Bob Dylan finally painted his masterpiece and released it to the world today in 1975. "Blood on the Tracks" was born of the smoldering embers of Dylan's failing marriage and, as such, reflects the varying emotions of a man coming to terms with the end. At times it is wistful and nostalgic for the good old days and other times it seethes and spits venom.
Dylan had maintained a low profile after his motorcycle crash in 1966. He was holed up in his Woodstock, New York home and had adopted the role of father and husband while trying to escape the voice of a generation label with which he had been saddled. He also turned his back on his recent foray into electric music and returned to his acoustic folk roots on his 1967 album "John Wesley Harding" and the "Basement Tapes" sessions he did with The Band around that time.
By 1969 things had changed. His idyllic Woodstock homestead was overrun by hippies and fans. Dylan took to keeping loaded guns in the house for protection against the unwashed menace. He finally had enough and relocated his family in a series of moves that would take them to Greenwich Village, Mexico and finally California.
Throughout this time Dylan tried to remain satisfied with the family life but he was starting to crack. Renewed touring led to the return of some old habits that wives inexplicably find offensive, namely boozing and railing tons of broads. Dylan wasn't even secretive about it as a girlfriend moved into a house on his property and other girlfriends would meet him at shows while he had his wife in tow.
All of this led to a separation between Dylan and his wife and he retreated to Minnesota where he wrote the songs for this album. And what a collection of songs they were. Some of the best material of his career was born of this tumult - "Tangled Up in Blue", "Simple Twist of Fate", "You're a Big Girl Now", "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go", "If You See Her, Say Hello" and "Shelter From the Storm" among them.
The album was originally recorded in New York in September of 1974 and the record label had sent advance copies to radio stations ahead of a planned Christmas release. Dylan became dissatisfied with the songs after listening to them with his brother in Minnesota. He had the label stop the presses and re-recorded half the songs in Minneapolis, which led to the album being released in January of 1975. (There is some confusion about the exact date that the album was released. Some sites say January 20 but allmusic.com says January 17 and I'm going with that.)
The album met with some mixed reviews but the public loved it. It reached #1 on the chart and has sold over 2 million copies. It is ranked at #16 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list, trailing only "Highway 61 Revisited" at #4 and "Blonde on Blonde" at #9.
Dylan has, as he is wont to do, vacillated as to whether or not this is truly an autobiographical recording. In 1975 he said, "A lot of people tell me they enjoyed that album. It’s hard for me to relate to people enjoying that kind of pain." 30 years later he would claim, “I would even record an entire album based on Chekhov short stories. Critics thought it was autobiographical – that was fine.” Whatever the truth may be, the album represents a relationship in crisis and the differing stages we go through to try and deal with that calamity.
Like with Jimi Hendrix, it's tough to find studio versions of Dylan's music on YouTube.
