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

Bringing It All Back Home

2012 · Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (Original Master Recording series, licensed from Sony Music/Columbia) MFSL 2-380 · Stereo · US · 2xLP, gatefold, 45 RPM · 45 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (Original Master Recording series, licensed from Sony Music/Columbia)
Catalogue number	MFSL 2-380
Year	2012
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	2xLP, gatefold, 45 RPM
Speed	45 RPM
Genre	Rock/Folk Rock
Producer	Tom Wilson
Composer	Bob Dylan
Musicians	Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Bruce Langhorne (guitar), Al Gorgoni (guitar), Kenny Rankin (guitar), Bobby Gregg (drums), William E. Lee (bass), Paul Griffin (piano); uncredited on the jacket: John Sebastian (bass, some tracks), John Hammond Jr. (guitar, one track), Frank Owens (piano)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  MFSL2-380 A2 20596.1(3) KW@MOFI
Side B:  MFSL2-380 B2 20550.2(3) KW@MOFI
Side C:  MFSL2-380 C1 20550.3(3) KW@MOFI
Side D:  MFSL2-380 D2 20596.4(3) KW@MOFI

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1965 - US Columbia CL 2328, mono first pressing
1965 - US Columbia CS 9128, stereo first pressing
1965 - UK CBS BPG/SBPG 62515, mono and stereo pressings
2012 - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 2-380, numbered stereo 45 RPM reissue  <- this copy
c. 2016 - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab numbered mono 45 RPM reissue (separate catalogue number)
n.d. - Japan-pressed Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-380 import

This Pressing

2012 numbered 45 RPM reissue (stereo) - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Original Master Recording series, a later pressing of the 1965 original, not a 1960s Columbia pressing.

The Album

Recorded in a burst of sessions in New York in January 1965, this record marks the moment Bob Dylan turned from the acoustic protest-song mode of his early records toward electric rock and roll, opening with a full band on side one before closing with four extended acoustic pieces. The songs range from the free-associative wordplay and talking blues of the electric cuts to the long, image-dense meditations of the acoustic side, reflecting Dylan's immersion in Beat poetry, surrealist imagery and contemporary folk and blues traditions. It arrived at a pivotal point in his career, following three albums that had made him the central songwriter of the American folk revival, and it signaled the start of the mid-1960s run that would carry him through his next two albums into rock stardom. The record's fusion of poetic lyric writing with rock instrumentation is widely credited with helping open folk music to electric arrangements and expanding what a popular song could address. It was received as a startling departure by much of the folk audience of the day but was quickly recognized by critics as a major artistic leap, and it has remained a foundational text of 1960s songwriting. Its songs have been covered repeatedly across popular music and its influence runs through generations of singer-songwriters and rock lyricists who followed.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Subterranean Homesick Blues
2. She Belongs to Me
3. Maggie's Farm
4. Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Side 2

1. Outlaw Blues
2. On the Road Again
3. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream

Side 3

1. Mr. Tambourine Man
2. Gates of Eden

Side 4

1. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

The Label

The labels on this copy are a dark, near-black ground with a silver-grey rim band reading ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDING / MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND LAB, a boxed Columbia eye at the right, a MoFi script logo and a GAIN 2 Ultra Analog badge, with a 550 Madison Avenue New York address and a dual 1965/2012 copyright line in the small print. This is a Mobile Fidelity audiophile reissue design, not a 1960s Columbia label, and the printed 2012 copyright date fixes the earliest possible date this specific pressing could have been made. That dating places this copy at the start of the Mobile Fidelity numbered 45 RPM stereo reissue program for this title, well after the 1965 Columbia and CBS originals and alongside, but distinct from, the later mono 45 RPM edition of the same series.

Fidelity

Mastered and lacquer-cut by Krieg Wunderlich at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab using the Gain 2 Ultra Analog system, pressed at a specialist audiophile plant on 180-gram vinyl at 45 RPM for lower surface noise and higher resolution per side. Collectors on the forums generally rate this cut very favorably against the stock-speed Columbia originals, prizing the added clarity and quieter surfaces that the 45 RPM spread and audiophile pressing bring to Dylan's mid-1960s recordings. Within this title's reissue family it sits alongside a later mono 45 RPM edition; both outrank ordinary Columbia reissues for sound quality, with opinion divided over whether the stereo or mono 45 RPM cut is ultimately preferred for this particular album.

Notes

This is a 2012 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 45 RPM numbered stereo reissue, not an original 1965 Columbia pressing. The label's own 1965/2012 dual copyright line fixes 2012 as the earliest the copy could have been made, regardless of how closely the catalogue number and design echo the original release. The matrix identifies it specifically as MFSL 2-380 with mastering engineer initials and Mobile Fidelity plant codes cut for the Gain 2 Ultra Analog cutting system. One side shows a stamper suffix variant from the catalogued version, a normal occurrence across a limited-edition pressing run rather than a sign of a different release.

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