BOB DYLAN NEW MORNING C/D

I bow to the Bob canon and all, but this is my personal fave of his, if only because it was the only Dylan album my father owned (I'm guessing he bought it for "If Not for You") and I heard it a kabillion times throughout my childhood. And it's not just nostalgia, I still love it, from first to last. "Time Passes Slowly," "Day of the Locusts," "Went to See the Gypsy" (swinging little number, that), "If Dogs Run Free," title track, "Father of Night," all good. Even quasi-cheeseball stuff like "Winterlude"--I love it when he calls her "my little apple."

In re "Gypsy," I've heard variously that it's about Elvis, the Maharishi, and Allen Ginsberg. Still waiting on the definitive word on that.

Changing of the Guard?

OH sorry that's STREET LEGAL

I am literally listening to this lp for the first time right now, I bought it on Sunday

somewhat shocking that I'd never heard of this album before I looked up what record "The Man In Me" was on! guess it's like Neil Young, he's got so many good-to-great records it's hard for them to all get mentioned ....

love this one and best bob drinking album actually... is totally otm.

Can someone who was there, so to speak, tell me what the reception to this album was like when it was released? i've heard conflicting reports.

This was the first of several thank-god-Bob's-back publicity events. It sold well. The early seventies were a strange transitional time; NM and Planet Waves are not among his well-known albums. I like them as minor records with several great cuts apiece.

i certainly wasn't there, but the impression i get from a collection of critical essays and reviews (i'll try to find a link. can't remember the official title) i read a few years ago was since it came on the heels (like just a few months?) of the dissappointing Self Portrait, some fans & critics were pleased to have a "proper" record with some strong songs in his "normal" voice. OTOH it also seemed a lot of the fanatics were angry he hadn't followed up on the promise of Blonde on Blonde and was content to be "domesticated Bob" rather than some sort of emblem of the counter-culture. Chronicles Vol 1 and I'm Not There touch on this, even if they don't directly reference New Morning.

The chapter in Chronicles that deals (kinda tangentially) with this album is great as well.

-- tylerw, Monday, September 17, 2007 3:01 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Link

or maybe Chronicles did?

this A.J. Weberman dude was pretty cracked:
http://expectingrain.com/dok/who/w/webermanaj.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Weberman

i've definitely read about the comparisons it faced alongside Self-Portrait, which came out what, 4 months prior? i guess i'm just curious about the general public's reaction. Critics seemed pretty divided between "return to form" & "boring, lackluster". It's really not important, i just have a personal fascination with the context of albums that came out long before i was born. Especially ones i really like.

still love this. yeah honestly maybe it is a "minor" album but that's why i like it so. it doesn't feel bogged down by history or expectations or anything.

is street legal worth getting?

it doesn't feel bogged down by history or expectations or anything.

yeah exactly, it's like bob put out this little personal thing in hopes people might get it as *him* instead of one of the many masks he wore over the years

Calling a record "minor" is not insulting.

Street Legal is definitely worth getting. I don't understand why it has a mediocre reputation. Mediocre for Dylan, maybe, but still really good. He still plays a bunch of these songs live.

I'm not sure what I think about New Morning, though. Minor is probably the best way to put it. I hate hate hate "If Dogs Run Free". I don't listen to the album very often, but it's not an embarrassment.

I have never heard Self-Portrait but I would like to. I know "All The Tired Horses" and like it a lot.

self portrait ain't bad. i always liked his cover of "Gotta Travel On" and Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain." In fact, all the covers except for "The Boxer" are at least interesting, if memory serves. and there's a ramshackle (possibly live?) "Quinn the Eskimo"

im a big fan of self portrait and new morning...

even winterlude and the simon and garfunkel cover

i'm now totally convinced "Went to see the gypsy" is about elvis.

still need to get street legal....i bought biograph on vinyl a while back and "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" is so great.

np: "Winterlude"

the corny female scat singing on if dogs run free is wtflol but also kind of awesome at the same time

this kinda bums me out though cuz it's so fucking cold right now in minneapolis...this is an album that makes me wanna drink a beer outside when it's warm ;_;

current temp: 2O degrees F

posted to another dylan thread:

but what i really want to say is i downloaded some stuff from the "new morning" sessions and i've gotta say it's a revelation. i long ago absorbed the complete basement tapes and the new york blood on the tapes sessions and the myriad outtakes from blonde on blonde... and frankly every other bootleg i've heard since then has been sort of just OK, even including the dylan/cash sessions. but this "new morning" stuff is amazing! although i say that as a big fan of the album, which i know is not a consensus favorite.

by the way the remaster of this sounds excellent.

Yeah my roommate counts this as the best Dylan album and he peed his pants when his remaster came in the mail. Need to listen to this again when I get home.

A friend that Dylan's piano really sounds great.

gotta get that remaster. btw, i agree, the outtakes are really great -- here's my own comp of some of the best stuff http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/100814102/winterlude-the-early-word-on-the-new-dylan-album

thx dude!

no prob. yr gonna like it! the "gypsy" there is worth the price of admission alone.

Yes! This remaster and the "Hokoyo!" Thomas Mapfumo reissue on Water are my two fave reissues of the year so far...

I think I've listened to "The Man in Me" like 50 times in the last week

what an album

I am still really into this record btw

was just thinking of something to listen to on my ipod good call

yeah this record is very very good

If Dogs Run Free is totally hilarious - a little jazz piano doodling, some dog noises, Dylan mumbling. AWESOME

weirdly, dylan actually plays that song live from time to time.

I had this on my iPod on my way to work today - put me in such a good mood, it's far better than I remembered it being. 'Day of the Locusts' is a great song! I don't actually own the CD anymore, I should pick up that remastered version.

Maybe this has been pointed before on the thread, but it boggles my mind that "Gypsy" features Dylan's only mention of the state of Minnesota

c'est

he talks about duluth on "Something There Is About You"

not entirely related but does anyone remember which ilx thread was the one where someone accidentally posted the album cover of 'empire burlesque' when they meant to post a different image and it turned into a running metajoke?

Aw man this is so nice to hear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV2FFNVmJQI

the electric piano outtake version of "went to see the gypsy" is A++

yeah it's something isn't it? nothing else remotely like it in his career.

wish it were on youtube or something for other folks

Listened to the album on a road trip today!

this record has a sort of The Band vibe, but with a lighter touch

I'll say it again: I love Dylan's piano on this.

wish it were on youtube or something for other folks
i think it was released officially on some kind of itunes comp, but maybe just in the UK?

at this point in my life whenever i'm like 'hey i'd like to listen to some bob dylan right now' i usually go with this or self portrait

"How are you?" he said to me/I said it back to him

^^best dylan lyric ever

Dylan in the studio recording "The Man In Me":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBWAyvp_mtQ

AWESOME

hell yeah

Love it

So cool. That huff and smile at the ending are the best. Thanks!

If he regularly played piano standing up while recording, that could explain why he hits so many off notes on this album.

wow that's amazing

absolutely

That huff and smile at the ending are the best.

So cute!

Miraculous footage

If he regularly played piano standing up while recording, that could explain why he hits so many off notes on this album.

― Halfway there but for you,

Glorious off notes. This is my favorite Dylan-on-piano album.

Oh wow

Tim-O-Tay dropped a deep cut on SNL last night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6dCTnnoVsI

I never really liked "Three Angels" (or "Father of Night" for that matter). Bold choice but still every bit as underwhelming.

I wish "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue" had been included on New Morning. (The actual take used for the B-side. A good alternate take was used for Another Self Portrait, but for whatever reason, the master take remains out-of-print in the U.S. I had to get mine from the CD reissue of the Japan-only compilation Masterpieces. It's also on the German CD Pure Dylan but sounding a bit harsh there.) I actually slotted it in as the opener on iTunes/Apple Music.

cringe

It's not exactly good music. But i do respect the choice.

If he had memorized farewell Angelina that would have been epic

Sorry birdistheword, but you cannot improve on New Morning. It is as good as it gets.