May 16 - "Blonde on Blonde"

The first rock double album, Bob Dylan's “Blonde on Blonde,” was released on May 16, 1966, by Columbia Records. It was Dylan’s seventh studio album and the third in his trilogy, starting with “Bringing It All Back Home” (1965), then “Highway 61 Revisited” (1966). Recording sessions in New York in 1965 proved to be troubled and fruitless, so Dylan’s producer moved sessions to Nashville, taking along keyboardist Al Kooper and guitarist Robbie Robertson. Two singles from the album, "Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35" and "I Want You," became Top 20 hits in the United States. Other songs have become Dylan classics, including "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)," "Just Like a Woman," "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" and "Visions of Johanna." The album’s cover (pictured) opens to a 12-by-26 inch, out-of-focus photo of Dylan at three quarter length; his name and the title appear only on the spine. The album has been described as having an “air of reclusive yet sybaritic genius."