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

Modern Times

2006 · Columbia 82876 87606 1 · Stereo · US · 2xLP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Columbia
Catalogue number	82876 87606 1
Year	2006
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	2xLP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Rock/Blues - Singer-Songwriter
Producer	Jack Frost
Composer	Bob Dylan
Musicians	Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano), Tony Garnier (bass, cello), George G. Receli (drums, percussion), Stu Kimball (guitar), Denny Freeman (guitar), Donnie Herron (steel guitar, violin, viola, mandolin)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  R.M.LoVerde 82-876876-06-1A
Side B:  R.M.LoVerde 82-876876-06-1B
Side C:  R.M.LoVerde 82-876876-06-1C
Side D:  R.M.LoVerde 82-876876-06-1D

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

2006 - US Columbia 82876 87606 1, 2xLP gatefold, 180 gram, stereo, pressed at United Record Pressing (Ⓤ in the runout)  <- this copy
2006 - Europe Columbia 82876 87606 1/2, 2xLP gatefold, stereo
2006 - various worldwide CD and single-LP editions on other catalogue numbers

This Pressing

2006 US 2xLP gatefold pressing (180 gram, stereo) - Columbia 82876 87606 1, pressed at United Record Pressing per the circle-U runout mark; a standard-issue copy of the original vinyl release, not a later reissue or audiophile edition.

The Album

Recorded quickly and largely live in the studio under Dylan's own self-produced "Jack Frost" pseudonym, this record arrived as the third installment of a late-career run that began with a widely praised comeback and continued through a loose, winking pastiche of American roots music. Dylan drew openly on pre-war blues, Tin Pan Alley pop and Civil War-era balladry, reworking old melodic and lyrical fragments into new songs about mortality, love and a country he viewed as both familiar and foreign. The sessions leaned on a road-tested touring band rather than outside session players, giving the record a loose, unfussy swing closer to a bar-band set than a polished studio production. It became a touchstone of his later songwriting period, pairing wry humor with apocalyptic imagery and settling into a persona of an old bluesman surveying a changed world. On release it debuted at the top of the album charts, his first album to do so in three decades, and was greeted by critics as confirmation that his creative renaissance was no fluke. It went on to win a Grammy Award and is widely regarded by critics and fans as one of the strongest records of his late career, closing out a trilogy that reaffirmed his standing as one of popular music's most enduring songwriters.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Thunder On The Mountain
2. Spirit On The Water

Side 2

1. Rollin' And Tumblin'
2. When The Deal Goes Down
3. Someday Baby

Side 3

1. Workingman's Blues #2
2. Beyond The Horizon
3. Nettie Moore

Side 4

1. The Levee's Gonna Break
2. Ain't Talkin'

The Label

Sides one and two carry a black-background label in orange/red print with the Columbia interlocking music-note-and-guitar roundel at the top and the catalogue data printed as AL/BL 687606; sides three and four switch to a white-background label in red print with the same roundel and CL/DL 94920 printed beneath the title. No deep-groove ring is visible on sides one through three; side four shows a deep-groove ring. All four labels print a 2006 Sony BMG Music Entertainment copyright line, which places manufacture at or after that year and rules out any pressing earlier than the album's original release window. The runout on every side carries the pressing-plant circle-U mark alongside the R. M. LoVerde mastering credit, identifying the plant that pressed this copy as the Nashville facility that handled this release's US stereo vinyl. This two-tone, dark-then-light label sequence across a double-LP set is typical of Columbia's mid-2000s Sony BMG-era 180-gram vinyl program, and nothing on the labels themselves distinguishes one stamper generation from another within that program.

Fidelity

The album was mastered for this vinyl edition by R. M. LoVerde, whose stamp appears in the runout of all four sides alongside the United Record Pressing circle-U mark, and the 180-gram US pressing is the edition most collectors point to as the standard full-weight vinyl cut of the album. Collectors on the forums generally find this era of Columbia 180-gram vinyl solid but unremarkable sonically, citing the contemporary digital-era mastering chain rather than an all-analog signal path as a mild limiting factor. No audiophile remastering series (Analogue Productions, Mobile Fidelity, etc.) of this title exists to outrank it, so this pressing sits at the top of the album's currently available vinyl fidelity tier.

Notes

This is the original 2006 US double-LP release of the album on Columbia, pressed on 180-gram stereo vinyl in a gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeves. The catalogue numbers stamped on each label (AL/BL 687606, CL/DL 94920) match the master's US vinyl edition, and the runout on all four sides carries the R. M. LoVerde mastering stamp together with the circle-U pressing-plant mark, confirming the US pressing plant rather than a European or Asian counterpart of the same catalogue number. Nothing in the label print or runout points to any stamper generation beyond the first US 180-gram run; the copy is consistent with the standard retail pressing of this release rather than a club, promo, or audiophile edition.

Documenting collections

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