Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’ [Mono] (Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2 Series 45 RPM Edition)

(ADA) — Lacquers cut by Krieg Wunderlich at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab from a DSD 256 (digital) transfer by Shawn Britton of the original analog master tapes.

Indeed, The Times They Are A-Changin': Bob Dylan Addresses Equality, Racism, and Poverty, Helping Ignite the 1960s Political Movements and Establishing Himself as Voice of Social Consciousness

Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM Mono 2LP Is Faithful to the Source: Out-of-Print Pressing Renders the Sounds of Dylan's Voice, Acoustic Guitar, and Harmonica with Lifelike Perspective

1/4" / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe

Immediately distinguished by the you're-either-with-us-or-against-us messages of the landmark title track, Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A Changin' sounds an unmistakable clarion call on behalf of progress and its unstoppable advancement. One of the Bard's trademark songs, it remains a timeless anthem with a clear sense of common purpose, a musical line in the sand that helped unite various social movements and multiple generations. The reverential 1964 record feeds off the opening tune and its unmistakable sentiments, marching forward to confront racism, poverty, injustice, and upheaval in a stark, immediate manner unlike few albums before or since.

Sourced from the original analog tapes and pressed on 180g LP at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's restored 45RPM version delivers the landscape-shifting music in reference-quality sound that practically transports you to Columbia's Studio A. Reflecting the austerity of the topics and Dylan's mood, the sonics are direct and unadorned each word hitting with weight, each phrase lingering until it pulls you under, each storyline echoing as fact. The hollow body of Dylan's guitar, internal mechanisms of his harmonica, and graininess of his throat come across in full-on detail. Wider grooves mean more information reaches your ears.

Marking a shift from the looseness and comedy that pepper the preceding The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin' skirts any attempt at humor, sarcasm, or goofiness in favor of utmost seriousness and severity. Seemingly anticipating the dark events surrounding President Kennedy's assassination and the turmoil that followed, Dylan eliminates with conjecture and disguise. Akin to dispatches from the typewriter of literary icons John Steinbeck and William Faulkner, his songs give voices to the voiceless, challenge cultural precepts, upend traditional beliefs with rapier wit and truths, and underline tragedies swept under the rug.

In doing so, Dylan creates stinging protest music that rallies against unchecked authority, discrimination, brutality, and division. A testament to the power of great art, The Times They Are A Changin' is a righteous assault on ignorance and agent for sweeping action, a necessary impetus for transformation and enlightenment. Via bold originals such as the nonfiction "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," assertive "Restless Farewell," and semi-autobiographical "North Country Blues," Dylan casts hardships, greed, and victimization in such relatable terms it's impossible to turn away and ignore their implications.

As correctly relayed by Dylan expert and cultural critic Greil Marcus, "[The record] forever fixed Bob Dylan in the popular imagination: the protest singer, the young man able to see through metal (again, from Chronicles), to see through the lie and find the truth, then to hammer the truth into words and send them out with a voice that would never break."

(Above description from MusicDirect.com)