I like the God Knows from 11/21/04 at Harvard that Mark sent me.
I used to think it was a stupid song.
But I guess the music changed everything.
Yes, I'll Remember You from Masked and Anonymous was beautiful.
Emotionally Yours is a wonderful song, too.
Empire Burlesque is really great.
Don't worry, Paul. I love Self Portrait.
I'm actually starting to like it, from the net play it's getting from
the Tangled Up In Bob webcast. :) I was just too embarrassed to listen
to it for more than a few songs, after I finally finally finally
bought it, even knowing it was Bob Dylan's big fat joke.
> Don't worry, Paul. I love Self Portrait
I don't think Self Portrait is one of Dylan's most despised records
anymore. It's regarded more as a great flawed album as far as I can
see, rather than a crappy album. People often say they avoided it
because of it's reputation, and are pleasantly surprised when they
finally hear it. A couple of people I know even rank it as his best
(although, to be fair, these aren't Dylan fans)
And re: the idea that he "deliberately" made it bad ... I bought Neil
Young's Decade last week (£6 from Tesco!) and noticed in the liner
notes that the arrangement on Man Needs a Maid was "one of Dylan's
favourites" ... So he really likes that orchestral stuff.
Why flamed? Those are all great songs.
One thing Self Portrait most glaringly isn't is "mediocre". New
Morning maybe, SP no.
The underlying concept behind Self Portrait was mediocre. New Morning
was a career revival album, and that makes its concept much more important.
New Morning gave us some good songs. Self Portrait had some interesting
performances and two new, sort of mediocre songs.