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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Hmmm.... Feb 01, 2010
I have to add my voice to the very few dissidents who think this album is a bunch over-hyped tripe, with questionable lyrics and limited compositional depth, however...
Even though Dylan is not everyone's cup of tea, and can be really annoying at best, and morbid at worst (does he ever smile, I wonder? He was much more a poseur with his studied, cold aloofness, than Beatles ever were, even when they tried, with their genuine charm and warmth), however his great achievement is in inspiring other musicians to shake off years of dross and think forward, and create original music. He literally lit a fire under the Beatles' butts and spurred them on to create masterpieces like Rubber Soul and Revolver. He gave the Byrds their magical multi-colored Tambourine. He game Jimi Hendrix his Watchtower, from which he sent forth legions of guitar heroes to conquer the world. I admit, I don't understand how Dylan did it, because I don't understand or even like his music, but I am sure glad he was around!
I admit, this is a sacrilegious review that is sure to tick off a few readers, but hey, now and then a fool has to come out of the crowd, point and scream: "the emperor is naked! the emperor is naked!".
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 The Greatest Blonde Dec 23, 2009
This is one of the greatest albums ever made. The sound Dylan achieved in Nashville is perfect, sometimes bluesy, sometimes country, and always rock and roll. The lyrics are surely among the most enigmatic and emotionally-charged he has written. "Visions of Johanna" is arguably the best song on the album. Every line is filled with longing and loss, with love of a spiritual kind struggling with love of an earthly kind, with startling images presented with that haunting sound. Other songs--"Just Like a Woman" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie" for example--are filled with the same sort of desperate desire, a deep need for some connection that doesn't quite work out.
This was the first important double album in rock history. For many listeners, it was the third of the greatest trilogy of albums ever. "Blonde on Blonde" was the last album released before Dylan's famous accident, and so it is regarded as marking the end of a particular era in Dylan's life, one filled with confusion and uncertain identity. The album is Dylan's attempt to find a language to describe the anguish and the search he undertook.
I'm not sure this album is the best introduction to Dylan. "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" or "The Times They Are A-Changin'" might do that, but this, along with "Bringing it All Back Home," "Highway 61 Revisited," and "Blood on the Tracks" ought to be known by everyone who loves music.
--Lawrence J. Epstein, author of Political Folk Music in America from Its Origins to Bob Dylan
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The greatest lyrical album of all time Aug 31, 2009
The year was 1966. The year after Bob Dylan decided to make everybody try harder with "Like a Rolling Stone" and his accompanying album Highway 61 Revisited. The year that The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and The Byrds decided to create some of the most mind-warping and innovative albums of all time. Highway 61 Revisited is more important than Blonde on Blonde, only because it was released first and had such an immediate impact on the face of pop culture at the time, but Blonde on Blonde is a better album both lyrically and musically. On Blonde on Blonde, all the songs are about women, be it directly or indirectly. Considering his marriage to Sara and his long-term relationship to Joan Baez, it should come as no surprise that Dylan would be inspired to write less politically-charged songs and more introspective and romantic songs around this time. This album is basically about women seen through the eyes of a genius who also happens to have a romantic soul. This isn't soul music however. This is Dylan doing what he does best: mind-warp poetry set to rock and roll. This is perhaps the most lyrically complex album ever recorded. If you enjoy analyzing lyrics, don't take a sip, take a gigantic GULP because this is as good as it gets. All the songs except for "Just Like a Woman" have either a rocking or bluesy feel to them. Some songs such as "Obviously Five Believers" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" have more style than substance, but that is not a problem because it's good for the listener to take a break from the complexity of the other songs. Blonde on Blonde displays a vast array of emotions that permeate the human condition; humor, longing, frustration, anger, bitterness, and pathos are all found on this masterpiece. To my ears, all the songs are great except for "Just Like a Woman", which so happens to be the second-most popular song on the album (after "Rainy Day Women"). It's a ballad and not very profound when compared to the other riveting ballad on the album "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". "Sad-Eyed Lady" is slower but at least it packs an emotional wallop that "Just Like a Woman" can't even come close to muster. Something about the vocals and lyrics on "Just Like a Woman" rubs me the wrong way and I don't care for Al Kooper's organ on the song either. There are nine songs on Highway 61 Revisited and every single song on it is a classic, but on Blonde on Blonde, Dylan goes thirteen for fourteen, which to me is even more impressive. A+
to his mind Jul 13, 2009
"The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the 'Blonde on Blonde' album. It's that thin wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up. That's my particular sound... It was in the album before that too [Highway 61 Revisited]. Also in 'Bringing It All Back Home'. That's the sound I've always heard."
Enough said, alright. Interested in Bob Dylan and popular music, then click the buy button.
Blake and Mozart! If You Miss it, You Will not Have Lived! Jun 10, 2009
One of Dylan's masterpieces! (And, I think, the first double album in popular music.) THIS is THE ONE, and only, album where Dylan actually sang as people sing who do Dylan impersonations! Notice the blurry cover photo. Notice the title "Blonde on Blonde". White on White. Drugs, nihilism? How could that be so when the most respected rock musician / artist of all time heads down, in 1966!, to Memphis (!) to play his most creative, musically, songs with country music session musicians! No, as always, Dylan CARED, and DARED, to crash through one more "limit" put before him!
"Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is one song that covers a whole album side, but no one who listens to it can ever want it to stop. So much genius. "Visions of Johanna" is the ultimate of what Dylan called "that wild mercury sound" that he searched for. With beautiful music and lyrics, Dylan captures another eternal truth for all men who dare to love! (He later performed the song in a solo acoustic version. Its amazing! I think it is on "Biograph", Dylan's first "box set". I hope "Biograph" is still available as it is full of outtakes and live performances that, if you know and love the original song, will blow you away again!
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