Blood on the Tracks

For the Japanese manga series by Shūzō Oshimi, see Blood on the Tracks (manga).

Blood on the Tracks
A solarized photgraph of Dylan's face in profile facing a burgundy stripe with the album's name in white
Studio album by
Bob Dylan
ReleasedJanuary 20, 1975 (1975-01-20)
RecordedSeptember 16–19 and December 27–30, 1974
Studio
GenreFolk[1] · folk rock
Length51:46
LabelColumbia
Producer
  • Phil Ramone (New York - uncredited)
  • Bob Dylan (Minneapolis - uncredited)
[2]
Bob Dylan chronology
Before the Flood
(1974) 		Blood on the Tracks
(1975) 		The Basement Tapes
(1975)
Singles from Blood on the Tracks
  1. "Tangled Up in Blue" / "If You See Her, Say Hello"
    Released: January 17, 1975

Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975,[3][4] by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan began recording the album at an A & R studio in New York City in September 1974. In December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the album, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in Sound 80 studio in Minneapolis. The final album contains five tracks recorded in New York and five from Minneapolis. The album's songs have been linked to tensions in Dylan's personal life, including his estrangement from his then-wife Sara. One of their children, Jakob Dylan, has described the songs as "my parents talking."[5] In interviews, Dylan has denied that the songs on the album are autobiographical.[6]

Although Blood on the Tracks initially received mixed reviews from critics, it has retrospectively been acclaimed as one of Dylan's best albums by both critics and fans and various publications have since listed it as one of the greatest albums of all time. It was a commercial success, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, with the single "Tangled Up in Blue" peaking at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remains one of Dylan's best-selling studio releases, with a double-platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for at least two million copies sold in the United States.[7] In 2015, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[8]

Blood on the Tracks was voted number 7 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[9] In 2003, the album was ranked number 16 on Rolling Stone's list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, rising to number 9 in the 2020 revision of the list. In 2004, it was placed at number 5 on Pitchfork's list of the "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s".[10] A high-definition 5.1 surround sound edition of the album was released on SACD by Columbia in 2003.[11]

  1. ^ "Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks". Pitchfork.
  2. ^ Joe Levy (October 2, 2020). "500 Greatest Albums: Inside 'Blood on the Tracks,' Bob Dylan's Shapeshifting Seventies Masterpiece". Rolling Stone.
  3. ^ "Shelter From The Storm – the inside story of Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks". Uncut Magazine. November 15, 2013. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  4. ^ Fraser, Alan. "Blood On The Tracks 1975". www.searchingforagem.com. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  5. ^ Sounes 2001, p. 284
  6. ^ Willman, Chris (January 21, 2015). "40 Facts About the 40-Year-Old 'Blood on the Tracks'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  7. ^ "The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. November 1, 2003. Archived from the original on April 16, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
  8. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame". The GRAMMYs. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  9. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 35. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  10. ^ "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Pitchfork. June 23, 2004. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  11. ^ "Columbia Releases 15 Bob Dylan Albums on Hybrid SACD". September 16, 2003. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.