Blood On the Tracks was the peak of Dylan's songwriting career. It's one of the few Dylan albums where he's completely honest about his personal life and isn't a complete enigma. Every song on the album is perfect & collectively the songs add up so a semi-autobiographical collection of Dylan's well guarded love-life over the first decade of his public career.
He's also in the best signing voice of his career on Blood On The Tracks and he really conveys a great deal of emotion. His signature nasal world weary vocal sing-sing approach is gone. From around 1970 to 1978 Dylan really did develop into a first rate vocalist and even quit smoking. But by 1980, Dylan's voice was wrecked by all of those years of singing with his nose & throat, instead of using his diaphragm.
On Blood On The Tracks, Dylan in his mid-30's and finally seems to have gain some balance and perspective in his life and no longer needs to hide behind the angry young man facade. He finally seems to have come to grips with his status as a cultural icon who captured the zeitgeist of an entire generation of young Americans.
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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt
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