Review Summary: Blood on the Tracks is deep, complex, and haunting. One of the best albums of all time.
If Blood on the Tracks wasn't recorded when it was, Dylan would've lost his "legend" name. It's hard to bounce-back after a few albums of such garbage (with a few exceptions) that they had to remove them from shelves. But he's Dylan, he can do anything, right?
Blood on the Tracks is usually regarded as a very personal album-most commonly said to be about his wife Sara. Nobody knows for sure though, but a few lines are convincing ("You're an idiot babe, it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe"). Also "Tangled Up In Blue" seems to be about his wife, as it describes how they 'split up on the docks one night' which is probably what actually happened. The thing is, Dylan usually doesn't show his emotions or his feelings much at all. But here, it's like he wrote his feelings down on a sign and held the sign up for the world to see. The lyrics are very deep, very poetic, and lots of people could even relate to them.
Some songs on here just leave you baffled, having no idea what Dylan just said. Take the 8 minute "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts" for instance. It tells about a man they call "The Jack of Hearts" who is a bank robber ("The boys finally made it through the wall and cleaned out the bank safe... but they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts"). Then there's these two women, Lily and Rosemary, who are apparently Mother and Daughter. They're often referred in royal terms ("like a queen without a crown" and "Lily was a princess"). There's also Big Jim, who I think is the richest man in town ("he owned the town's only diamond mine"). The song just goes on, telling tales, for almost 9 minutes. Maybe the song is about the girls' relationship with the Jack of Hearts. This is a line from Dylan's website, from the alternate version of this song,
Lily's arms were locked around the man that she dearly loved to touch,
She forgot all about the man she couldn't stand who hounded her so much.
"I've missed you so," she said to him, and he felt she was sincere,
But just beyond the door he felt jealousy and fear.
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts.
But hey, confusing and long Dylan songs are what he's known for in some cases, so if you ask me, it's a good thing. It allows you to picture your own images, and songs like that are great.
A lot of songs are somewhat relaxing too, with quiet string plucking and a gentle voice. The albums closer, "Buckets of Rain" is very much like that. It's also the perfect closer. Blood on the Tracks is like a HUGE roller coaster ride, goes all over the place, upside-down, right-side-up, in circles. And Buckets of Rain is like the end, the "please step out of your seat" song. Nothing could beat it as a closer.
But my personal favorite, is "Simple Twist of Fate". I just love how he lets his voice out completely, and he's very open.
They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark
She looked at him and he felt a spark
Tingle to his bone
'Twas then he felt alone
And wished that he'd gone straight!
And watched out for a simple twist of fate
And that's just an example of the poetic, dark lyrics that are all over Blood on the Tracks. I'm not doing a Track by Track review, I just wanted to bring up some of the songs as examples for the rest of the album. Blood on the Tracks is deep, poetic, complex, and at times disturbing.
Overall, the album is just brilliant. That's the only word for it, brilliant. Personal, deep and complex, makes for a great lyrical album. There have been albums that have changed my life before ('Dark Side of The Moon", "Born to Run", and "Highway 61 Revisited"), but this is the first one that is acoustic, and it's among the most brilliant albums ever. When you think about it, it's better lyrically than Highway 61, but musically, it's hard to say. It's a contender for his best, I think. The beauty is that some of the songs are simple, musically, but the lyrics are otherworldly. Without the brilliant lyrics, this album wouldn't work at all. He made albums that changed the world more than this, but never did he make an album that you would call "better."
So is Blood on the Tracks Dylan's best? Second best? Worst? I'm torn between best, and second best. But it's up to you to decide really, so I highly recommend picking this up, it's probably a good way to get into Dylan. Blood on the Tracks is amazing, and a lot of people think it is his best, so again, it's up to you to decide.
5/5
