From a great Rolling Stone article: “I was going at a tremendous speed… at the time of my Blonde on Blonde album,” Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone editor and publisher Jann S. Wenner in 1969. On Blonde on Blonde, all the tension and angst of Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing It All Back Home were blown wide open to reveal pure freedom. It’s rock’s first double-album monument, where the distance between Dylan’s imagination and his music collapsed entirely: “The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind,” he famously said, “that thin, that wild mercury sound.” With its chain-lightning mix of rock & roll, novelty music, surrealist ballads, Chicago blues and psychedelic country, its peels of lyrical invention and epic song lengths, Blonde on Blonde might seem like the kind of work that involved long-term contemplation.

In fact, most of the album was knocked out between stints on the road during a historically intense bout of touring. In the fall of 1965, Dylan wanted to continue pushing his new sound, and tour with an electric band. A decision was made to split a series of upcoming concerts between an acoustic set and a plugged-in performance. At the suggestion of his manager Albert Grossman’s secretary, Dylan checked out Canadian band the Hawks, who had cut their teeth backing rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. Dylan was especially impressed by Robbie Robertson, the band’s 22-year-old guitarist, and asked the Hawks to play two shows, one in New York and one in L.A. At the New York show, held in front of a crowd of 14,000 at the Forest Hills tennis stadium in Queens, fans sat patiently through Dylan’s acoustic songs and then commenced booing during his electric set (some people sang along to “Like a Rolling Stone” and then booed when it was over). After they completed their West Coast date, the Hawks (soon to be renamed the Band) were hired for a year of shows that began in Texas in September 1965.

The recording session for Bob Dylan’s album Blonde on Blonde was a long and complex process that spanned several months and locations. Here are some of the main facts about it:

• The session began in New York in October 1965, with numerous backing musicians, including members of Dylan’s live band, the Hawks. However, the results were unsatisfactory, and only one track from these sessions made it to the final album: “One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)”.

• At the suggestion of producer Bob Johnston, Dylan moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in February 1966, where he worked with some of the top session musicians in the country, such as Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, Joe South, and Al Kooper. These musicians were more adept at following Dylan’s spontaneous and unpredictable style, and they helped create the distinctive sound of the album.

• The Nashville sessions were more productive and creative, and Dylan recorded most of the songs for the album in February and March 1966. Some of the highlights include “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”, which features a brass band and a raucous chorus; “Visions of Johanna”, which showcases Dylan’s poetic imagery and surrealism; “Just Like a Woman”, which is a tender and bitter ballad; and “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”, which is a sprawling epic that takes up an entire side of the album.

• The album was completed in April 1966, after some overdubbing and mixing in Los Angeles. It was released on June 20, 1966, as a double album, one of the first in rock music. It received critical acclaim and commercial success, and is widely regarded as one of Dylan’s best and most influential albums.