Self Portrait (1970)

All The Tired Horses in the sun

How'm I supposed to get any ridin' done?

1. All The Tired Horses (Bob Dylan) [3:12]

2. Alberta, No. 1 (Bob Dylan) [2:57]

3. I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know (Cecil A. Null) [2:23]

4. Days of '49 (Alan Lomax / Frank Warner) [5:27]

5. Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot) [3:34]

6. In Search of Little Sadie (Bob Dylan / Traditional) [2:27]

7. Let It Be Me (Gilbert Becaud / Manny Curtis / Pierre Delanoe) [3:00]

8. Little Sadie (Bob Dylan) [2:00]

9. Woogie Boogie (Bob Dylan) [2:06]

10. Belle Isle (Bob Dylan) [2:30]

11. Living the Blues (Bob Dylan) [2:42]

12. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan) [5:18]

13. Copper Kettle (Albert Frank Bedoe) [3:34]

14. Gotta Travel On (Clayton et al.) [3:08]

15. Blue Moon (Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers) [2:29]

16. The Boxer (Paul Simon) [2:48]

17. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo) (Bob Dylan) [2:48]

18. Take Me as I Am (Or Let Me Go) (Boudleaux Bryant) [3:03]

19. Take A Message To Mary (Bryant/Felice Bryant) [2:46]

20. It Hurts Me Too (Dylan/Elmore James/London) [3:15]

21. Minstrel Boy (Bob Dylan) [3:32]

22. She Belongs To Me (Bob Dylan) [2:43]

23. Wigwam (Bob Dylan) [3:09]

24. Alberta, No. 2 (Bob Dylan) [3:12]

Review: Self Portrait is an album that sent shockwaves through the Dylan community.  As covered in recent previous blog entries, Bob went electric, then he went soft country, then he went really country.  But Self Portrait is different in a fundamenatal way from these other records.  When Bob went electric in 1965, the hardcore folkies may have disapproved, but at least most grew to understand  that Bob wanted to go down a new direction.  And if the sound was different, the songwriting and performing was as strong as ever, with 'Like A Rolling Stone' becoming one of the biggest songs in rock history.  With John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline, Bob still seemed like he was trying, he just sounded different, and his song structures and lyrics were less complex.  At worse, they were largely successful genre experiments.  But the release of Self Portrait in 1970 brought about a whiff of "Does Bob really even give a shit?  Does he even care about his music?"

Despite the above warning, Self Portrait is an enjoyable, if uneven, album.  The album is dominated by Bob covering standards written decades earlier (I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know, Let It Be Me, Days of '49, Blue Moon, and Copper Kettle, among many others).  It also contains live performances from the 1969 Isle of Wight festival of Like a Rolling Stone, She Belongs to Me, The Mighty Quinn, and Minstrel Boy.  There are also somewhat bizarre Dylan originals (Wigwam, Woogie Boogie) and adaptations of classic blues songs (Alberta, Little Sadie).  Finally, the album is rounded out with 2 covers of contemporary singer-songwriters (Early Morning Rain and The Boxer).  This is, essentially, a cover album.  The title was either intentional misdirection from Bob to his legion of followers, or a genuine indication of some of his musical influences.

If the album is compared to Bob's previous output, it is obvious the song quality will not match Bob's 60s albums.  So instead, let's examine the album on it's own turns, as it's own entity.

The album opens with female voices singing "All The Tired Horses," refraining the same 2 lines over the same 4 chords for 3 minutes, with string overdubs.  Bob doesn't sing on the track at all.  If you didn't know already, listener, you are not in for your usual Dylan album.

We then get a nice little run of songs, maybe the best on the album even, with the bluesy 'Alberta' giving way to the crooning 'I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know,' the bold 'Days of '49' and a fine reading of Gordon Lightfoot's 'Early Morning Rain.'  'I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know' was resurrected in 1986 as a duet with Tom Petty, one of the few songs first featured on this album to get significant live play from Bob.  'Days of '49' is an adventurous minor key ballad of the days of the gold rush, sung with gusto by Mr. Dylan.  Bob sings on this album in 2 distinct voices: the Nashville Skyline country croon and Bob's "standard" voice in 1970, the New Morning voice that would take over on Bob's next album.

'In Search of Little Sadie' is played and sung pleasantly, but the chord changes border on the obscene.  Bob was certainly in search of something.  On 'Let It Be Me' Bob returns to his Nashville Skyline crooner voice, and the result is a beautiful cover of a love ballad.  This song was also resurrected, in 1981, as a duet with Clydie King on Bob's gospel tour of that year.  'Little Sadie' finds more conventional chords for the tune.  'Woogie Boogie' is a bizarre jam that sounds like it could have come from the Basement Tapes sessions with The Band.  'Belle Isle' and 'Living the Blues' find Bob back on track, singing ballads and blues in varying voices.

Following a countryish 'Like a Rolling Stone' version that can best be described as "tedious," we get one of the finest songs on the album, the moonshine ballad "Copper Kettle."  Another strong, beautiful performance by Bob, backed by lush orchestration.  The folk standard 'Gotta Travel On' follows, a track he would revive with the Rolling Thunder Review 5 years later.  Next we get ... 'Blue Moon.'  Yeah.  Sung in his country croon and played straight by Bob, with backing vocals and string solos.  More interesting is 'The Boxer' as a duet between his 2 voices.  Its one of the more fascinating tracks he's ever released, with its interplay between the 1969 country crooner and the rather weary, "Dylanish" sounding New Morning rocker.

'The Mighty Quinn,' first recorded and made a hit by Manfred Mann, but written by Dylan, is presented here live from the Isle of Wight.  Its a spirited performance, despite a few sound issues, and is one of the few enduring performances on the album.  Next we get 3 sob story covers, the best of which is probably 'Take a Message to Mary,' kind of a variation on the story told in 'Give My Love to Rose.'  'Minstrel Boy' and 'She Belongs to Me' are both from the Isle of Wight Festival as well, and the latter is much more of a crowd pleaser, unsurprisingly, though its not a particularly inspired performance.  'Wigwam' is a weird mash up of brass and humming that is probably a love it or hate it track.  I find it quite charming myself, its got an enjoyable melody if nothing else.  And things are wrapped up with Alberta #2, not all that different from #1, but a good track all the same.

Overall, the album is not as bad as the naysayers would have you believe.  But its not particularly good either.  It fits smack dab in Bob's lower-middle output of albums, above the dregs of Dylan (1970) and Down in the Groove, but lower than the likes of Infidels, Empire Burlesque, and Slow Train Coming for instance.  Its worth a listen.  Then you'll probably want to shelve it for a while.

Rating: 5 / 10 ***** / **********

Best 3 song run: I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know / Days of '49 / Early Morning Rain

Song I am most likely to skip: Like A Rolling Stone (it's the live version from 1969, NOT the original!!!)