blonde on blonde vs. highway 61 revisited.

I do like "Sweet Marie" a lot but it is sort of Blonde on Blonde by numbers to me. It doesn't stand out.

"Just Like a Woman" also has plenty of great moments but could've been a non-album single

Oh, I love Sweet Marie. I could see maaaaybe losing Five Believers.

People. Just enjoy the record. Also if anybody so much as *touches* the Kenny Buttrey tour de force of “Marie”, I will be over with the enforcers.

^otm

Inspired by this revive, I listened to BoB tonight and was thinking about how the album is kind of divided between serious or intense songs (Visions, One or Us Must Know, etc.) and lighter/funnier material (Rainy Day, Leopard Skin, etc.). It's its own little White Album. I was imagining the single album version of BoB not in terms of my favorites (I'd take some from both styles), but solely from the serious or intense side. There isn't quite enough for an entire album imo, so I added "She's Your Lover Now" and came up with this:

Emo Blonde on Blonde
Side A:
1. She's Your Lover Now
2. Visions of Johanna
3. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
4. Just Like a Woman

Side B:
1. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
2. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

That fumble at the end of She's Your Lover Now leads into Visions really well.

So I've been listening to this version, which I now call Blonde on the Tracks, and it is killer imho (I know ppl don't like Just Like a Woman, but it works in this much more thematic context).