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self portrait- a work of art

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Josh Lobley

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May 18, 2003, 3:54:59 AM5/18/03
to
one thing that really makes my blood boil is how much people bag out self
portrait. its a collection of songs that he admires and he covers them and
adds that touch of bob which enlights them with magic. and the originals are
absolutly fabulous.
wigwam, what a triumphant instrumental,
--all dylan fans: find self portrait, put it on your stereo and pump wigwam,
sit back and close your eyes---
if you cant feel anything good there, i'd find that hard to believe. but
thats just my opinion, alberta 1 and 2 .oooh nearly makes me blow in my
pants.
let it be me..
is this enough to make you get that record out. listen to it then post back.

David O'Brien

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May 18, 2003, 5:53:10 AM5/18/03
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Let it Be Me is good.


"Josh Lobley" <j_lo...@austarnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:ba7djv$ulf$1...@austar-news.austar.net.au...

Bob Ross

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May 18, 2003, 10:55:23 AM5/18/03
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right on! i've always found that album to be a touch of peace when things
got turbulent. it is his most underrated work by far.


"David O'Brien" <dmob...@octa4.net.au> wrote in message
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michael harris

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May 18, 2003, 11:54:46 AM5/18/03
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"David O'Brien" <dmob...@octa4.net.au> wrote in message news:<newscache$qwu2fh$0c6$1...@news.octa4.net.au>...

Amen. This is by far the most overlooked and underrated album in
Dylan's catalogue.
Days of 49, Living The Blues, Take A Message To Mary, all great vocal
performances. Some of the best examples of his crooner voice that
exist on record. I have been seeing people rip this album to pieces
for years, and have never understood it. I also think this album is
very well recorded. You owe it to yourself to give it another unbiased
listen.

Jim

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May 18, 2003, 12:10:45 PM5/18/03
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"David O'Brien" <dmob...@octa4.net.au> wrote in message news:<newscache$qwu2fh$0c6$1...@news.octa4.net.au>...

"Self-Portrait" is an ironic title, since it seems - to me anyway -
that this was a time during which Bob was as without "self" as we've
ever seen him, musically, at any rate. I *hated* it when it first came
out for a few reasons: First, I disliked the smooth "country" voice
back then. Of course, looking back it's an oddly wonderful little
period in a long career, but at the time I was aghast, thinking, "Is
that the way this guy is going to be singing from now on?" I had been
raised on the raspy, affect-driven voice that reached its culmination
on Blonde on Blonde and I found the sweet "performer's persona" a bit
hard to swallow. Further, the album offered little intellectually of
value. Compared with "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of
her face," the lyrics on Self-Portrait can certainly strike one as a
bit banal. And finally, it brought new meaning to the idea of rough
production values.

But time has undone all of these objections. Now I get a special kick
out of "Crooning Bob" because he came and went so quickly and I hear
the emotion in the songs that perhaps was a bit harder to access
coming on the heels of all the glorious work done in the distinctive
nasally rasp. Most of that old country material is gorgeous. And the
lyrics now satisfy much in the way one would feel about the words of
one of Bob's early influences, Hank Williams. And of course the live
stuff with the Band is classic.

I still can't listen to All the Tired Horses all the way through and
wince at his stab at Simon & Garfunkel but these are small issues.
Self-Portrait stands along side of early Van Dyke Parks and Nick Drake
as music that I thoroughly enjoy, knowing the days for listening to it
come relatively far apart.

Dwolf0823

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May 18, 2003, 12:21:52 PM5/18/03
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Jim wrote (many insightful comments snipped -- the post really brought home the
difference in perspective between Dylan's 1960s contemporaries and those, like
me, who came along later):

>I still . . . wince at his stab at Simon & Garfunkel

So many people detest it, but "The Boxer" is to me a highlight of Self
Portrait.

dsw

Bob Hughes

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May 18, 2003, 4:52:32 PM5/18/03
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On 18 May 2003 16:21:52 GMT, dwol...@aol.commonstock (Dwolf0823)
wrote:

When you consider how overproduced the S&G version is, Bob's throw
away, one take version is a breath of fresh air. Which voice is the
original and which is the overdub, anyway, and how do you tell?

Ziggy1972

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May 18, 2003, 7:44:53 PM5/18/03
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>When you consider how overproduced the S&G version is, Bob's throw
>away, one take version is a breath of fresh air. Which voice is the
>original and which is the overdub, anyway, and how do you tell?

Neither one of them. There are no overdubs whatsoever on "The Boxer." Dylan
is that talented.

That, or he was using a "croonoder." Bob sings into it like regular Bob, and
it comes out like country Bob. The technical aspects of it are difficult to
describe. Suffice it to say that Dylan's version of "The Boxer" was a landmark
in recording that no other artist has dared attempt to duplicate.

-Jeremy

Tricia J

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May 19, 2003, 12:35:03 PM5/19/03
to
Always loved it, always will. I often wonder if the people who say
they hate it ever actually listen to it, after the first couple of
go's?

Ironywaves

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May 19, 2003, 12:50:32 PM5/19/03
to
The first exposure I had to Dylan was Self Portrait *and* Tarantula, the
only Dylan works the public library had in 1972. That's an interesting
perspective... then came the mid 1970s blast of masterpieces... yep, Self
Portrait is some unique Dylan experiments.
Will

http://www.angelfire.com/al2/willdockerypoems/index.html

"Tricia J" <tric...@aardvark.net.au> wrote in message
news:3ec9093b...@news.aardvark.net.au...

ravero

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May 19, 2003, 6:12:19 PM5/19/03
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"David O'Brien" <dmob...@octa4.net.au> a écrit dans le message news:
newscache$qwu2fh$0c6$1...@news.octa4.net.au...

> Let it Be Me is good.
>
>
>
yes but it is not a Dylan song, it's a French song, written by Gilbert
Becaud (he also wrote What Now My Love)

Raoul

Bob Stacy

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May 19, 2003, 7:29:28 PM5/19/03
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"Tricia J" <tric...@aardvark.net.au> wrote:

> Always loved it, always will. I often wonder if the people who say
> they hate it ever actually listen to it, after the first couple of
> go's?

I betcha they don't or at least haven't bothered to consider it within
context of Dylan's life, his music, and musical activities occurring within
scope and breadth of say that 5-6 year period (1968-1973). It's never been
in my Bob top-ten, but the SP album and related studio material, etc. seem
to make perfect sense for a musician/artist somewhat less connected to the
wide world (and worldly styles) but immensely *more* in touch with his own
personal life and relationships as well as his own creative likes and
dislikes. The Dylan music of that era has its own logical beauty: a
co-existence of simplicity and sometimes weird if not obtuse complexity. A
replay of Tell Me Mama it ain't. But if there had been just a few more
years of thin wild mercury madness, by the time of Self Portrait, we likely
would've attended a superstar's funeral or else visited him at the asylum.
Instead, we got Self Portrait :-)

I say never in my top ten and mean it. Including Greatest Hits, SP was the
11th Dylan album released. That's where it entered my ratings and has more
or less worked its way downward. Nonetheless, it remains well above some
Bob clunkers and actually gets listened to *more* than a few rated above it
on my scale. These days I gravitate towards simplified complexity!

-Bob Stacy


Alan Fraser

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May 20, 2003, 2:35:58 AM5/20/03
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On Mon, 19 May 2003 19:29:28 -0400, "Bob Stacy" <bst...@comcast.net>
wrote:

>I betcha they don't or at least haven't bothered to consider it within
>context of Dylan's life, his music, and musical activities occurring within
>scope and breadth of say that 5-6 year period (1968-1973). It's never been
>in my Bob top-ten, but the SP album and related studio material, etc. seem
>to make perfect sense for a musician/artist somewhat less connected to the
>wide world (and worldly styles) but immensely *more* in touch with his own
>personal life and relationships as well as his own creative likes and
>dislikes. The Dylan music of that era has its own logical beauty: a
>co-existence of simplicity and sometimes weird if not obtuse complexity. A
>replay of Tell Me Mama it ain't. But if there had been just a few more
>years of thin wild mercury madness, by the time of Self Portrait, we likely
>would've attended a superstar's funeral or else visited him at the asylum.
>Instead, we got Self Portrait :-)
>
>I say never in my top ten and mean it. Including Greatest Hits, SP was the
>11th Dylan album released. That's where it entered my ratings and has more
>or less worked its way downward. Nonetheless, it remains well above some
>Bob clunkers and actually gets listened to *more* than a few rated above it
>on my scale. These days I gravitate towards simplified complexity!

Perfectly stated, Bob.

Alan

dna fun

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May 20, 2003, 3:42:40 AM5/20/03
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it took me by surprise at the time and was disappointed because i'd
hoped for more potent originals.....but i'd always loved those songs he
chose and began to love the album for his versions of others' great
songs........and the originals are more appreciated now

William Robertson

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May 20, 2003, 1:31:17 PM5/20/03
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I came to Dylan sorta late, so Self-Portrait was the first Bob album
I bought on the release date (but what a strange thought that you
could have been born that day and be a full adult now). Anyway, I
was at summer camp, a somewhat backward kid from a small southern
town, and a hip friend had been introducing me to Dylan and the Band.
He said, New Dylan album out today, we gotta go get it. So we did (in
Northfield, Minn.), and we both loved it, not having the influence of
the fatheads at Rolling Stone who said it was no good. Then all
during college, I had a 90 minute tape with one disk on each side,
and at the tail end of long road trips, about 2 or 3 in the morning,
it was always the perfect selection.


"Josh Lobley" <j_lo...@austarnet.com.au> wrote in message news:<ba7djv$ulf$1...@austar-news.austar.net.au>...

David Wright

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May 27, 2003, 1:42:01 PM5/27/03
to
Even if you don't particularly like the music, any Dylan fan should
appreciate his interpretation and singing. One of the things that makes
Dylan Dylan is the wide variety of conflicting musical genres. People will
die to get covers from the Basement tapes, but scorn at these covers. Why?


j_lo...@austarnet.com.au (Josh Lobley) wrote in <ba7djv$ulf$1@austar-
news.austar.net.au>:

David Wright

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May 27, 2003, 1:43:38 PM5/27/03
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Let me add also that it is very likely Dylan would never be able to hit all
those notes again. Self-Portrait/Dylan is a real piece of history.


mgha...@sdcoe.k12.ca.us (michael harris) wrote in
<e1913863.03051...@posting.google.com>:

Unknown

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May 27, 2003, 3:44:34 PM5/27/03
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David Wright wrote:

> Even if you don't particularly like the music, any Dylan fan should
> appreciate his interpretation and singing. One of the things that makes
> Dylan Dylan is the wide variety of conflicting musical genres. People will
> die to get covers from the Basement tapes, but scorn at these covers. Why?

Try reading Tarantula while listening to Self Portrait, which was my first extended exposure to Dylan in 1972. *grin* It'll mark ya for life... THAT'S surreal!
Will



> j_lo...@austarnet.com.au (Josh Lobley) wrote in <ba7djv$ulf$1@austar-
> news.austar.net.au>:
>
> >one thing that really makes my blood boil is how much people bag out self
> >portrait. its a collection of songs that he admires and he covers them and
> >adds that touch of bob which enlights them with magic. and the originals are
> >absolutly fabulous.
> >wigwam, what a triumphant instrumental,
> >--all dylan fans: find self portrait, put it on your stereo and pump wigwam,
> >sit back and close your eyes---
> >if you cant feel anything good there, i'd find that hard to believe. but
> >thats just my opinion, alberta 1 and 2 .oooh nearly makes me blow in my
> >pants.
> >let it be me..
> >is this enough to make you get that record out. listen to it then post back.
> >
> >
> >
>
>


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