Bob Dylan - Self Portrait

I wanna do something they can't possibly like, they can't relate toBob Dylan
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Bob Dylan Self Portrait Album Review
Self Portrait (Bob Dylan album)
Self Portrait | ||||
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Studio album by Bob Dylan | ||||
Released | June 8, 1970 | |||
Recorded | April 24, 1969 – March 30, 1970 | |||
Genre | Folk rock, blues rock, country rock | |||
Length | 73:15 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Bob Johnston | |||
Bob Dylan chronology | ||||
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Singles from Self Portrait | ||||
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Contents
[hide]Production[edit]
“ | At the time, I was in Woodstock, and I was getting a great degree of notoriety for doing nothing. Then I had that motorcycle accident [in 1966], which put me out of commission. Then, when I woke up and caught my senses, I realized that I was workin' for all these leeches. And I didn't wanna do that. Plus, I had a family, and I just wanted to see my kids.
I'd also seen that I was representing all these things that I didn't know anything about. Like I was supposed to be on acid. It was all storm-the-embassy kind of stuff—Abbie Hoffman in the streets—and they sorta figured me as the kingpin of all that. I said, 'Wait a minute, I'm just a musician. So my songs are about this and that. So what?' But people need a leader. People need a leader more than a leader needs people, really. I mean, anybody can step up and be a leader, if he's got the people there that want one. I didn't want that, though.
But then came the big news about Woodstock, about musicians goin' up there, and it was like a wave of insanity breakin' loose around the house day and night. You'd come in the house and find people there, people comin' through the woods, at all hours of the day and night, knockin' on your door. It was really dark and depressing. And there was no way to respond to all this, you know? It was as if they were suckin' your very blood out. I said, 'Now wait, these people can't be my fans. They just can't be.' And they kept comin'. We had to get out of there.
This was just about the time of that Woodstock festival, which was the sum total of all this bullshit. And it seemed to have something to do with me, this Woodstock Nation, and everything it represented. So we couldn't breathe. I couldn't get any space for myself and my family, and there was no help, nowhere. I got very resentful about the whole thing, and we got outta there.
We moved to New York. Lookin' back, it really was a stupid thing to do. But there was a house available on MacDougal Street, and I always remembered that as a nice place. So I just bought this house, sight unseen. But it wasn't the same when we got back. The Woodstock Nationhad overtaken MacDougal Street also. There'd be crowds outside my house. 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. But the whole idea backfired. Because the album went out there, and the people said, 'This ain't what we want,' and they got more resentful. And then I did this portrait for the cover. I mean, there was no title for that album. I knew somebody who had some paints and a square canvas, and I did the cover up in about five minutes. And I said, 'Well, I'm gonna call this album Self Portrait.'
| ” |
“ | Self Portrait was a bunch of tracks that we'd done all the time I'd gone to Nashville. We did that stuff to get a [studio] sound. To open up we'd do two or three songs, just to get things right and then we'd go on and do what we were going to do. And then there was a lot of other stuff that was just on the shelf. But I was being bootlegged at the time and a lot of stuff that was worse was appearing on bootleg records. So I just figured I'd put all this stuff together and put it out, my own bootleg record, so to speak. You know, if it actually had been a bootleg record, people probably would have sneaked around to buy it and played it for each other secretly. Also, I wasn't going to be anybody's puppet and I figured this record would put an end to that...I was just so fed up with all that who people thought I was nonsense. | ” |
Songs[edit]
Aftermath[edit]
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | C–[7] |
MusicHound | 2/5[8] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Village Voice | C+[10] |
“ | I've just listended to Dylan's new album, and in particular "Belle Isle", and I feel deeply moved that such a man is making music in my time. Dylan's songs are now mainly love ballads, the writing of which is one of the most poetic art forms since the dawn of man. "Belle Isle" brought to my memory all the moments of tenderness I've ever felt for another human being, and that, within the superficial landscape of pop music, is a great thing indeed. Please, all the people who write bitterly of a lost star, remember that with maturity comes change, as surely as death follows life.[14] | ” |
Track listing[edit]
Side one | |||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
1. | "All the Tired Horses" | Bob Dylan | 3:12 |
2. | "Alberta #1" | Traditional | 2:57 |
3. | "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" | Cecil A. Null | 2:23 |
4. | "Days of 49" | Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Frank Warner | 5:27 |
5. | "Early Mornin' Rain" | Gordon Lightfoot | 3:34 |
6. | "In Search of Little Sadie" | Traditional | 2:28 |
Side two | |||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
1. | "Let It Be Me" | Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë | 3:00 |
2. | "Little Sadie" | Traditional | 2:00 |
3. | "Woogie Boogie" | Bob Dylan | 2:06 |
4. | "Belle Isle" | Traditional | 2:30 |
5. | "Living the Blues" | Bob Dylan | 2:42 |
6. | "Like a Rolling Stone" (Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival) | Bob Dylan | 5:18 |
Side three | |||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
1. | "Copper Kettle" | Albert Frank Beddoe | 3:34 |
2. | "Gotta Travel On" | Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar, Tom Six | 3:08 |
3. | "Blue Moon" | Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers | 2:29 |
4. | "The Boxer" | Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel | 2:48 |
5. | "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)" (Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival Festival) | Bob Dylan | 2:48 |
6. | "Take Me as I Am (Or Let Me Go)" | Boudleaux Bryant | 3:03 |
Side four | |||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
1. | "Take a Message to Mary" | Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant | 2:46 |
2. | "It Hurts Me Too" | Traditional | 3:15 |
3. | "Minstrel Boy" (Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival) | Bob Dylan | 3:33 |
4. | "She Belongs to Me" (Recorded live August 31, 1969 at the Isle of Wight Festival) | Bob Dylan | 2:44 |
5. | "Wigwam" | Bob Dylan | 3:09 |
6. | "Alberta #2" | Traditional | 3:12 |
Personnel[edit]
- Bob Dylan – guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals
- Byron Bach – cello
- Brenton Banks – violin
- George Binkley III – violin
- Norman Blake – guitar
- David Bromberg – guitar, dobro, bass guitar
- Albert Wynn Butler – clarinet, saxophone
- Kenneth A. Buttrey – drums, percussion
- Fred Carter, Jr. – guitar
- Marvin Chantry – viola
- Ron Cornelius – guitar
- Charlie Daniels – bass guitar, guitar
- Rick Danko – bass guitar, vocals
- Pete Drake – steel guitar
- Delores Edgin – vocals
- Fred Foster – guitar
- Solie Fott – violin, viola
- Bubba Fowler – guitar
- Dennis Good – trombone
- Emanuel Green – violin
- Hilda Harris – vocals
- Levon Helm – mandolin, drums, vocals
- Freddie Hill – trumpet
- Karl Himmel – clarinet, saxophone, trombone
- Garth Hudson – keyboards
- Lilian Hunt – violin
- Bob Johnston – production
- Martin Katahn – violin
- Doug Kershaw – violin
- Al Kooper – guitar, horn, keyboards
- Sheldon Kurland – violin
- Richard Manuel – piano, vocals
- Martha McCrory – cello
- Charlie McCoy – guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, vibes
- Barry McDonald – violin
- Ollie Mitchell – trumpet
- Carol Montgomery – vocals
- Bob Moore – bass guitar
- Gene A. Mullins – baritone horn
- Joe Osborn – guitar, bass guitar
- June Page – vocals
- Rex Peer – trombone
- Bill Pursell – piano
- Robbie Robertson – guitar, vocals
- Albertine Robinson – vocals
- Al Rogers – drums
- Frank Smith – trombone
- Maretha Stewart – vocals
- Gary Van Osdale – viola
- Bill Walker – arrangements
- Bob Wilson – organ, piano
- Stu Woods – bass guitar
Charts[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
Year | Chart | Position |
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1970 | Billboard 200 | 1[citation needed] |
1970 | UK Top 75[17] | 1 |
Singles[edit]
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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1970 | "Wigwam" | Billboard Hot 100 | 41[citation needed] |
References[edit]
- ^ Greil Marcus, "Self Portrait No. 25", in Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader(1970), p. 74 (Benjamin Hedin, ed., 2004)
- ^ Ray Foulk, 2015 Stealing Dylan from Woodstock, Medina Publishing, London, ISBN 9781909339507.
- ^ Shelton, Robert (2003 reprint). No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, p. 418. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81287-8.
- ^ Heylin, Clinton (2003 reprint). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, p. 314. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-052569-X.
- ^ Riley, Tim (rev. ed. 1999). Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary, p. 195. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80907-9.
- ^ link
- ^ "Bob Dylan's discography". 29 March 1991.
- ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 371. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ^ Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York, NY: Fireside. p. 262. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (July 30, 1970). "Consumer Guide (12)". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ ab Christgau, Robert (1990 reprint). Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide, p. 116. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80409-3.
- ^ Marcus (in Hedin, ed., 2004), p. 79.
- ^ Marcus (in Hedin, ed., 2004), p. 82.
- ^ Marc Bolan: The Rise And Fall Of A 20th Century Superstar Mark Paytress, Omnibus Press, 2009, p215
- ^ Dylan, Bob (2004). Lyrics : 1962–2001. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-2827-8.
- ^ "Self Portrait (1972) [sic]". Retrieved 16 June 2012.
- ^ "Number 1 Albums – 1970s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
- Guterman, Jimmy and O'Donnell, Owen, The Worst Rock and Roll Records of All Time, Citadel, 1991.
External links[edit]
- Self Portrait (Bob Dylan album) at Discogs (list of releases)
Preceded by Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel | UK Albums Chart number-one album July 11–18, 1970 | Succeeded by Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel |