Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series, Vol. 10

I like it as much as Jimi Hendrix's cover.

 

Clinton Heylin's Behind Closed Doors/Recording Sessions book.

 

I think this would be a great release, I've always enjoyed Self Portrait and the Dylan album.

 

One Too Many Mornings is a great song. I enjoy both of his 1960's arrangements.

To be honest, I find Times fatiguing. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album and Hattie Carroll is one of my favorite Dylan tunes. However, I enjoy Freewheelin' much more. It's well balanced (serious, romantic and humorous). Times was the height of his finger pointing songs. He was smart to tone it down on Another Side. Too bad he rushed through the recording sessions.

What I find great about Dylan is that you could never really pin him down for too long. He had the innate ability to shift artistic direction at the right time.. His outtakes reflect this as well as his released material.

 

What do you think of the UK mono? It sounds nice to me, especially for a fold-down.

 

This is a fascinating question, and I'm not sure, this many years later, it's entirely clear what the answer is.

By any conventional measure, the album was commercial suicide, which I think is fair to assume was as clear when it was released as it is to state now. But we have more than 50 years of subsequent Dylan afterward to look at, and I think he's demonstrated that although he's not immune to commercial considerations, it's ridiculous to suggest they are his guiding light. When it comes down to it, for whatever reason, I think these are the songs he wanted to record at that moment. I don't think he had any illusions that "Wigwam" would top the charts, but for whatever reason, it's what inspired him at the time and I think I appreciate the album more with every passing year (also, I doubt he had much input or interest in the subsequent overdubs, so the upcoming Bootleg Series may indeed better reflect his original inspiration).

I think it might be a misnomer to equate "self-sabotage" with "commercial-sabotage." I think he recorded something very (if baffling) personally resonate, without giving a damn if it "moved units." That might have been hard to reconcile at the time, but in a way, it might have given fans more personal insight into his psyche than any of his previous releases.

 

True, but the corresponding albums were good.

 

I don't have an original UK mono LP, just a needle-drop CD. It sounded fine to me (especially in light of the available CD options at the time) but not revelatory. It was the Original Mono Recordings version that finally knocked me over.

But I think it is a good example to trot out when people reflectively dismiss fold-downs.

 

A fold-down of JWH should sound as aggressive as the stereo-version. Does it?

 

Thanks! Well said!!

 

I feel the same way. Add New Morning to that. There's a sense of fun playing around with a new way of delivering and performing. If this isn't a rumor, I'm buying this bootleg volume.

 

While Self Portrait is not one of Dylan's greatest releases, I find it an entertaining listen. I'd be open to outtakes from these sessions, although not a $150 box set.

 

As far as I'm concerned, some of the performances on Self Portrait already sound like outtakes, like the out-of-tune guitar on "Alberta" (with the last chord sloppily edited in), the forgotten lyrics in "Days Of 49" and so on. And the more polished songs, like "Blue Moon," don't exactly inspire me either.

 

Fair enough, but it's worth noting that even classics like "Queen Jane Approximately" had some painfully out-of-tune guitar. Details like proper tuning have never been a big issue for Dylan, even if your larger point is certainly legitimate.

 

Self Portrait was the first Bob Dylan album I purchased. I bought when it first came out because I had heard that several of the Beatles were playing in it. I misunderstood an article that was talking about the Isle of Wight tracks in which the Beatles were in the audience. From the beginning I have loved this album. To this day it is one of my most played Dylan albums.

 

This could be GREAT.

Anyway I just felt like posting Self Portrait in San Francisco on an overcast day. My new Art Project w dBacons first ever Dylan LP!!

 

Talk about sods law!!.. Last month I finally bit the bullet and spent £48 on the rare (genuine) Dutch CD issue of "Dylan." I have been after it for years but was reluctant to spend so much on material I had already but its the only Dylan CD I didn't have so thought why not? Anyway I thought at the time that now I have bought it it will get a reissue! So it will be ironic if those tracks and other Self Portrait outtakes form the next Bootleg series release. The thing is though, I read that Bob had the Dylan album deleted himself, which is why the CD is hard to find. Must be mistaken as I'm sure he wouldn't want those tracks forming what would be quite a high profile release, especially when there is so much more material to mine!

 

I could get excited about Self-Portraits outtakes if it were Bootleg Series, Vol. 47 and everything else has been released.

 

Self Portrait outtakes? I love Bob's stuff, but I can't get excited by this.
Even Bob himself thought it was loaded with crap.

 

Really? I recall him mentioning that it was assembled like a bootleg (which, at the time, was quite a new phenomenon), but I don't recall a quote that suggested he ever dismissed the album so catagorically.

 

I choose to believe this, too. Assuming these speculations are true.

 

I

Indeed. Isis is certainly a reliable source, but even they admit their information is tentative and subject to change.

 

Doesn't really seem to be anything definitive here. For the record I will say I am fan of "Self Portrait" which, though far from Dylan's best, I feel is an unfairly maligned work. Also, now seen from a distance as a piece of his overall body of work, it is really interesting what he was trying to do and it fits in very nicely.

 

April's fool already?

 

Bingo! Better than Freewheelin' no doubt. When you take into account all of the songs cut at the "Times" sessions it's just a staggering output of amazing material. Staggering.