3. Bob DylanBlonde On Blonde
In his next record – Blonde On Blonde – Dylan ignored the peace and love hippy stuff that was coming out of San Francisco, and got even rougher and looser, and more cynically unkind and romantic. He’d been to Warhol’s Factory, met the freaks, flirted with Edie Sedgwick and Nico, then he distilled all that into the form that the Velvets later developed into their own flickering, New York newsreel. They looked back into the bleak NY streets and added transexuality, heroin and sleaze to Dylan’s template. Bowie, and many others were also watching and waiting in the wings as this thin man bent the entire shape of modern music his way. Listen to ‘Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat’ and hear the Velvets and Bowie cranking up their acts in the background.
Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Barbara Charone, Rufus Wainwright, Suzi Quatro, Neil Halstead, Richard Hawley, Marianne Faithfull, Tony Visconti
