Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan
Hello Friends! Well, it's finally time for the big one - and not just that today marks Episode 100 of the show. After 6 months of planning, work, and research, we have arrived at what will surely be the peak of the Mixology format, our extensive look at Bob Dylan's 1966 classic Blonde on Blonde. Issued in both mono and stereo as a 14-track double LP, the album was subject to a partially revised stereo mix, issued as soon as 1966 in some countries (Australia never got the initial stereo mix for example), while the UK & Canada got a stack of exclusive mono mixes (more in the latter), and even France got a handful too. Many of the singles from the album were also heavily edited, and in the case of one, remixed too. This gives us a total of 52 vintage mixes and edits from the 60s period for this album - but the fun doesn't stop there...
From the dawn of the CD era, this album has only been issued in remixed form, with new mixes being issued in 1987, 1992, and 1999, the latter of which is the mix you'll find available today. A number of the original and revised mixes have thankfully slipped out on compilations through the years, but for the most part these remain exclusive to the vinyl issues of these albums. Regardless, these remixed albums increase our mix look to a whopping 94 unique mixes and edits for this episode.
As a result, our extensive run-time today comes as no surprise, and is well deserving of placement as episode 100 of Mixology. I hope you're sitting comfortably, with your Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat on tight, because we're in for one heck of a ride.
I also want to give a huge thank you to two people whose assistance proved invaluable in the research of this episode. When it came to CD sources for the vintage mixes, James Messina came to me having done the majority of the dirty work, locating discs from all over the world as reference to ensure we had the best sources at hand for comparison. Without him this episode could not be as analytically sound as it is.
Even moreso though I must thank Roger Ford from electricdylan.net, an essential resource for the 1965-66 period of Dylan's career. Much of what you'll hear me cover today comes from the extensive notes present on Roger’s website, and I certainly could never have known the true extent of the mix mountain for the album without his research. Roger has also kindly been extremely helpful along the way in pointing me in the correct direction of sources I needed to pickup for the episode, and without him, this episode could not have been as comprehensive and complete as the final result has become.
And now, it's time for you to all become a part of it. The world - not the album - that is the Thin, Wild, Mercury Sound of Blonde on Blonde.
Happy Listening,
Frederick
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