Bob Dylan was eighty this week. Big news on the internet and in the media. Loads of articles praising his achievements and longevity from his early days, first recordings, global breakthrough, his various guises, hit albums, bum albums, fave songs, his jump from folk to rock, motorcycle accident, epic tours, good concerts, bad concerts... right up to the release of his latest album 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'. It's been quite a journey with ups and downs, a rough ride you might say, though millions of Boomers like me have been with him all the way.
Interesting to note the many rock stars who voiced their appreciation of Dylan's contribution to not only the music industry, but also literature and culture generally. Interesting too how many people managed to name their fave Dylan song and/or album. Notably, Mick Jagger went for 'Desolation Row' while Bruce Springsteen plumped for 'Like A Rolling Stone'. I tried to narrow my faves down to a single album and single track, but couldn't really decide. Too many to choose from. An almost impossible task.
Delved into cyberspace to remind myself of forgotten tracks and albums I hadn't heard (surprisingly, there are quite a few, such as 'New Morning', 'Infidels', 'Under The Red Sky' and 'Planet Waves'). Maybe I couldn't afford them, or maybe they'd had bad reviews, or maybe I bought some other non-Dylan album instead, or maybe I didn't rate the previous Dylan album I'd bought so I'd given up on him (sad to say that happened quite a few times).
Anyway, I noticed that, as well as fave albums getting mentioned, there were quite a few 'worst' albums being named. Among them were his 'religious phase' albums such as 'Saved' and 'Slow Train Coming', both of which I don't think I bought. Another unpopular one was 'Self Portrait' which I did buy and rather liked (even though I couldn't really afford it - it was in the final year of my student days). I still occasionally play the cd in the car. Contrary to Rolling Stone's famous review when the album was released (the opening line was "What is this shit?") I still reckon there's some good stuff on there, such as 'All The Tired Horses', 'Early Mornin' Rain' (by Gordon Lightfoot) and 'Belle Isle' (traditional). I think Rolling Stone gripe was that the album wasn't what they expected or wanted. And many Dylan fans agreed. People were disappointed. And how!
However, I reckoned that maybe Dylan just wanted to do an album of stuff he liked, to please himself, not others. Or maybe to annoy people on purpose. But I thought, fair enough. So it came as no surprise when I discovered an article on the internet where Dylan explained his reasons for this album being different. Basically, he reacted against being labelled 'the voice of a generation' and 'the protest singer' and 'the youth leader' etc. He'd had enough of that nonsense. Get off my back. It's a bit like Monty Python's 'he's not the messiah, he's just a singer'. Which probably explains the inclusion of 'Blue Moon' on this album. That'll really annoy them! Always makes me smile when I hear it. Shows a sense of humour.
So, is 'Self Portrait' my fave album? Well, as I said, I can't decide. Maybe. Or maybe it's 'Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid'. Or 'Blonde On Blonde' or 'Nashville Skyline' or 'Highway 61 Revisited'. And is 'Blue Moon' my fave single? Er, nah. Maybe 'Desolation Row', mainly because Charlie McCoy's guitar work wins it by a nose.
