New Morning

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ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 12   Total Length: 35:38

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Douglas Wolk

eMusic Contributor

Douglas Wolk writes about pop music and comic books for Time, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired and elsewhere. He's the author of Reading Comics: How Gra...more »

06.30.09
Bob Dylan, New Morning
2009 | Label: Columbia/Legacy

Recorded and released almost immediately after Self-Portrait, this is simply a modest singer-songwriter album — everything on it feels casually tossed off, the band plays with a light touch, and there are some genuinely silly things here, especially the fake hepcat-jazz recitation "If Dogs Run Free." But his natural gifts for rhyme and tune (not to mention his natural oddness) still shine through: "If Not For You" is a fake Tin Pan Alley number that went on to be memorably covered by both George Harrison and Olivia Newton-John. And, for once, Dylan sounds genuinely happy. "The Man In Me" even starts with a "la la la" chorus, and "Time Passes Slowly" and "New Morning" are both paeans to the pleasures of hanging out with a loved one, doing nothing in particular.

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Happy Dylan

gregrh

This is the mellow years for Bob. He and Sarah were lining in the country and the music reflects that warm country family living. Love Day of the locusts" where he reflects on being invited to rec' a Doctoral degree. Very autobiographical of a good time in Bob's life.

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Excellent, underrated album

LouietheKing

This album, specifically hearing "Went to See the Gypsy" on a public radio station in Buffalo in 1970, was my introduction to Dylan in real time. His happiest album, and also a masterpiece in his more laconic style, like John Wesley Harding, but without that albums grander aspirations.

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A Fine Album

rebhayim

New Morning brightens my day every time I listen to it. Wolk's review is way off base: there's nothing casual or tossed off about New Morning. It's a strong, lyrical masterpiece that I place alongside Blood on the Tracks for brilliance and sheer pleasure.

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My ears hear a symphony

EvilAl

The only thing that that is "genuinely silly" or "fake hepcat" is the review by Wolk. "Dogs run free" is one of the best things on the album and holds up well over time.

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The Man In Me

jboogalu

"The man in me will do, nearly any task. And as for compensation, there's a little he would ask. Take a woman like you, to get through, to the man in me." Enough said...

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Ignored Gem

Wonky

I love this album from start to finish though I would not call myself a Dylan fan. If you can get over comparing it to his other work, it is a great collection of interesting and often funny songs.

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eMusic Features

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Icon: Bob Dylan

By Douglas Wolk

Bob Dylan didn't get to be the greatest living songwriter by repeating himself. He's reinvented his style and technique with nearly every record he's made in the course of his half-century career; he's been the political spitfire of The Times They Are A-Changin', the mysterious joker of The Basement Tapes, the domestic ruminator of New Morning, the indignant holy roller of Slow Train Coming, the aging Romeo of Time Out of Mind. The only constants… more »

They Say All Media Guide

Dylan rushed out New Morning in the wake of the commercial and critical disaster Self Portrait, and the difference between the two albums suggests that its legendary failed predecessor was intentionally flawed. New Morning expands on the laid-back country-rock of John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline by adding a more pronounced rock & roll edge. While there are only a couple of genuine classics on the record (“If Not for You,” “One More Weekend”), the overall quality is quite high, and many of the songs explore idiosyncratic routes Dylan had previously left untouched, whether it’s the jazzy experiments of “Sign on the Window” and “Winterlude,” the rambling spoken word piece “If Dogs Run Free” or the Elvis parable “Went to See the Gypsy.” Such offbeat songs make New Morning a charming, endearing record. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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