Self Portrait

Released: 8 June 1970

Rating: 4/10

To quote Greil Marcus: ‘what is this shit?’ The album artwork doesn’t look like him, the record doesn’t sound like him. This is one of the most bizarre records ever released and a complete departure from the quality Dylan was known for. Critically decried for being far below the usual standard, Bob has since said the album was purposely bad, as he wanted to shake off the label of being the spokesperson for his generation and focused on covers instead. This may be Bob being a bit revisionist, but it is clear that the album was horrifically messed around with in postproduction, leading to many of its flaws. In 2013, The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (hereby referred to as BS10) was released with many of the original recordings before overdubs were added. This proved that there was an incredible album intended, but sadly it was, for lack of a better word, completely fucked up.

1) All The Tired Horses - What kind of album is this? The opening track is just three female voices repeating ‘all the wild horses in the sun, how am I s’posed to get any riding done’ for over 3 minutes with orchestral musical accompaniment. It’s hardly Subterranean Homesick Blues or Like A Rolling Stone is it? Dylan isn’t even on the fucking song, what a waste of time.

2) Alberta #1 - This traditional cover isn’t too bad, Bob’s singing and harmonica are nice and the song has a relaxed feel to it. However, as will become a common theme on the album, the backing harmonies and overdubbed instruments are confusing and irritating. You’ll hear me say this a lot, but the BS10 original version is far superior.

3) I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know - This mind-numbingly boring cover of Cecil Null’s song is something I wish I could forget.

4) Days Of 49 - Originally by Frank & Alan Lomax, this is one of the better songs on the album. Dylan seemingly loses his crooning voice and sounds more like his early folk days. However, the BS10 recording without the overdubs is one of my favourite ever Dylan covers. The rawness of that version is incredible and proves that Dylan didn’t need all these weird after effects, he was perfect and powerful with just his guitar.

5) Early Mornin’ Rain - Whilst this Gordon Lightfoot cover isn’t exactly exciting, it’s a perfectly acceptable version with some nice piano and bass. It’s not offensive, but it’s nothing to write home about either.

6) In Search Of Little Sadie - Much like the previous track, it’s an okay interpretation of a traditional tune. To be fair, Dylan’s voice sounds great once again, but it’s still just a standard cover of an average song. As expected, the BS10 original version with just Bob is far better.

7) Let It Be Me - Back to a crooning, confusing, country cover. Incredibly boring.

8) Little Sadie - See track 6, it’s exactly the same.

9) Woogie Boogie - Two minutes of boring boogie woogie piano? No thanks.

10) Belle Isle - Easily an album highlight. It’s a beautiful traditional song, which Bob sings brilliantly, and even the added orchestral backing is surprisingly nice. Yet, to return to my catchphrase, the BS10 without the overdubs is far, far superior.

11) Living The Blues - Written by Bob, this sounds like it could have been a filler track on ‘Nashville Skyline’. It’s an okay song, again not great by any means, just an average folky/country song.

12) Like a Rolling Stone - Recorded live with The Band at The Isle of Wight Festival 1969, this is a brilliant example of Dylan’s country reimagining of some of his most famous hits. I really like this version, the whole set is available as part of BS10, and it is essential listening in the evolution of Bob’s live performances with his older material.

13) Copper Kettle - I really hate this Alan Beddoe cover, as the backing arrangement is terrible and honestly it just sounds shit. What makes me hate this one even more is the BS10 recording. It’s gorgeous, both simple and effective with a brilliant performance by Bob. How this overdubbed monstrosity was chosen for this album is beyond me, maybe it’s true Bob made this album to put people off, as this song was transformed from a beautiful tune into a clustered nightmare.

14) Gotta Travel On - I actually don’t mind this one, it’s a classic folk song by Paul Clayton but with the Woodstock twist. I could do without the backing singers, but again Bob sings like his 1965 self, and the song’s instrumentation is happily upbeat.

15) Blue Moon - Bob’s take on this oft covered ballad is nothing interesting or new, other than the inclusion of a rather grating violin.

16) The Boxer - This Simon & Garfunkel cover is very weird, with Dylan duetting with himself. Whilst it’s one of S&Gs best songs, this track is underwhelming and unfortunately doesn’t work at all.

17) The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo) - One of the best songs mysteriously omitted from The Basement Tapes by Robbie Robertson, much more on that later on, this was originally recorded by Bob & The Band in 1967, however Manfred Mann had huge success with the song in 1968. This live recording, again from the Isle of Wight Festival 1969, is the first official release of Bob singing the song and it’s a fantastic track. The Band sound brilliant, Bob is on top form, and the energy of the performance is infectious.

18) Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go) - Bob’s on autopilot with this Boudleaux Bryant cover. Uninspired and uninteresting.

19) Take A Message To Mary - Another cover, the original is by Felice Bryant, this track is incredibly average but it is at least better than the previous one. It just sums up most of the album, it doesn’t feel like the Dylan who spent years pushing boundaries.

20) It Hurts Me Too - Once again, an average cover of a traditional song, there’s literally nothing else to say about it.

21) Minstrel Boy - Again, a live version of a brilliant song left off the Basement Tapes, with the official recording not released for many years. I’ll explore it more when we get to the Basement Tapes, but this Isle of Wight performance is fantastic.

22) She Belongs To Me - The final live Isle of Wight track, again a countrified version of an electric song, again a surreal listen. Yet somehow it feels like it could have been written during this country period.

23) Wigwam - Another instrumental track, though Dylan does vocalise some ‘la la la’s’ over the top, this one is far more enjoyable. Composed by Bob, it’s clearly a precursor to his work on the Pat Garrett & Bill The Kid soundtrack. The horns remind me of the band Beirut (who are fucking amazing) and for some reason the tune inspires wonder in a way I can’t quite put into words. The BS10 original recording without the horns, which were added in a later session, is also great, though this is a rare instance where the meddled with version is better.

24) Alberta #2 - The album finishes with another version of track 2. My thoughts on it remain unchanged.

Verdict: There’s clearly an amazing album hidden in here. If the recordings from BS10 were used, I’d be giving the album an 8 or 9. Most of the outtakes from these sessions are also much better than the final tracks chosen for release. Instead it’s a mess of largely average covers, bad production, and live songs all mixed together to create an incredibly weird and disappointing listen, with only the occasional flash of the Bob we know and love. If he wanted to destroy the illusion of being some musical deity then he had accomplished it, though I do not regard this album to be an irredeemable train wreck, as many other reviewers do. Luckily for us, Bob’s redemption was only 4 months away.

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #162 & #163

Mon Aug 12 2019 [06:04 PM] Wack'd: I really dig the lettering here

[06:04 PM] Wack'd: Kudos to Joe Rosen [06:05 PM] Umbramatic: oooooh [06:05 PM] Wack'd: Arkon's back [06:05 PM] Wack'd: We're still not done with him apparently [06:05 PM] Wack'd: He's sent his mooks after Reed-A [06:06 PM] Umbramatic: oh [06:06 PM] maxwellelvis: I forgot he was even in this story. [06:07 PM] Wack'd: If anyone's having trouble following this, here's a helpful chart

[06:08 PM] maxwellelvis: Roy has clearly never watched Ben's soaps. [06:08 PM] maxwellelvis: Speaking of which, I know we're not going to get any more references to it, but I'm still tickled to think Ben of all people was probably addicted to *Dark Shadows* [06:09 PM] Wack'd: It's real good, yeah [06:10 PM] Wack'd: So it turns out Archon is behind the megacorp--quel shock--and bought out Reed-616 and Reed-A so that he would have the tech to make this three-way war possible [06:10 PM] Umbramatic: the dimension conflict chart just makes me think of: I Wanna Defeat The Giant Monkey Man And Save The 9th Dimension [06:12 PM] Wack'd: Hahahahahaa [06:12 PM] Wack'd: DeVoor, the face of the megacorp, also turned up on Earth-5D, looking exactly the same but with blue skin [06:13 PM] Wack'd: So Reed-A mind-melds with Reed-5D to explain all this to him, and that Arkon is from a fourth world and wants to wipe out the other three [06:13 PM] Umbramatic: oh dear [06:14 PM] Aleph Null: fantastic four has a more complicated plot than homestuck [06:14 PM] Umbramatic: vfoudhvahdzgjfzabvngfs;jzvbn;'ngosf [06:17 PM] Wack'd: So after a brief scuffle between Johnny-616, Reed-A, Ben-616, and General Ross-A, everything gets sorted out and a truce is formed between Earth-A and Earth-5D [06:18 PM] Wack'd: Meanwhile Reed-616 confronts DeVoor-616 and learned that all out atomic war between the three worlds would provide a thousand years' worth of nuclear power for Arkon's world [06:20 PM] Wack'd: So Reed-616 sends Johnny-616 and Reed-A to kick Arkon's ass while Ben-616 plugs the interdimensional hole Arkon is using to siphon power [06:22 PM] Wack'd: Man Roy Thomas *really* wants to be the next Jack Kirby, doesn't he

[06:24 PM] Wack'd: Thomas, dude, it's been five years. He's gone. You can do other stuff, it's okay [06:24 PM] Wack'd: At the very least be less transparent about it [06:24 PM] Umbramatic: oof [06:26 PM] Wack'd: @maxwellelvis : Is "Sonja Henie" a *Two-in-One* thing? [06:26 PM] maxwellelvis: Nope, real person [06:27 PM] Wack'd: Ahhh [06:27 PM] Wack'd: A Sports [06:27 PM] Umbramatic: sporp

Mon Aug 12 2019 [06:31 PM] Wack'd: So Ben-616 and Gaard duke it out for a bit, with Ben making some fairly smart moves, such as trying to throw the nexus-closing machine rather than engaging [06:32 PM] Wack'd: I mean, throwing a disc-shaped object is not the method I would if I was the one going up against a guy dressed like a hockey goalie [06:32 PM] Wack'd: But at least it's smarter than trying to beat up a spacegod [06:34 PM] Wack'd: Meanwhile Johnny-616 and Reed-A fight Arkon's forces [06:36 PM] Wack'd: TIL: "A weakling / Weighing 98 pounds" in "I Can Make You a Man" from Rocky Horror Picture Show is a reference to an ad series

[06:36 PM] maxwellelvis: You... you didn't know that already? [06:36 PM] Wack'd: I was aware of the general advertising trope? I didn't know it was a reference to something specific [06:36 PM] maxwellelvis: It's part of the famous ads for Charles Atlas [06:37 PM] maxwellelvis: the whole song is an homage to that ad. [06:37 PM] Wack'd: I was vaguely aware he was a famous bodybuilder, I didn't know that he had a training program he sold [06:38 PM] maxwellelvis: Yep [06:38 PM] InbarFink: I know about it cause my dad parodied it in his 90's Political Satire [06:39 PM] Wack'd: Huh. The ad says 97 pounds [06:40 PM] Wack'd: Wonder why all references to it go with 98 [06:40 PM] maxwellelvis: 98 sounds better out loud. [06:40 PM] Wack'd: Fair [06:40 PM] Wack'd: ANYWAY [06:41 PM] Wack'd: This is a good bit

[06:42 PM] maxwellelvis: There's one way Arkon is different than Conan; Conan actually knows what proverbs are. [06:43 PM] Wack'd: So it turns out Reed-A is also beating himself up over the fact that Johnny-A died in Vietnam [06:44 PM] Wack'd: The location of Johnny-A is a mystery no one thought was a mystery and didn't need solving but damn if it didn't just get solved [06:46 PM] Wack'd: Meanwhile, Ben-616 triumphs over Gaard, with the help of Reed-616, who sends a momentary illusion of Reed-A to distract Gaard [06:47 PM] Wack'd: (There's a bunch of technobabble about how only Gaard and one other being can exist around the Nexus at once, which is why Ben-616 had to do this alone. I won't bore you with the details) [06:48 PM] Wack'd: Ben-616 feels a little let down he didn't get a big rant about Gaard's origins, as is traditional, but hoofs it back to 616 without asking asking questions [06:50 PM] Wack'd: WELP

[06:53 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, the Four reunite, DeVoor agrees to pull out of the Fantastic Four's business, Ben and Alicia reunite, and--

[06:53 PM] maxwellelvis: Uh-oh [06:54 PM] Wack'd: Franklin finally looks like a seven-year-old [06:54 PM] maxwellelvis: I figure a good way to use this for like, drama or something in an adaptation or something would be to say Franklin ages like Steven Universe or something.

Lawrence Sterne Stevens (1886-1960), ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'', Vol. 14, #1, 1952 Source

Virgil Finlay (1914-1971),  'Skull-Face', ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'', Vol. 14, #1, 1952 Source