“One channel of powerful sound!” claims the sticker adorning the cover of this, yet another (the third since 2005), best-of Bob Dylan compilation.
“One channel of powerful sound!” claims the sticker adorning the cover of this, yet another (the third since 2005), best-of Bob Dylan compilation. The disc serves as a 15-track sampler to the mono reissues of Dylan’s first eight LPs, spanning what is often regarded as the most fertile creative period from the most lauded artist in the history of rock, containing tracks from his 1962 self-titled debut, through to his first post-motorcycle crash release John Wesley Harding.
It’s hard to believe it was a mere eight years that such a transition took place – from the humble Greenwich Village inhabitant worshipping his idol with Song To Woody, to the politically-charged folk darling who proclaimed to the then-turbulent world thatThe Times They Are A-Changin’, to The Band-backed electric villain playing it “fuckin’ loud” on Like A Rolling Stone, to the understated, worship-shunning troubadour on All Along The Watchtower.
The probable instigation for a single-channel repackaging was the success of last year’s Beatles mono collection re-release, which provided a distinctly different, though still steeply priced, musical artefact – different track listing, different takes, different track lengths, all offering a worthwhile alternative to the canonised stereo mixes. The differences between Dylan’s mono and stereo mixes are apparent, but never anything more than negligible. It all comes down to a matter of taste and preference – the mono mixes present a crisper, louder portrayal of much of the instrumentation (especially acoustic guitar on earlier recordings), but this comes at the expense of Dylan’s gravelly vocals, which are more distinguished on the familiar stereo mixes.
In the age of 5.1 channel remixes, or conversely, shitty bitrates fed through tinny Apple earbuds, the mono re-release presents a curious oddity. It’s not too wild a speculation that it comes as a result of an increasingly desperate industry scraping the barrel and milking the boomer/completionist teat while they still have the chance. The insinuation that the mono mixes present a more ‘authentic’ representation of the artist’s intent is purely speculative; nothing more than a display of marketing savvy.
There are more extensive offers on display if you’re after a stocking-filler for the Dylan-uninitiated this Christmas, namely the exhaustive two-disc Essential compilation, or any incarnation of the crimson-covered Dylan collections released two Chrissies ago.
While far from tarnishing the sprawling mythology and legacy that surrounds Him, it’s easy to dismiss this release as the equivalent of Malibu Stacy with a new hat.
Bob Dylan’s new album The Best Of The Original Mono Recordings is out now through Sony.
