Bob Dylan ‎– Blood On The Tracks

Pete Hamill's liner notes on this album are perhaps some of the most insightful and poignant I have ever read!

JTT: I have two copies of this, both purchased at time of release at different London stores. Both have identical
pressing faults at the end of 'Shelter From The Storm' and intermittantly through 'Buckets Of Rain', both
also have some vinyl clicks. I exchanged both for replacement copies and these were the same so I assume
many circulating copies must also suffer from this.

BOB DYLAN - Blood On The Tracks (Half Speed Master)
http://www.searchingforagem.com/1970s/International018.htm

Thanks to Ben Clayton for the information this recording runs approximately 2% more slowly than other pressings of the album, resulting in slightly longer track times. Ben finds this is explained in Clinton Heylin's book "Dylan: Behind Closed Doors, The Recording Sessions 1960-1994" (page 107):

"As a further sleight of hand, Dylan seems to have actually sped up the resultant album., both Minneapolis and New York cuts, by two percent, in the mastering - presumably because he found the material dragged a little. The vinyl "half-speed master" evidently used the pre-sped up tape, making for quite a different listening experience."

http://www.searchingforagem.com/1970s/International018.htm

Thanks to Ben Clayton for the information this recording runs approximately 2% more slowly than other pressings of the album, resulting in slightly longer track times. Ben finds this is explained in Clinton Heylin's book "Dylan: Behind Closed Doors, The Recording Sessions 1960-1994" (page 107):

"As a further sleight of hand, Dylan seems to have actually sped up the resultant album., both Minneapolis and New York cuts, by two percent, in the mastering - presumably because he found the material dragged a little. The vinyl "half-speed master" evidently used the pre-sped up tape, making for quite a different listening experience."

http://www.searchingforagem.com/1970s/International018.htm

JTT: I have two copies of this, both purchased at time of release at different London stores. Both have identical
pressing faults at the end of 'Shelter From The Storm' and intermittantly through 'Buckets Of Rain', both
also have some vinyl clicks. I exchanged both for replacement copies and these were the same so I assume
many circulating copies must also suffer from this.

BOB DYLAN - Blood On The Tracks (Half Speed Master)
http://www.searchingforagem.com/1970s/International018.htm

Unfortunately only two Dylan albums were released in half-speed mastered form, this one and "Nashville Skyline". The sound quality is fantastic on both!

According to Clinton Heylin's book "Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions" (p.107), this LP runs 2% slower than the original version (and all subsequent versions) of "Blood On The Tracks", which was deliberately speeded-up during the mastering process.
This makes the half-speed mastered LP not only the best sounding but also the one that sticks closer to what was actually heard in the recording studios!