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

Desire

1976 · CBS S 86003 · Stereo · UK (rim text on both side labels reads "MADE IN ENGLAND") · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	CBS
Catalogue number	S 86003
Year	1976
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	UK (rim text on both side labels reads "MADE IN ENGLAND")
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Rock/Singer-Songwriter
Producer	Don DeVito
Composer	Bob Dylan (most songs co-written with Jacques Levy)
Musicians	Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Scarlet Rivera (violin), Rob Stoner (bass, backing vocals), Howie Wyeth (drums, piano), Vincent Bell (guitar), Steven Soles (guitar, backing vocals), Luther Rix (percussion, congas), Dom Cortese (accordion), Emmylou Harris (backing vocals), Ronee Blakley (backing vocals)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  CBS S 86003A1 SO ALLEN D
Side B:  CBS S 86003B1 SO □

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1975 - US Columbia PC 33893, first pressing
1976 - UK CBS S 86003 "Made in England" red-to-yellow label pressing  <- this copy
1976 - Continental European CBS 86003 pressings (Holland, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia etc.)
2016 - Legacy Recordings reissue
2019 - Mobile Fidelity numbered 45rpm 2LP box

This Pressing

1976 UK CBS pressing (stereo) - red-to-yellow CBS label, rim text "Made in England", catalogue S 86003 / PC 33893.

The Album

Desire was written and recorded in the second half of 1975, in the whirl of the Rolling Thunder Revue, as Bob Dylan turned from the confessional songwriting of his previous record to a run of long, cinematic narrative ballads co-written with theatre director Jacques Levy. The album opens with "Hurricane", a protest song built around the wrongful conviction of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, and continues through story-songs such as "Isis", "Joey" and "Black Diamond Bay" that play out like short films, alongside the more intimate "Sara", addressed to his wife. The sessions brought in violinist Scarlet Rivera, whose keening lines became the record's signature sound, and backing vocalists including Emmylou Harris and Ronee Blakley, giving the album a loose, gypsy-caravan texture unlike anything else in Dylan's catalogue. Released in January 1976, it became a commercial and critical triumph, topping the US album chart and cementing the Rolling Thunder period as one of the great creative bursts of Dylan's career. It remains regarded by critics and fans as one of his richest 1970s albums, prized for its narrative ambition and for reinventing his band sound after the stripped-down records that preceded it.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Hurricane
2. Isis
3. Mozambique
4. One More Cup Of Coffee
5. Oh, Sister

Side 2

1. Joey
2. Romance In Durango
3. Black Diamond Bay
4. Sara

The Label

The label on this copy is the CBS red-to-yellow sunburst design with the single circular CBS "eye" logo at twelve o'clock, white CBS wordmark, and rim text reading "MADE IN ENGLAND" at the base - the standard UK CBS pop-label format used across the mid-1970s. The catalogue number is printed as S 86003 with the US Columbia number (PC 33893) carried in parentheses beside it, a combination unique to the UK/export CBS pressing rather than to the plain Continental European or Irish editions. This places the copy within the UK CBS manufacturing run rather than the US Columbia original or the various Continental pressings that share the same catalogue number.

Fidelity

This pressing was cut from the same analogue master tapes used for the original US release, through the standard CBS UK mastering and pressing chain of the mid-1970s rather than any audiophile facility. Collectors generally rate UK CBS pressings of this era as solid, warm-sounding copies, comparable to or slightly softer than the original US Columbia pressing, and well below the later numbered 45rpm box reissue in ultimate resolution. Within the album's fidelity hierarchy this stands as a respectable standard-issue stereo pressing, outranked by the audiophile 45rpm reissue but holding its own against other international CBS pressings of the period.

Notes

This copy carries the UK CBS sunburst label with "MADE IN ENGLAND" printed at the rim and the catalogue number S 86003 alongside the US reference number PC 33893 - a combination specific to the UK pressing rather than the plain-address Irish or Continental European editions that share the same number. The runout carries the stamper pairing S 86003A1 / B1, an earlier pairing than the B3/A2 stampers found on the Irish-matched variant, marking this as a distinct pressing from that edition. No deep groove or additional plant stamp appears on the label beyond the standard CBS UK design elements.

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