Blood on the Tracks

Blood on the Tracks is a 1975 (see 1975 in music) album by American folk-rocker Bob Dylan. After a few artistically weak albums Dylan entered the studio with a clutch of new songs inspired by his recent estrangement from his wife, Sara, of eight years. Each song, from the slow blues "Meet Me In The Morning" to the lengthy "Idiot Wind," shines an intriguing light into their relationship, and Dylan's talent is to stretch the personal until it appears universal and use the universal to elucidate the intensely personal. The writing is extremely strong. Dylan was by then a master of the popular form. The band, who, although lacking the edge of Dylan's mid-1960s bands, are tight and proficient, work hard to show the strengths of each song.

Note: After showing the original recordings to his brother David, a studio engineer, the sessions were scrapped and most of the songs re-recorded with a new group of musicians. The original masters are a favorite among bootleggers.

Told of the album's lasting popularity, Dylan was later to say: "A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. Its's hard for me to relate to that. I mean, it, you know, people enjoying the type of pain, you know?"

Blood on the Tracks was a #1 Pop Album on the Billboard Music Charts. The single "Tangled up in Blue" peaked at #31 on the Pop singles chart.

In 1997 Blood on the Tracks was named the 11th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 45, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 29. It is number 16 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Track listing

All tracks written by Bob Dylan.

1. "Tangled Up in Blue"
2. "Simple Twist of Fate"
3. "You're a Big Girl Now"
4. "Idiot Wind"
5. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"
6. "Meet Me in the Morning"
7. "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack Of Hearts"
8. "If You See Her, Say Hello"
9. "Shelter from the Storm"
10. "Buckets of Rain"

Personnel

• Bob Dylan  – Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboards, Vocals
• Billy Preston  – Bass
• Eric Weissberg  – Banjo, Guitar
• Tony Brown  – Bass
• Charlie Brown  – Guitar
• Bill Berg  – Drums
• Buddy Cage  – Guitar (Steel)
• Barry Cornfield – Guitar
• Richard Crooks  – Guitar, Drums
• Paul Griffin  – Organ, Keyboards
• Gregg Inhofer  – Keyboards
• Tom McFaul  – Keyboards
• Ken Odeguard  – Guitar
• Billy Peterson  – Bass
• Chris Weber  – Guitar, Guitar (12 String)
• Kevin Odegard  – Guitar
• Barry Kornfeld  – Guitar
• Phil Ramone  – Engineer
• Pete Hamill  – Liner Notes
• Ron Coro  – Art Direction