10 once again, a relationship song that feels real, balanced and complex and doesn't go down an obvious route.

10. Temporary Like Achilles: 7/10 Bob Dylan songs are rarely, if ever, bad, so while this song is generic and uninspired there's enough oomph here to make it worth listening to.

11. Absolutely Sweet Marie: 9/10 a truly fantastic song that combines 2 of the things Bob Dylan does best- surreal metaphors and emotional depth- in a brilliant way.

12. 4th Time Around: 8/10 maybe not one of the album's classics, but saying that is an indicator of how many fantastic songs there are on this album.

13. Obviously 5 Believers: 8/10 on first appearance, it's hugely simplistic. Despite this, there's still a lot of energy and it's a solidly enjoyable song.

14. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands: 9/10 love letters don't get much better than this.

Best song: Visions of Johanna
Worst song: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

Summary: One word: wow. A titanic juggernaut of an album, this one is an utterly colossal achievement. There are so many different sounds, so many different themes, so many different songs but every track is united by one thing: they're all done with phenomenal skill. Bob Dylan does some of the best stuff he's ever done and ever will do here, It's difficult to know entirely what to make of Blonde on Blonde. There's so much material here and it has so much to say, but it never feels chaotic. An truly overwhelming experience, and once in ends you'll feel like you've been knocked out repeatedly by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  


Final rating: 10/10