It has got the most worse reviews. But I really like it. Anyone familiar with this Bob Dylan album?

And that cover of Let It Be Me...

wasn't "self portrait" the one that columbia put out in attempts to sabotage his career because he'd just signed to geffen? or was that "dylan"?

That must be Dylan. I am not sure if it was to sabotage his career.

what is so good about "self portrait"?

wasn't "self portrait" the one that columbia put out in attempts to sabotage his career because he'd just signed to geffen? or was that "dylan"?

You are right, here is some review from rateyourmusic.com

Although an album of outtakes from Self-Portrait (all covers) was certainly considered by most to be the worst idea imaginable, it didn’t anger die-hard Dylan fans as much as Self-Portrait simply because, they knew Bob wasn’t to blame for this. Dylan was in fact released apparently by Columbia without Bob’s permission as a form of revenge for (temporarily) signing with David Geffen’s Asylum label. There wasn’t that question of “what was Bob thinking?” hanging over this album, making it much more forgivable and much less interesting. In fact, since this is the only album in the oeuvre that Bob hasn’t officially released on CD (although it’s still available on cassette), it’s often considered fairly apocryphal to the official canon. However it clearly wasn’t enough of a thorn in Dylan’s side to keep him from returning to Columbia, where he remains to this day. It is also, despite sounding very similar in tone and (non-) authorship, most of these track are not from the Self-Portrait sessions. Just compare the la-la-la’s on “The Man In Me” and it’s impossible to deny that these songs were recorded during New Morning. While Dylan has denied that the all-original New Morning was recorded as a response to the critical hammering that Self-Portrait took (and the fact that we recorded most of New Morning before Self-Portrait’s release does bear this out), the fact that he pulled all of the covers songs that were going to make up a large portion of that album may have been an indication that he was listening to what his fans wanted instead of trusting his own instinct. Because Dylan isn’t bad. It’s not great. It’s not even as good as Self-Portrait, but it’s pretty good. It takes a lot of guts to cover not one but two Elvis songs (“A Fool Such As I” and “Can’t Help Falling In Love”) – especially if one isn’t known as a vocalist and interpreter of other people’s material. It is kind of odd that he chose to re-write the one line from which Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” in which the title actually appears. He had no problem singing from or even writing from the woman’s point of view before (“House Of The Rising Sun”, “North Country Blues”). I guess singing that you had an “old man” doesn’t necessarily mean one is female. The version of “Spanish Is the Loving Tongue” is often derided for being cheesy and lounge-like. Its worst crime seems to be failing to be the solo piano version that appeared as the B-side to “Watching The River Flow”. Personally, while it may not be as intimate, it’s far more cohesive, interesting and fun to listen here. Overall, it’s a fun weird goofy album, even if “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” drags on a bit too long. It definitely deserves to be released on CD, although it appears unlikely (at least until after Dylan croaks).

what is so good about "self portrait"?

I find that hard to explain. There are some 'strange' songs on it, not really Dylan like. Then again, what is Dylan like? Eh, I don't if you heard it but if not, some beautiful songs:

All the Tired Horses
Days of '49
Let It Be Me
Wigwam

Are you into Dylan? Any favorite albums/songs?

i love dylan, and just recently went through a big dylan phase. i really love the 66 and 75 albums from the live bootleg series. new morning, blood on the tracks and blonde on blonde are my favorite records of his, i think.

i just read a book on blood on the tracks. he kind of fucked over a lot of the musicians who worked on it.

I like those albums too. If you haven't heard Self Portrait, give it a go.

i just read a book on blood on the tracks. he kind of fucked over a lot of the musicians who worked on it.

Really? What do you exactly mean "he kind of fucked over"?

And what was the title of the book? Good book?

i'll check out SP.

he had a NYC session and a minnesota session for blood on the tracks, and he flat-never credited the MN musicians that played on the record. they got paid $300 each (which was the standard rate at the time), but they weren't even given copies of the record.

it was an okay book, decent music journalism. it's called "a simple twist of fate: the making of blood on the tracks". i was able to overlook his less than stellar writing skillz to hear what the songs were about and how they were recorded. some pretty interesting parts. a quick read, so i guess i'd reccommend it if you're a big dylan fan.

some solid stuff on self portrait oh yeah