I never wanted to write topical songs,…. Have you heard my last two records, Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61? It’s all there. That’s the real Dylan.
~Bob Dylan (Frances Taylor Interview, Aug. 1965)
50 years ago – 13 January 1965 – Bob Dylan entered Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, NYC for the first of three seminal days in the studio… It was time to show the “real” Dylan on record.
Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band—a move that further alienated him from some of his former peers in the folk song community. Likewise, on the acoustic second side of the album, he distanced himself from the protest songs with which he had become closely identified (such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”), as his lyrics continued their trend towards the abstract and personal.
The album reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart, the first of Dylan’s LPs to break into the US top 10. It also topped the UK charts later that Spring. The lead-off track, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, became Dylan’s first single to chart in the US, peaking at #39.
….when Dylan and Wilson began work on the next album, they temporarily refrained from their own electric experimentation. The first session, held on January 13, 1965 in Columbia’s Studio A in New York, was recorded solo, with Dylan playing piano or acoustic guitar. Ten complete songs and several song sketches were produced, nearly all of which were discarded. None of these recordings would be used for the album, but three would eventually be released: “I’ll Keep It With Mine” on 1985’s Biograph, and “Farewell Angelina” and an acoustic version of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on 1991’s The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991.
….when we recorded Bringing It All Back Home, that was like a break through point, it’s the kind of music I’ve been striving to make and I believe that in time people will see that.
~Bob Dylan (Paul Gambaccini Interview, June 81)
ALBUM | Release date | CODE |
Biograph | 1985-11-07 | BIO |
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 | 1991-03-26 | TBS1-3 |
The Bootleg Series Vol 7. No Direction Home: The Soundtrack | 2005-08-30 | TBS7 |
Exclusive Outtakes From No Direction Home: The Soundtrack | 2005-11-01 | EOFNDH |
NCIS The Official TV Soundtrack Vol. 2 | 2009-11-03 | NCIS |
Produced by Tom Wilson.
Engineers: Hallie and Catero.
Bob Dylan (guitar, piano, harmonica, vocal).
Notes:
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References:
-Egil
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