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 Dylan is all that and more.
As part of its Bob 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 180g 45RPM Mono 2LP. The end result is the very finest, most transparent digital stereo edition of Another Side of Bob Dylan ever 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 Dylan is naked, truthful, and whimsical. Mobile Fidelity’s reissue illuminates the artist’s condition – he 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 – with microscopic accuracy. Indeed, Dylan’s slightly woozy and completely playful state related to his having downed a handful of bottles of Beaujolais during the sessions.
The uninhibited joie de vive is 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.
Track Listings
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
How to find us
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