Bringing
It All Back Home
Part II: The Versions In Detail
General Characteristics
To recap from Part I, we now have five different mixes of this album:
1. Mono vinyl (1965)
2. Stereo vinyl (1965)
3. Original CD (1987)
4. Stereo SACD (2003)
5. 5.1 Surround SACD (2003)
The five mixes have some general characteristics which I will try and describe in general terms before looking at the individual songs one by one.
The mono mix gives you the original 1965 album straight - tight, energetic sound, full bass, natural vocals. What it lacks is detail in the individual instruments.
Constrained by 1960s technology (see the general article on mono versus stereo), the stereo LP mix had its bass end severely limited. This shows even on the second side's mainly acoustic songs, in the thinner tone of the guitars. On the electric side, the lateral separation of the instruments further dilutes the music's impact. The spreading out of the instruments also reveals some relatively crude playing; the next two albums were to present rapid increases in musical sophistication. By the time of Blonde On Blonde, a stereo presentation is really necessary to fully appreciate the quality of the accompaniment; but there's not very much to be really savoured here.
On the electric side in particular, the garage-band sound comes across much better in mono, with all the instruments blended together. Given the additional benefit of its much better bass response, the mono mix has a depth and punch that the stereo LP just fails to deliver.
Another, perhaps even more important, advantage of the mono mix is its presentation of Dylan's voice. Here it sounds entirely right, whereas on the stereo album it has the timbre of corrugated iron: thin and strident, with a tiring emphasis on the upper-midrange frequencies.
One interesting feature of the stereo LP mix is the use of reverb here and there where there is none on the mono LP. This is most noticeable on some of the songs on the acoustic side of the album - see the comments on individual tracks below.
The original 1987 CD mix differs in some details from the stereo vinyl album, particularly on the acoustic songs from the LP's second side: here, as on the mono album, the sound is presented flat, with no reverb. In other respects, though, the sound is very similar to the stereo LP, lacking in bass and general impact.
The new hybrid SACD presents the album transformed, and after 38 years gives the album its first satisfactory stereo mix. Michael Brauer has modelled much of his work on the original stereo LP: the editing, the application of reverb, and to a large degree the positions of the instruments. However, he has somehow brought everything together with a much more dynamic, integrated sound, in very much the same way as he did with Blonde On Blonde a few years ago. This is particularly evident on the electric "first side": it actually sounds like a band playing on these tracks now, not just a bunch of instruments on the end of wires. We're very lucky that the original stereo mixdown tape was worn out, otherwise we'd never have had this terrific remix.
The new stereo mix, of course, is included on the disc in both standard CD and Super Audio CD formats, and if you have an SACD player you'll be able to choose between them. The difference in sound quality, though, is very subtle and will only really be of interest to hi-fi enthusiasts - see the general article on the SACD reissues. The stereo remix is also now available as a plain CD, replacing the original CD edition; so it has really become the "new standard" version. However, I think that for the time being it will create the least confusion if I continue to refer to it as the stereo SACD mix.
The 5.1 surround mix on the SACD has a very similar overall character, but puts you right in the middle of things. If you imagine yourself sitting at the centre of a circle, then direction-wise the instruments appear to be arranged around the front half of the circle, with Dylan straight ahead. Some instruments seem to be placed further out than others. No instruments are located in the rear half of the circle, but the ambient information coming from the rear speakers helps define the illusory space you're in and to more precisely locate the instruments within that space. Everything feels distinctly more tangible than with the stereo mix. The front centre speaker in particular gives Dylan's voice a solidity that just doesn't seem attainable with a two-speaker image. This mix is really very good, if you've got the equipment to play it. Note
On all editions of the album most of the songs (all but the last three, in fact) are faded out, and the lengths of the fade-outs vary slightly between the different releases. In most cases the mono has the shortest, most concise endings, the stereo vinyl mix and the SACD reissue are slightly longer and the old CD version is the longest. Appendix A details length differences for all tracks; only the more notable cases are mentioned in the text.
The Sundazed reissue of the mono LP has very slightly trimmed endings on all the tracks, presumably to reduce the intrusion of tape hiss as the music fades out. This is only around half a second per track when compared with the original mono LP.
Finally, speed and pitch: for reasons that are not clear, the original mono vinyl version played slightly fast, and hence fractionally above proper musical pitch, and the stereo version slightly slow. At least, this is true of English pressings. All the CD versions, though, play at correct musical pitch, and so does the Sundazed mono vinyl reissue.
The Songs in Detail
Note that when I refer to the SACD mix, I mean the stereo mix that is presented in both standard CD and SACD encoding on the new hybrid reissue, and I make no distinction between the two formats. Where no reference is made to the 5.1 surround mix you can assume that the generic comments made above are applicable.
SIDE 1
Subterranean Homesick Blues
The opening track nailed Dylan's new colours firmly to the mast, with its vocal echoes of Chuck Berry and its overdriven jug-band sound. The original stereo CD gave us an instrumental fade-out that is six seconds longer than on the original mono release. The stereo separation on this version also makes the electric piano much more audible than it is in the mono mix.
On this particular track the Sundazed mono reissue seems to be slightly subdued; it lacks the edge and sparkle that the track has on my original UK mono pressing.
The SACD stereo remix really brings this one back home, hitting you with the same blast that the original single did back in 1965. The bass is stronger than on the old stereo mixes, the electric piano is slightly more audible, and there's a ride cymbal that I'd never even noticed before. A great opener.
She Belongs To Me
This track sounds absolutely beautiful on the mono album, with the bass full and Dylan's voice subtle and warm. Having said that, I confess that the stereo versions do make it easier to tell that it is an acoustic string bass, not an electric, being played here; the texture of the instrument's sound is more easily distinguished, especially on the SACD mixes.
Perhaps to vary the song's dynamics a little, the original stereo mixing engineer decided to eliminate the bass and drums during the harmonica break which follows the third verse; they suddenly come back in as Dylan starts to sing again. The engineer who remixed the album for CD in 1987 clearly noticed this, because he (or she?) also greatly reduced the level of the string bass during the break; but the drums are left untouched. Michael Brauer, for the stereo and 5.1 SACD remixes, opted to leave both bass and drums at normal volume.
There is a second harmonica break at the end of the song, of course, but here none of the stereo mixes interfere with the bass and drums.
This song is another real treat on the SACD. It has a much richer sound than on the old CD, and Bruce Langhorne's electric guitar on the left and the string bass on the right , in particular, have a real presence.
While the stereo mixes generally slightly increase the lengths of tracks on the album as a whole, they make this particular track fractionally shorter than the mono - all except for the 5.1 mix, which neither adds nor subtracts.
Maggie's Farm
This was never one of my favourite tracks on the album, and here I actually like it even less in the SACD mix. Dylan's voice has a harsher edge than on the old CD, and the hyper-clear percussion gets very tiring. Fast forward.
Love Minus Zero / No Limit
Like "She Belongs To Me", this song benefits particularly from the warmth of the mono mix. The stereo versions allow us to distinguish a very heavily reverbed electric piano on the right-hand side.
This was the first track that we heard remixed for SACD, as it appeared on Sony's sampler for the reissue series; it sounds just as breathtakingly good in the context of the album. The electric guitar has more body to it, and the electric piano and tambourine stand out more clearly.
Outlaw Blues
In the stereo mixes we can more clearly hear the harmonica that riffs away throughout the song. This goes on behind Dylan's vocal, so presumably it is played by one of the other musicians; Dylan did not generally use overdubs at this time. John Sebastian is perhaps the most likely candidate for the harmonica player, though according to the studio records he didn't participate in the sessions until later in the evening. The original CD gives an additional five seconds of instrumental fade-out compared with the mono version.
One of the nice things about listening to Michael Brauer's remixes for the SACD is noticing instruments that just hadn't registered before, and on this track there are two of them. First there's the ride cymbal, which was practically inaudible on all previous mixes. Second, there's a very raunchy electric guitar playing a repeated blues riff throughout the song over on the left hand side, contrasting in both tone and style to Langhorne's improvised lead.
On The Road Again
The mono mix gives more prominence to the lead guitar on this track; but the stereo versions have the guitar which plays the underpinning boogie riff more clearly audible on the right-hand channel.
The SACD mix give this song a great, rich sound, much more exciting than the old CD; and if you go back from this to the stereo vinyl in particular, it sounds as though you're suddenly listening on cheap Walkman headphones.
Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
The main part of this track demonstrates the differences between all the mixes in a pretty typical fashion. As on several other tracks, the electric piano (over on the right-hand side) is more noticeable in the stereo and surround mixes.
However, there are particular differences in the way the false start has been handled. On the mono and the original CD mix the laughter from Tom Wilson and others in the control room is presented "flat", without any added ambience. On the stereo LP it was mixed with some reverb, and Michael Brauer picked up on this for the SACD release. After years listening to either the mono LP or the original CD this sounds quite startling, even in the stereo mix. In the 5.1 mix Brauer has taken full advantage of the surround capabilities, and the laughter echoes all round you in a suddenly much bigger space.
SIDE 2
Mr Tambourine Man
The acoustic songs on Side 2 vary most in how Dylan's guitar is presented in the different mixes. On this particular track the mono mix gives the guitar lots of body and bass, but not a lot of detail in the high frequencies. Intentionally or not, this does help Dylan's vocal stand out in the absence of lateral separation. The stereo (and surround) versions give the guitar much more clarity, but less bass; and they locate it to the right of Dylan's voice, though to varying degrees.
On the stereo LP Dylan's guitar is rather spread out, with the higher frequencies coming from well to the right. You'll also find it this way on practically any Dylan CD anthology, as these have all so far been derived from the stereo LP master. On the 1987 Bringing It All Back Home CD, however, Dylan's guitar is very precisely located, only a little to the right of the vocal. On the new SACD mixes the guitar is even closer to the centre.
All the stereo mixes place Bruce Langhorne's amplified guitar on the left-hand channel.
Unusually, the stereo vinyl mix was faded out substantially earlier than the mono version; given the importance of the harmonica breaks to the song's structure and sense (think of the 1965-66 live performances), this seems a real loss. The original CD release restored the missing music, but for the SACD reissue Michael Brauer unfortunately modelled his fade-out on the stereo LP, so the track is shorter once again.
Gates Of Eden
The mono mix has a quite different guitar sound for this song. It's mostly pounding midrange, but there are some delicate high frequencies too, which the mono "Mr Tambourine Man" lacks.
The stereo LP mix sounds as though it was produced by a different engineer than the other acoustic tracks. When compared with the mono mix there is the same thin sound to both guitar and vocal, but the stereo LP gives no lateral separation of voice and guitar; in fact it barely sounds stereophonic at all. Only the slightest hint of ambience is detectable when switching the playback amplifier from mono to stereo.
On the old CD edition the guitar sounds just as monophonic, but the vocal has noticeably more ambience; presumably this was added as part of the remixing for CD.
The new SACD mixes give the guitar a lot more depth and clarity than on any of the earlier releases, and also reveal textures in Dylan's vocal that just weren't discernible before. In the stereo mix the guitar is once again resolutely central, right behind the vocal and harmonica; but in 5.1 its ambience gets spread around a just a little more.
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Here we have just Dylan's voice and guitar, without even the bare harmonica blasts of "Gates of Eden". The stereo LP mix compensates for the sparse instrumentation by radically expanding the sound of the guitar with reverb, spreading it right across the soundstage. It may not have been Dylan's idea, but personally I think it sounds just great, especially on that slashing riff up the guitar neck.
The engineer who mixed the album for the 1987 CD either didn't listen to the stereo LP or made a contrary decision to present the guitar plain and tightly-focused behind Dylan's voice. It seems as though he was deliberately trying to even up the sound of the four acoustic songs rather than giving each its own identity. Michael Brauer, on the other hand, went back to the sound of the stereo LP, and pretty much exactly replicated the dramatic reverb on the guitar. With the added depth and texture that characterises his work, this track is a hair-raising experience.
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
This closing song has the same instrumentation as "Mr Tambourine Man", although here Bruce Langhorne plays his electric guitar fills in a lower register. The mono mix gives Dylan's acoustic a little more treble, but not a great deal; the stereo vinyl and 1987 CD mixes mixes run along the same lines as they did for the earlier song, and exactly the same comments apply.
The new SACD stereo mix, as usual, stands head and shoulders above the earlier efforts. Here Dylan's guitar is dead central rather than slightly to the right as on "Mr Tambourine Man", though on the 5.1 version it is for some reason decidedly to the right.
Conclusions
With five different mixes, Bringing It All Back Home is now running second only to Blonde On Blonde for variety of presentation.
As with the other 1960s albums I believe the mono album has an irrefutable importance: it defines the album as Dylan intended to release it back in 1965. It still sounds just as good, too. It's great that it's now available again on vinyl from Sundazed, but it's also a shame that it's denied the permanence of a digital edition, and that it's viewed as something for vinyl cranks only. I suggest you get a copy while it's still available, and if you can, make a CD-R transcription before the surface noise creeps in.
Having said all this, I won't deny that most people now see mono as inadequate; and of course stereo allows you to hear more detail in the components of the music. The problem with the earlier stereo vinyl and CD mixes of Bringing It All Back Home was that they gave you the elements but sacrificed the whole.
That failing is rectified by the new stereo mix which is to be found both on the hybrid SACD and on the new "remastered" CD edition: this remix gives us a great-sounding album with all the sonic detail you could want. It varies in some details of sound and editing from Dylan's original concept as evidenced by the mono album, but what the hell, it's still fabulous and probably as good as we'll ever get. And if you've got the 5.1 surround set-up and can sit still for long enough then you can believe those musicians are right there with you - or that you're right back there with them.
Last updated October
2004