October 17, 2008

Self Portrait


DC mentioned it earlier and I agree, the fall state of mind has got me tied up as well. Having just gotten married last weekend and a number of other overall transitions, I haven't been seeking out the newness as much as I've been taking time to relish the classics. 

With the wifey and I taking a brief vacation to the northwoods of Wisconsin (even further north of Bon Iver Country!) I found myself spending quality time with the old friend Zimmy. Actually, our backwoods retreat (pictured above) was not far from Robert's home state of Minnesota.  I rarely leave for a long drive (more than 2.5 hrs) without bringing a Dylan album along for some good ole' start-to-finish , side A to side B style listening which lacks in the day-to-day schizophrenic, mp3 here mp3 there, hype machine world.   

Anyway, i purchased Self Portrait for the journey and couldn't have been more pleased. For the last 5 years or so i've bought one or two Dylan albums each year and clocked time with them on the road. I don't know why it took me so long to pickup Self Portrait - really great stuff on the tail end of his country tinged phase. With the eerie and enchanting opener "All The Tired Horses", I should've know this would be a great album - that song is so simple yet really has a profound effect...(and who'd guess it was a Dylan tune)? 

We'll let the Dylan obsessives fight over whether this album is a "joke" or was Bob giving a middle finger to his label or fans, it scores well in my book. 

download: Dylan - Early Mornin' Rain
download: Dylan - Gotta Travel On
download: Dylan - Wigwam
download: Dylan - Alberta #2 

2 comments:

Peter said...

Also dig Dylan's punky and defiant performance of "Copper Kettle."

Anonymous said...

I came across The Leather Canary a few weeks ago. Just wanted to say it's awesome, and I've been enjoying the hell out of it, and ... thanks!