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Self Portrait

Rate It! Avg: 3.5 (107 ratings)
Self Portrait album cover
01
All The Tired Horses
3:09 $0.99
02
Alberta #1
2:55 $0.99
03
I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
2:21 $0.99
04
Days Of 49
5:25 $0.99
05
Early Mornin' Rain
3:32 $0.99
06
In Search Of Little Sadie
2:26 $0.99
07
Let It Be Me
2:59 $0.99
08
Little Sadie
1:58 $0.99
09
Woogie Boogie
2:05 $0.99
10
Belle Isle
2:27 $0.99
11
Living the Blues
2:40 $0.99
12
Like A Rolling Stone
5:15 $1.29
13
Copper Kettle (The Pale Moonlight)
3:32 $0.99
14
Gotta Travel On
3:06 $0.99
15
Blue Moon
2:27 $0.99
16
The Boxer
2:45 $0.99
17
Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
2:45 $0.99
18
Take Me as I Am (Or Let Me Go)
3:01 $0.99
19
Take a Message to Mary
2:45 $0.99
20
It Hurts Me Too
3:13 $0.99
21
Minstrel Boy
3:30 $0.99
22
She Belongs To Me
2:41 $0.99
23
Wigwam
3:07 $0.99
24
Alberta #2
3:11 $0.99
Album Information

Total Tracks: 24   Total Length: 73:15

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eMusic Review 0

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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, Self Portrait
1972 | Label: Columbia

A famously — and deliberately — dreadful album: Dylan hurling the contents of his junk drawer at Dylanologists to throw them off his trail. It's a mess of out-of-tune covers, schlocky string arrangements, half-remembered folk tunes and some middling live tracks from 1969's Isle of Wight festival. "Copper Kettle" isn't bad, though.

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aluap345

Always like this. Still have mint vinyl(no turntable). Feasting on all the Dylan offered.

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come all without

andrewtmitchell

some interesting tracks on this album but it is hard from essential. mighty quinn is a hightlight as are the other live tracks with the band from the isle of wight festival.

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I like it

zaireeka

Although this collection pales in comparison with Dylan's output at the time, it's still interesting and listenable and better than many others he's put out.

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Take me as I am or let me go

timabouttown

In 65, Bob said he was “just a song and dance man.” Hear it here, as he tries on songs and styles with 50 other musicians. Re: Boxer. Bob also covered Joni, Neil, Zevon, Henley, Stones. Wannabes? Please. The Boxer is a small town guy, beaten and lonely in NY. Think Bob might relate? And a fine sing-along, which is how it’s recorded – like most of the B. Tapes were too. None of it would matter if the songs weren’t there, and they are. Early Morning Rain is as fine as anything on P. Waves or N. Morning. Sadie, Gotta Travel On, Days of 49 would nicely fit on Band records/B. Tapes. (Instead of mentioning that the Band plays here, the critics above only whine that they don’t understand. Thanks, guys.) Several songs here would have been the 2nd best song on N. Skyline. In other words, it’s exactly like what else Bob was doing at the time. Kind of like, uhm, a SELF PORTRAIT. Not eternal, but FUN, and sweet. Get it, even if the critics don’t.

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Yeah, I know what they say about this one...

DanielJMcGinn

Maybe I am crazy but I have loved this recording from the first listen many years ago. Sloppy at times and shmaltzy at others but it is pure Dylan, warts and all. This is the 4th time around, buying Self Portrait, I feel good hearing it once again.

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Due for a revival...

LukeHennig

If the indie scenesters who got invites to the "I'm Not There" loft party really wanted those choice, difficult cuts to cover, they should've left the Basement Tapes well alone already and raided the "Self Portrait" fridge. "Alberta" is deliciously contagious yet loose, while "Days of '49" sounds terrific against today's freakfolk. I also predict that a tricked-out "All the Tired Horses" loop is going to make some DJ's career someday soon.

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Too Bad for Douglas Wolk

FZ1

I have always liked this album...he can call it junk and out of tune, but it's classic Dylan. When I have my 150+ Dylan tracks on shuffle, these songs break it up nicely, and add variety to the mix.

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They Say All Music Guide

There has never been a clearer attempt to shed an audience than Self-Portrait. At least, that’s one way of looking at this baffling double album, a deliberately sprawling affair that runs the gamut from self-portrait to self-parody, touching on operatic pop, rowdy Basement Tapes leftovers, slight whimsy, and covers of wannabe Dylans from Paul Simon to Gordon Lightfoot. To say the least, it’s confusing, especially arriving at the end of a decade of unmitigated brilliance, and while the years have made it easier to listen to, it still remains inscrutable, an impossible record to unlock. It may not be worth the effort, either, since this isn’t a matter of deciphering cryptic lyrics or interpreting lyrics, it’s all about discerning intent, figuring out what the hell Dylan was thinking when he was recording — not trying to decode a song. There are times where it’s quite clearly played for a laugh — if his shambling version of “The Boxer” isn’t a pointed parody of Paul Simon, there was no reason to cut it — but he’s poker-faced elsewhere, and the songs (apart from such earthed gems as “Mighty Quinn,” which aren’t presented in their best versions) are simply not worth much consideration. But, in a strange way, Self Portrait is, because decades have passed and it still doesn’t make much sense, even for Dylanphiles. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s worth the time to figure it out — you’re not going to find an answer, anyway — but it’s sort of fascinating all the same. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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