Another
Self Portrait (1969-1971) is the tenth release in the long
running Bob Dylan bootleg series, focussing this time on Dylan’s transitional
period between 1969 and 1971 and in particular the albums Self Portrait and New Morning.
This two disc compilation has plenty of variety and is made up of a mixture of
unreleased recordings, demos, alternative takes, as well as a couple of live
performances from Dylan’s 1969 performance at the Isle of White Festival.
What is interesting about this latest bootleg release was
the decision to focus on the material recorded around the release of Self Portrait, an album which has garnered
its fair shear of critics, and at the time of its release left fans and
reviewers confused to say the least. The original album was made up mostly of
covers of pop standards and traditional folk songs of varying quality, and
contained hardly any new original material from Dylan. The reaction to this was
poor despite the album still selling in the millions, with many expecting yet
another Dylan masterpiece after his return post his serious motorcycle accident
saw him release two of his finest albums John
Wesley Harding in 1968 and Nashville
Skyline in 1969. The story behind this inconsistent and confusing release
is that Dylan had had enough of being in the spotlight and wanted to escape in
order to live a normal life. To achieve this he thought that by releasing a
sub-standard album people would go off him and his celebrity would die down
allowing him to raise his family in peace. In the end this decision ultimately failed
and the album still sold well despite receiving a lot of negative press. This
album seemingly didn’t do Dylan any favours and simply had the effect of
increasing the spotlight around him as people became more expectant for the
real Dylan to stand up. So it seems in focussing on the period around Self Portrait on this latest
compilation, Columbia Records who produces these official bootleg releases is partaking
in an act of music revisionism, going back to an album and period which was
initially panned (mostly by critics) and seeing if was actually as bad as made
out. In response I can say that after having listened to this compilation, this
period of Dylan’s career was not as bad as has been made out and in fact I
think that many of these new recordings and alternative takes have done justice
to the music Dylan was making at the time.
The recordings on this compilation are very simplistic with
minimal production that conveys a very warm homely feel. Most of the tracks on
here which are performed in a country and folk style are just Dylan singing and
playing acoustic guitar and piano, accompanied only by David Bromberg on lead acoustic.
Bromberg is one of the highlights of this compilation with his delicate folk touches
and country flourishes really contributing nicely to the recordings and acting
as a nice counter to Dylan’s strumming and rhythm playing. In listening to this
material although they are all old recordings from 1969 and 1970, many of them
sound fresh and new as if they could have been recorded yesterday, while at the
same time despite the fact that the majority of this material in its varying
forms has not been released until now it feels as if you could have been
listening to these recordings for years as they portray a comforting
familiarity which feeds the soul. Much of this I put down to how Dylan sounded
at this time, with his voice in my opinion sounding at its best during the
years between 1968 and 1970. A lot of people were put off by his country croon
that he put on at times especially on Nashville
Skyline, but I feel this added another dimension to his voice which suited
tremendously the music he was beginning to record giving it a richly soft
country feel as opposed to his early work where his voice could often could
come across as a bit jagged and hard-edged.
Coming in at thirty-five tracks I don’t have enough room to
focus on all the material on here, but I will mention some of my favourites
from the two discs. “Pretty Saro” is a traditional English folk ballad from the
1700s which was recorded by Dylan for Self
Portrait and has until now remained unreleased. It is done in a beautifully
simplistic folk style and features one of Dylan’s best vocal performances, a
definite highlight on this compilation. “Spanish is the Loving Tongue” is a
song which was based on a poem from the early 1900s and was set to music in the
1920s. Here, Dylan’s recording is just him on piano delivering yet again
another brilliant vocal performance, showing also that at times he had a
mellower vulnerable side to his voice and could sing a love song just as well
as a protest anthem. “Time Passes Slowly” is a Dylan original which was
originally released on New Morning.
This recording is an alternative take that features George Harrison on guitar
and backing vocals (one of two tracks that Harrison appears on) and comes
across as vastly superior to the original album version of this track. “This
Evening So Soon” is another traditional folk song that Dylan makes his own and
one where he is accompanied by Broomberg on guitar and Al Kooper on piano.
Finally, “Bring Me a Little Water” is another unreleased recording this time
from the New Morning sessions which
sees Dylan mix it up a bit with something I like to call folk gospel. On this
recording Dylan plays piano and sings with a soulful edge to his voice, while
being accompanied by some female backing singers in what is one of the best
songs on this compilation. Why this recording
was passed over for the original album I don’t know, but I sure am glad we get
to hear it now forty-odd years later.
All in all this is a pretty good release and for me does well
to somewhat destroy the myth about the Self
Portrait period being a dud for Dylan. There is some occasional filler and
the odd recording that could have been passed over such as an unreleased Basement Tapes recording which sounds
almost inaudible, as well as a version of “All the Tired Horses” from Self Portrait which sounded as bad now
as it did then, but if you sift through this there is definitely plenty of
worthy material and stuff to capture your interest. I would also not that much
like most compilations this is not a coherent consistent release and as a
listener you should be prepared to go full circle from one style to the next,
with Dylan taking you from folk to country to Americana and back again. This
however does not take away from what is an overall highly satisfying and magical
compilation which does a great job in highlighting just how wonderful this
period was for Dylan musically.
A-
- Sam
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