Self Portrait

[Martin]

Tony's right about Self Portrait, it is great (with a small g). I
really like it, with the exception of the garbled Like A Rolling Stone
and She Belongs To Me from the Isle Of Wight, and The Boxer which must
be a joke, no? It has similarities with the Basement Tapes (yet it's
nowhere as good) in it's sprawling collection of songs and ancient feel
of some of them, and Down In The Groove, which also is patchy with some
great stuff in there. Take A Message To Mary and It Hurts Me Too are
great to play on guitar. I also like All The Tired Horses, an
audacious start to the album. I don't care if Bob sings off key on
Copper Kettle, it sort of suits it! There's also the outrageous fiddle
on Blue Moon, some of the album is funny in a good way. It's as though
he intentionally means to make a low key record. It's also yet another
album that sounds significantly better on vinyl. My copy has a promo
stamp and a 59'II price sticker (how much is that?) - I assume it's an
original edition - and sounds superb in comparison with the CD. I
think this is a real problem with the music market and downloads etc -
so many albums sound better on vinyl. Then there's the cover -
definitely a classic, but quite scary when you look at it. Perhaps Bob
could publish a book of his paintings to follow up Drawn Blank. As an
artist myself, I'd definitely say he has a unique talent. We've
stopped into the 18th Street Coffeehouse in Santa Monica (owned by Bob
according to Down The Highway) a few times in the past, and there's a
pretty good painting that looks like one of Bob's sitting on a shelf
above the bar, next to the Longlife herbal teas.

[crys]

I can't say I agree with you on Self Portrait. I think Bob did his fans
a disservice putting this out. I feel like it's a mess, and Bob himself
even said this album was sort of a joke. I think it was a failed
experiment. All the overdubbing was awful. And I am a huge Dylan fan,
but don't really get Self Portrait. Maybe I'm missing something and
should revisit Self Portrait.

[Bob Hughes]

CRys is right. Self Portrait is a mes. Dylan left in the middle and
let Bob Johnston finish it himself. It's a mixing, selections and
sequencing disaster.

But it still has some great stuff on it.

I'd keep All the Tired Horses
Alberta
Take A Message to Mary
Gotta Travel On
Copper Kettle
Days of 49
Blue Moon
It Hurts Me Too
Wigwam
The Boxer (it's funny)
Living the Blues
and maybe one or two others.

Bob Hughes

"I am perpetually awaiting a rebirth of wonder." Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[gabriel]

Nothing wrong with it that can't be fixed with the program buttons on a
cd player remote.

[Just Walkin']

Martin wrote:
> Tony's right about Self Portrait, it is great (with a small g). I
> really like it, with the exception of the garbled Like A Rolling Stone

It's hard to make Like A Rolling Stone sound like a happy song, but you
can feel his cheeks bulge with joy on this version. Sounds like the
same song, but the attitude is different. And if LARS is anything, it's
attitude.

Still and all, there is a lot of fine material there, as Bob Hughes
pointed out. I'd even add a few more tracks to that list...

[Anthony Fazio]

i like "self portrait" because of the way it sounds. it sounds like a
bunch of songs thrown together with no care involved, sorta punkish. the
only song that i havent gotten into is "take a message to mary". what
about "the mighty quinn"? he doesn't even sing the chorus, he leaves it
up to the band. and he sings it with the same mock voice he uses on
"nashville skyline", so fucking amazing.... this is one of my fav bob
albums.

http://community.webtv.net/dylanfan1969/DylanFan1969sLinks

[crys]

That's just it - it's a bunch of songs thrown together, when Bob is
capable of greatness. This is just a big mess.