The words of famous pop journalist Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone to Bob Dylan's 1970
Self Portrait album are legendary: 'What is this shit?' The great rebel and protest singer of the 60s entered the new decade with a country-coloured album full of sweet cover songs, but luckily found some of his old form back that same year on
New Morning. The triple album 1970 is full of sketches and try-outs for
… Self Portrait and New Morning. We hear how Dylan and his band go through songs by himself and others and how, for example, If Not For You slowly, in many takes, takes on the shape it has on New Morning. Often, as in Yesterday by The Beatles, he doesn't even bother to sing into the microphone. During one of the sessions, he is assisted by George Harrison which yields a nice, lingering version of It Ain't Me Babe. But between the numerous messy run-throughs, it's mainly looking for interesting tracks. (MR)more
