"I guess I like it because I played that album at least a thousand times in my teens and remember loving all the documentary style photos, symbolism and general mash up of illustration and collage, and the homemade aspect of it.
It's very much of it's time. Once you've heard each track so many times you know every word the back cover stills remains a bit mysterious." Alex Gravenstein (pictured with his copy)
The collage theme seems to echo the chaotic circus feel of the early sessions for the album and the subsequent Rolling Thunder Revue. As a 2012 Mojo magazine piece on the album noted, for early sessions there were often over 20 musicians were playing at once. The frustation caused Eric Clapton, one of five guitarists, to walk out, apparently muttering, "Zimmy's gone crazy". It also mirrors the accidental nature of how the album fell together (it was pure serendipity that violinist Scarlet Rivera was spotted crossing the road with her violin case and asked by Dylan to attend the sessions).
As Billboard wrote in their glowing 1976 review, "Another plus factor is packaging, with its striking cover shot and liner photos. Also the inside liner notes are by Allen Ginsberg, and they reflect the mood of the recent Rolling Thunder Revue tour of the Northeast."
John Berg designed the album art, with the back cover collage by Carl Barile (whose only other album credit seems to be a Lester Young album on Verve) and collage photos by Ruth Bernal (who also shot covers for Harry Chaplin).
The collage theme seems to echo the chaotic circus feel of the early sessions for the album and the subsequent Rolling Thunder Revue. As a 2012 Mojo magazine piece on the album noted, for early sessions there were often over 20 musicians were playing at once. The frustation caused Eric Clapton, one of five guitarists, to walk out, apparently muttering, "Zimmy's gone crazy". It also mirrors the accidental nature of how the album fell together (it was pure serendipity that violinist Scarlet Rivera was spotted crossing the road with her violin case and asked by Dylan to attend the sessions).
As Billboard wrote in their glowing 1976 review, "Another plus factor is packaging, with its striking cover shot and liner photos. Also the inside liner notes are by Allen Ginsberg, and they reflect the mood of the recent Rolling Thunder Revue tour of the Northeast."
John Berg designed the album art, with the back cover collage by Carl Barile (whose only other album credit seems to be a Lester Young album on Verve) and collage photos by Ruth Bernal (who also shot covers for Harry Chaplin).
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