Song of the Day #5,424: ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ – Bob Dylan

Continuing my look at 1975, first by counting down my own top albums of that year.

#1 – Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

I once named Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks my favorite album of the 70s, so it follows that it would be the best album of 1975. No surprise here.

First, though, I want to give an honorable mention to another great Bob Dylan album that came out the same year. The Basement Tapes, recorded in 1967 with The Band after Dylan’s motorcycle accident, was released eight years later. This double album is a gloriously laid back collection of roots rock ramblings. It likely would have cracked my top five but I figured I’d spread the love and note it here instead.

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Song of the Day #5,202: ‘Goin’ to Acapulco’ – Bob Dylan

Today’s random selection is a cut from the 11th volume of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series, this one dedicated to the Basement Tapes album he recorded with The Band in 1967. Those recordings didn’t see an official release until 1975, a span that saw Dylan release eight other albums.

While the final album featured 16 songs from those 1967 recordings, along with eight more recorded by The Band in the ensuing years, there was a wealth of other material committed to tape during those sessions. Bootlegs of those songs have been passed around by fans ever since.

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Song of the Day #5,139: ‘Day In, Day Out’ – Bob Dylan

‘Day In, Day Out’ is the opening track on the third disc of Bob Dylan’s 2017 Triplicate, the triple-album, 30-song collection of American standards he released on the heels of two other collections of American standards.

Yes, one of the greatest songwriters with one of the worst voices released the equivalent of five cover albums in the twilight of his career, singing songs made popular by the likes of Frank Sinatra. Nobody ever accused Dylan of being predictable.

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Song of the Day #4,999: ‘Wigwam (Without Overdubs)’ – Bob Dylan

Today’s random SOTD, ‘Wigwam,’ appeared on Bob Dylan’s 1970 album Self Portrait, considered by many the worst release of his career.

The version posted today is from The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971), a compilation featuring alternate tracks from Self Portrait and its follow-up from the same year, the much better received New Morning.

The new tracks do away with excessive overdubs and correct other lamentable production decisions, unearthing the far more promising album buried beneath the original Self Portrait.

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Song of the Day #4,839: ‘Crash On the Levee (Down in the Flood)’ – Bob Dylan

Today’s random track was recorded by Bob Dylan and The Band in 1967, as part of the casual sessions that were eventually released on 1975’s The Basement Tapes. Before that release, an alternate version of the song appeared on Dylan’s second greatest hits collection in 1971.

In much different form, and titled simply ‘Down in the Flood,’ this song was recorded by both The Derek Trucks Band and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

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