Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Bob Dylan
Blonde On Blonde
1966 · Columbia C2L 41 (CL 2516 / CL 2517) · Mono · Canada (labels read "Printed in Can." at the rim) · 2xLP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Columbia |
|---|
| Catalogue number | C2L 41 (CL 2516 / CL 2517) |
|---|
| Year | 1966 |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | Canada (labels read "Printed in Can." at the rim) |
|---|
| Format | 2xLP, gatefold |
|---|
| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
|---|
| Genre | Rock - Folk Rock |
|---|
| Producer | Bob Johnston |
|---|
| Composer | Bob Dylan |
|---|
| Performer / Orchestra | The Nashville session band (uncredited on the jacket): Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, Wayne Moss, Hargus "Pig" Robbins and others |
|---|
| Musicians | Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica); uncredited on the jacket: Robbie Robertson (guitar), Al Kooper (organ, piano), Charlie McCoy (bass, guitar, harmonica), Kenny Buttrey (drums), Wayne Moss (guitar), Joe South (bass, guitar), Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano), Henry Strzelecki (bass), Jerry Kennedy (guitar), Bill Atwood (trumpet), Wayne Butler (trombone) |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: XLP 113761-1A C 0
Side B: XLP 113762-1A 0 A
Side C: XLP 113763-1A 0 A
Side D: XLP 113764-1A 0 11
Condition
- Cover
- VG+
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1966 - US Columbia mono, red 2-eye label, Pitman pressing, original withdrawn gatefold photo set
1966 - US Columbia mono, white-label promo/DJ issue
1966 - UK CBS mono, first pressing, red label
1966 - Canada Columbia mono, red label, same catalogue number, "Printed in Can." rim text <- this copy
1966 - US Columbia stereo, C2S 841
1968+ - US Columbia stereo repress, C2S 841
2003 - Sundazed 180g mono reissue
This Pressing
1966 Columbia mono pressing (C2L 41 / CL 2516-2517) manufactured for the Canadian market - red Columbia label reading "Printed in Can.", first-generation ("1A") matrix suffixes distinct from the US Pitman stamper family.
The Album
Recorded in early 1966 in Nashville after frustrated New York sessions, Blonde On Blonde found Bob Dylan pairing his surreal, free-associative lyricism with crack Nashville session players for the first time, producing what he later called the closest he ever came to the sound in his head - "that thin, wild mercury sound." It arrived as rock's first double album, following the electric breakthroughs of Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited and completing a remarkable mid-1960s run that redefined what a rock lyric and a rock arrangement could carry. Songs like Visions Of Johanna and Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands (the latter occupying an entire side, reportedly cut in one all-night take) sit alongside the loose, almost vaudevillian Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 and the tender Just Like A Woman, showing Dylan moving fluidly between absurdist humor, romantic longing and oblique social commentary. Critics at the time and since have treated it as a high-water mark of his songwriting and of 1960s rock lyricism generally, and it remains a fixture of best-albums-ever lists. The record cemented Dylan's reputation as rock's foremost poet while also demonstrating, through the Nashville players' feel, that electric rock and country session musicianship could combine into something wholly new.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
2. Pledging My Time
3. Visions Of Johanna
4. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)
Side 2
1. I Want You
2. Memphis Blues Again
3. Leopard-skin Pill-box Hat
4. Just Like A Woman
Side 3
1. Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine
2. Temporary Like Achilles
3. Absolutely Sweet Marie
4. 4th Time Around
5. Obviously 5 Believers
Side 4
1. Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
The Label
The side labels show the familiar red Columbia design: an arched "COLUMBIA" wordmark at top, a square concentric-circle logo at each side, the title and artist centred in dark red type, catalogue and matrix numbers at left, side number and matrix at right, and "GUARANTEED HIGH FIDELITY" with trademark text at the foot. Crucially that foot text closes with "MARCAS REG. PRINTED IN CAN.", not the "PRINTED IN U.S.A." wording used on the US manufacture of this catalogue number, placing this copy as the Canadian Columbia production of the same release rather than the Columbia Pitman-plant pressing the US catalogue number is usually associated with. No "360 Sound" arc band is present on this label, and the runout suffixes are a first-letter ("1A") cutting generation rather than the later-generation cuttings seen on the US stamper family, consistent with a separately plated Canadian issue of the same mono mix.
Fidelity
This is a mono cut of the Nashville session tapes pressed from Canadian-plated metal parts rather than the US Columbia Pitman stampers most commonly associated with this catalogue number. Collectors generally rate the original mono mix of Blonde On Blonde above the early rechanneled stereo pressings for capturing the Nashville band's interplay more directly, and US first pressings with Pitman stamps are the most sought cut of that mono mix; a Canadian-plated copy such as this one typically ranks below those US and UK firsts in the fidelity pecking order, though it carries the same mono mix. Later audiophile reissues on 180-gram vinyl have been well received by collectors but are a separate, modern cutting rather than a contender for
Notes
This is a 1966 mono Columbia copy of Blonde On Blonde, catalogued as C2L 41 with disc numbers CL 2516 and CL 2517. The label's closing rim text, "Printed in Can.", together with runout suffixes ("-1A") that do not match any of the US Pitman-plant stamper generations recorded for this catalogue number, places this copy as the Canadian Columbia manufacture of the release rather than the US first pressing. No Pitman "P" stamp appears in any of the four runouts, reinforcing that this was not pressed at the US plant. The gatefold interior carries the original multi-photo collage associated with the earliest printing of the jacket art.
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