Bob Dylan The Original Mono Recordings Box Set at $97

Sony Legacy spring sale on the box set includes Bob Dylan’s first 9 vinyl albums at $178

By Stephen Pate – Released as a box set in 2010, the first 9 Bob Dylan albums – The Original Mono Recordings – was a collectible if not slightly pricey. Sony Legacy records has reduced the price to below $100 making the box set more desirable if you don’t already own it.

This set is the quintessential Bob Dylan collection when with his first tentative blues and folk album, through the folk protest – Blowin’ in the Wind – period, to folk rock and flights of poetic magnificence to maturing country and roots artist. Included in the box set are:

1. Bob Dylan
2. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
3. The Time They Are A-Changin’
4. Another Side Of Bob Dylan
5. Bringing It All Back Home
6. Highway 61 Revisited
7. Blonde On Blonde
8. John Wesley Harding

Let’s call this box set the golden era of Bob Dylan. I have Dylan fanatical friends who don’t listen to anything beyond “Blonde on Blonde“. They believe Dylan peaked in 1966.

I have to admit, he never matched the output volume and quality of those early albums, although I enjoy almost everything Bob Dylan has released.

The CDs come in replica LP covers and include a slip case and 60 page booklet by Dylan critic Greil Marcus.

Why Mono and not Stereo? These records were recorded for mono audiences and the stereo was a little artificial. Only artsy fartsy rich people had stereo record players of any worth back in the 60’s. Certainly, Bob Dylan fans this one included were listening in mono. Blonde on Blonde got several masterings in stereo in attempts to make it sound right.

The The Original Mono Recordings (Vinyl) set is even more collectible with vinyl records, original sized LP jackets with reproductions of original inner sleeves and inserts, and a 12 x 12 booklet by Greil Marcus, in a rigid slipcase.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk The Original Mono Recordings for £81.43 or The Mono Vinyl Box Set [VINYL] for £134.12.

In Canada from Amazon.ca The Original Mono Recordings CDN$ 99.39. That’s an even better bargain since the US copy lands in Canada for $123. The Canadian vinyl is $255 – The Original Mono Recordings [Vinyl LP].

If you live in the US, it might be cheaper with freight to order from Amazon.ca in Canada. OK so I’m a cross border shopping penny pincher.

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