Masterpiece: Blood On The Tracks

[Today: Dylan gets personal...]

Bob Dylan has made many comebacks in his storied career. He recovered from a serious motorcycle accident in 1966 to collaborate with The Band on the music that would become The Basement Tapes and John Wesley Harding. In the early 80′s he “came back” from his Christian music phase and began making secular music again. And in 1997 he reappeared through the mists of time with the appropriately titled Time Out Of Mind – an album that was miles better than it had any right to be, and re-established him as a creative force.

But the most important comeback of his career was 1974′s Blood On The Tracks. At that point, Dylan was being dismissed, with fairly good reason, as someone who “had gone soft in the head”. He hadn’t released anything worth its cardboard cover since 1969′s Nashville Skyline, and the merits of even that album were widely debated. 1970′s Self Portrait was insultingly bad – the musical equivalent of Dylan flipping the bird to fans and critics alike. But beyond that, his music had begun to drift, and like many of his 60′s contemporaries, he seemed out of place in a new decade.

But if Dylan’s career was in decline by the mid-70′s, his personal life was in even worse shape. Burned out on fame and in the midst of a faltering marriage, he channeled those troubles into one of his finest artistic achievements. Blood On The Tracks is an album about love lost and tough choices, and it’s a wicked journey through the wilderness of regret, nostalgia and loathing. Dylan uses isolated details to show how love is built through random circumstance like a house of cards (‘Tangled Up In Blue’ and ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’). When that love collapses, he howls with scorn (‘You’re A Big Girl Now’ and ‘Idiot Wind’), offers his heart on a plate (‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome’ and ‘Buckets Of Rain’), and refuses to let go (‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ and ‘Meet Me In The Morning’). In other words, the typical trajectory of a broken heart.

For most of his career, Bob Dylan has hid himself behind an avalanche of clever words and poetic allusions. In general, his music has undertones more biblical than personal, and his songs seem to come from somewhere outside of regular human experience. But Blood On The Tracks has the distinct imprint of Dylan’s grief and heartbreak, and it’s the only album in his catalogue that you’re likely to hear something of yourself.

Listen: Tangled Up In Blue

Listen: Buckets Of Rain

Advertisement

Tags: Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan