livemusic Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 I am a huge fan of Dylan, seems to me as close to an artistic genius as I'll ever see. I've read/heard a lot of stuff but this page is a good one summing up his getting resentful at being proclaimed the Messiah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_Portrait_%28Bob_Dylan_album%29 I don't have the Self Portrait album but I'm going to buy it. I found the page due to a recording I heard of a song where he sounded like a crooner, lol. I can't recall the song but it was not on Nashville Skyline album, which surprised me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Self Portrait is his second double-album and one of the most corny records ever released. Still I kinda like it. Some of the tracks were done with Bob playing a song from the hip. Then bass player and drummer came and laid down their tracks with arrows up or down on the sheet for loose tempo variations. Dylan himself long gone. Don't take the record too seriously and it'll be a relaxing friend – let's call it atmosphere-providing backgroud music. And then it can be seen as another rebellion – this time against his own status as front rebel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 little sadie is genius ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Forgot the fantastic Wigwam , , , , not to mention amazing All the Tired Horses In The Sun http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Ae6zSlAajD0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae6zSlAajD0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Neither Self-Portrait nor Nashville Skyline did anything for me, even though the band I worked with covered several of the songs. It's almost as if Dylan was giving us all the finger by proving he could sell anything he recorded, even if it bore little resemblance to anything else he wrote or performed. "All the Tired Horses" is a great example. You spend three minutes waiting for something to happen,.....and it never does. That was pretty much the way I felt about the Dylan of that period. He was (and is) a complicated man, so you never quite know what he is up to. The best thing about Nashville Skyline was Norman Blake playing guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 I am with j45nick here. Starting with "The Times They Are A-Changin" I bought every Dylan record as they came out. I think the very first stereo LP I ever bought was Bringing It All Back Home. But Self Portrait and Nashville Skyline both left me cold. Then again, I did not like Sgt. Pepper's when released and never did buy a copy of Dark Side of the Moon so what do I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livemusic Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Neither Self-Portrait nor Nashville Skyline did anything for me, even though the band I worked with covered several of the songs. It's almost as if Dylan was giving us all the finger by proving he could sell anything he recorded, even if it bore little resemblance to anything else he wrote or performed. "All the Tired Horses" is a great example. You spend three minutes waiting for something to happen,.....and it never does. That was pretty much the way I felt about the Dylan of that period. He was (and is) a complicated man, so you never quite know what he is up to. The best thing about Nashville Skyline was Norman Blake playing guitar. Haha, you nailed it about All The Tired Horses. Interesting. Note that the page I posted... he said a lot of those songs were just them warming up in the studio... I assume to get the sound right. He later decided to release them on this goofy record. The guy is as fascinating as it gets. But don't you know it can drive someone mad to be revered as he was. I suppose only Elvis and the Beatles could know so well. I remember a quote by Scott McKenzie, who had nowhere near their level of success, but the young girls throwing themselves at him really messed him up. Like, man, this isn't right. But Dylan's problem was so much deeper, as he was writing these revolutionary songs... and the timing was surreal. Of course, he says he just was reporting on society. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Of course, he says he just was reporting on society. That's what many of the best singer/songwriters do. (See entries under "Guthrie, Woody" , "Ochs, Phil", and many others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 According Dylan he was just a song and dance man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 All The Tired Horses to me is a fine piece of surreal songwriting, , , , about a writers block or the dried out well of inspiration (horse-power). Regarding Nashville Skyline, it went contra-contra at a very significant time in history. It was a tongue in cheek album, but then again. Dylan liked simple songs also, , , and several of these were mighty good. I wouldn't be without that record, but S.P. definitely means less. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 All The Tired Horses to me is a fine piece of surreal songwriting, , , , about a writers block or the dried out well of inspiration (horse-power). Maybe, but I sort of wished he had waited until the writer's block lifted, so he could finish the damn song. It actually strikes me as a lullaby, where you repeat simple lyrics and tunes endlessly until the restless baby goes to sleep. (It only took me about three choruses before I nodded off.) At the same time, I've had the completed bridge of a song stuck in my mind for a couple of years, and I just can't seem to write the verses (Note: do any of the rest of you have trouble writing music on the guitar? Maybe it's because I started out as a piano player that I almost need a keyboard in front of me to noodle out melodies.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livemusic Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Maybe, but I sort of wished he had waiting until the writer's block lifted, so he could finish the damn song. It actually strikes me as a lullaby, where you repeat simple lyrics and tunes endlessly until the restless baby goes to sleep. (It only took me about three choruses before I nodded off.) At the same time, I've had the completed bridge of a song stuck in my mind for a couple of years, and I just can't seem to write the verses (Note: do any of the rest of you have trouble writing music on the guitar? Maybe it's because I started out as a piano player that I almost need a keyboard in front of me to noodle out melodies.) I don't have any problem writing on guitar, that's my No. 1 method but I am poor at piano. I can understand why you'd say what you did, makes sense. But, I never pick out melodies on guitar, I just let my mind create the melody and test the melody against a chord progression until it all matches and flows. This can work... record a chord progression for, say, your verse. Dupe it or loop it so that it plays for several minutes. Do the same for your proposed chorus. Burn the loops to CD. Take a road trip. Write your lyric and melody to your song as you drive. You'll get your song. (You'll need a handheld recorder or cellphone to record what you're writing so you don't have to write. Although, I would only do this on an interstate highway, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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