Bob Dylan: Self Portrait

Over the decades there's bound to be a moment when curiousity gets the better of you (I know you've had this album since you were 15, but you're hardcore). Had I not heard Metal Machine Music on the radio, I might have been tempted to get it just to make up my own mind, but… well it seems the download version is now less than the price of a London pint, so maybe I still will be.

In my case the Self Portrait moment was nine years ago when it was a fiver from Fopp. It didn't take long to confirm that the wretched reputation was well deserved. In the early days of iTunes, I compiled a two-hour playlist I called "Bob's Back Pages", comprising tracks I liked from albums I didn't. Five from Self Portrait made it on: Days of 49 (which I thought Bob had written, but I see now I was wrong), Early Mornin' Rain, Belle Isle, Blue Moon and The Boxer. Hmmm, if I were doing it again, I'd substitute Copper Kettle for one or both of the latter two. People were rude about Bob covering a "lesser talent" like Gordon Lightfoot, as they were later when he covered Kris Kristofferson, but I loved Early Mornin' Rain immediately, and still do. Makes me want to find out more about this Lightfoot fellow. [Update, later that day: OK, done that, not impressed.]

Fun to read Bob's various answers to the question "Why?", including the one about trying to destroy his annoying fanbase, "And I said, 'Well, fuck it. I wish these people would just forget about me. I wanna do something they can't possibly like, they can't relate to. They'll see it, and they'll listen, and they'll say, 'Well, let's get on to the next person. He ain't sayin' it no more. He ain't given us what we want,' you know? They'll go on to somebody else." Maybe they wandered off into Harvest territory for a year or so, but they were soon back.

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Comments

[M.J. Nicholls]

Some of Bob's finest country-tinged moments are here, especially "Early Morning Rain," which is I agree is simply delicious.

You can't blame him for making this. It's a shame it was the beginning of a long gradual decline.

[David]

Aw, c'mon, "long gradual decline"? What about the massive peaks that punctuate the decline: Blood on the Tracks and Street Legal for starters? Even Planet Waves has two or three songs that blow away anything on Self Portrait.

[M.J. Nicholls]

Yes, I was much too harsh. "Desire" & "Street Legal" are stonkers.

"Slow Train Coming" onwards marks the decline. ("Infidels" notwithstanding).