Bob Dylan Blonde On Blonde 2x LP Columbia C2S-841, 1966 First Pressing
$
154
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
- “Female Photos” Version, Rare First Pressing This is a living bit of vinyl ... When I think of a Dylan album this is the one that always leaps to mind, this album is a treasure and a “must” to be owned on vinyl. I remember the exact day I bought this puppy, I remember getting it home, laying across my bed and studying each and every picture ... I learned how to hold a cigarette in my mouth from this album, how to smile, how not to smile, what cool guys were supposed to look and dress like, and how their women were so special that they just had to include the most beautiful images of them as part of the production.
Owning a record is totally different than owning a CD. Records had weight to them, records had a palatable smell to them, records seemed somehow to be actually connected in a physical manner with the artists. CD’s are like magic, there is nothing really there, as opposed to an album, where you slide your hand into the sleeve, forefinger on the hole, thumb on the edge of the record, and then you draw it out ... and what do you see [?], you see the actual music. There before me laid the tracks, one long groove spiraling inward. I could tell the long songs from the short ones at a glance, not needing to rely on the liner times of compact discs, where the sensation of seeing a whole entire side of a disc filled as one song was breath taking.
I knew where I stood with records, records were almost alive, they responded ... that first pop as the stylus connected with the groove, the fact that records required actual care, that records had a life expectancy, and I nourished them like they were my children.
Blonde On Blonde was special because within a few short years it changed. First, it followed Dylan’s life, when he and Sara broke up, he insisted that her picture be removed, and then all of the pictures were removed and simply placed as snapshots on the gated sleeve ... this record was alive, morphing and ever changing. Blonde On Blonde is not supposed to sound clean, mild surface noise and the warmth of analog production is an absolute necessity to hearing it ... like Dylan’s reference to the "steam pipes coughing." There's a world of sound going on all around us, these sounds make up the background to our existence, and without them, in our central air conditioned homes, silenced from the world by triple thick windows, the music sounds all too clear.
So when I need to play this living piece of wax, which is more often than I like to think, chances are I’ll reach for the vinyl, caress the jacket, feel the texture of the worn cardboard, and relish in the smells and the memories they bring back, bite my lip as the stylus pops into the groove, and float away to the tunes ... surface noise and all.
price rating
