Bob Dylan- Another Side of Bob Dylan
(Numbered Hybrid SACD)
Track List
1. All I Really Want to Do
2. Black Crow Blues
3. Spanish Harlem Incident
4. Chimes of Freedom
5. I Shall Be Free, No. 10
6. To Ramona
7. Motorpsycho Nightmare
8. My Back Pages
9. I Don’t Believe You
10. Ballad in Plain D
11. It Ain’t Me Babe
Bob DylanAnother Side of Bob Dylanon Numbered Edition Hybrid SACD from Mobile Fidelity
Dylan’s Second 1964 Album Expands Songwriting Themes and Adds Levity
DSD Technology, Superior Sound: Mobile Fidelity’s Hybrid SACD The Last Word in Digital Fidelity
Recorded in One Day: Whimsical Feel, Surrealist Lyrics, On-the-Fly Fluidness Grace the Bard’s Loosest 1960s Effort
Includes “I Shall Be Free No. 10,” “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “My Back Pages,” “Chimes of Freedom”
The ever-evasiveBob Dylannever explicitly stated exactly what represented the “another side” of himself referenced in the title to his second 1964 record. Yet the whimsical moods, hallucinogenic prose, humorous angles, transparent mistakes, and noncommittal themes give a pretty clear idea at what the Bard hinted as he emerged from being labeled as a reluctant generation spokesperson and folk savior after releasing two highly intellectual, socially pioneering sets replete with protest songs.Dylan needed to take a breath, step back from the drama, and reevaluate his surroundings.Another Side of Bob Dylanis all that and more.
As part of itsBob Dylan catalog restoration series,Mobile Fidelity is thoroughly humbled to have the privilege of mastering the iconic album from the original master tapes and making it available on hybrid SACD. The end result is the very finest, most transparent digital stereo edition ofAnother Side of Bob Dylanever produced. Be there as the Minnesota native spends the evening of June 9, 1964 in Columbia’s Studio A and, displaying an openness he’d never before revealed in a formal environment, lays down the songs that compromise his fourth album.
Featuring minimal editing,Another Side of Bob Dylanis naked, truthful, and whimsical.Mobile Fidelity’sreissue illuminates the artist’s condition&mdashhe laughs in the midst of songs, experiences a few false starts, hits a couple of bum notes, occasionally sings as if he’s stumbling down a Manhattan sidewalk after having one too many at a smoky pub, prizes rawness over perfection&mdashwith microscopic accuracy. Indeed,Dylan’sslightly woozy and completely playful state related to his having downed a handful of bottles of Beaujolais during the sessions.
The uninhibitedjoie de viveis discernable in the rattling piano lines on “Black Crow Blues,” seemingly subconscious ramble of the hysterical folk rhyming of “Motorpsycho Nightmare,” bluesy dream sequencing throughout “I Don’t Believe You,” and intentionally out-of-tune yodeling during “All I Really Want to Do.”On a majority of the prized set, Dylan lets his guard down, but does so in clever manners that speak to his surrealist imagination and biting wit. He possesses the rare ability to make planned strategies appear spontaneous, to challenge audiences with stinting wordplay and minimalist melodies that provide a deceptive false security.
And so the apparently autobiographical and self-aware “My Back Pages,” one of the earliest examples ofDylan’s immersion into symbolist prose and abstract metaphor, remains controversial for its on-the-surface denouncement of his earlier condemnations of social institutions and injustices. Peeled back, the tune is a brilliant release&mdashan essential escape hatch forDylanto both relieve himself of unneeded pressures and distance himself from pundits. As an indelible piece of art, it succeeds in masquerading obvious meaning while simultaneously forcing listeners to question their own actions.Quintessential Dylan.
As is the trifecta of relationship-themed compositions that closes the record, as well as the eternal “Chimes of Freedom,” the standard that journalist Paul Williams dubbed Dylan’s “Sermon on the Mount.”Its inseparable conjunction of apocalyptic imagery, personal emotion, allusive lyricism, balladic alliteration, and inclusive sympathy signaled that, having already eviscerated the rules associated with pop and folk music,Dylanhad just begun his assault on our consciousness, makingAnother Side of Bob Dylanthat much more mysterious, unequivocal, and requisite.