The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971)

Background

The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) "reveals fresh aspects of Dylan's vocal genius as he reimagines traditional and contemporary folk music as well as songs of his own. Across these unvarnished performances, Dylan is the country singer from Nashville Skyline ("Country Pie" and "I Threw It All Away"), an interpreter of traditional folk ("Little Sadie," "Pretty Saro") who's right at home singing the songs of his contemporaries (Tom Paxton's "Annie's Gonna Sing Her Song" and Eric Andersen's "Thirsty Boots") before returning to writing and singing his own new music ("Went to See the Gypsy," "Sign on the Window")".

Promotion

The first songs released from The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) were an unreleased demo of "Wigwam" backed with a previously unreleased recording of "Thirsty Boots" on 7" vinyl for Record Store Day 2013. On August 8, 2013, a video for the song "Pretty Saro," a traditional English ballad, was released. The video featured photos taken from the Farm Security Administration archive at the Library of Congress. A week later, the song was released as a download single.

Editions

The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) is available in a standard two-disc configuration as well as in a four-disc deluxe boxed set which includes, for the first time, the complete historic performance by Bob Dylan and the Band from the Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday, August 31, 1969 (though incorrectly dated August 30, 1969 in the album notes accompanying the set). Housed in a slipcase, the deluxe edition includes a newly remastered version of the 1970 Self Portrait album, in its entirety with original sequencing, in addition to two hardcover books featuring revisionist liner notes penned by Greil Marcus (author of the notorious "What is this shit?" 1970 Self Portrait review in Rolling Stone). A vinyl version of The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) includes the album's 35 tracks on three LPs plus a 12" × 12" booklet.

Critical reception

In his review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek gave the album four out of five stars, calling it "an indispensable addition to the catalog". While he believes that Dylan made the right choices on the original New Morning album, these outtakes and alternate takes are still interesting.

In his review for American Songwriter, Jim Beviglia gave the album four out of five stars. Beviglia wrote:

What this collection attempts to do is rectify the errors, in production and song selection, made when the albums were first released. In the case of Self Portrait, overdubs added after the fact in '70 have been eliminated, removing the filter between the listener and Dylan's raw, affecting performances of "Copper Kettle" and "Days Of '49."

In his review on the Consequence of Sound website, Mike Madden gave the album three and a half out of five stars, writing that Another Self Portrait is "highlighted by songs we've heard before but presented here in different versions, such as the cozy lament 'I Threw It All Away'". Despite some "bottom-of-the-barrel" material, Madden noted the "pleasing discoveries" presented on the album:

'I contemplated every move, or at least I tried,' Dylan sings on 'Went to See the Gypsy'. Elsewhere, Another Self Portrait indicates that while he had trouble with his writing mechanics around this time, it wasn't for lack of trying. 'Sign on the Window' is home to orchestral arrangements that could have been on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, while Abbey Road dynamics power the second alternate version of 'Time Passes Slowly'. These, as well as the rockabilly of 'Working on a Guru' and the Nashville classicism of 'Tattle O'Day', are moderate successes, but they reveal that Dylan did in fact have the motivation to flesh out new directions for himself during these years. Let's be grateful that this set exists, if only because it begins to clears up a mythical period of the now 72-year-old Dylan’s frequently inscrutable oeuvre.

In his review in Guitar World, Jeff Slate wrote that the "thing about being a fan of Bob Dylan is that the discovery of his greatness is never-ending". Slate went on to observe, "Dylan sounds great, the songs and performances are peerless, and though stylistically Another Self Portrait is a bit all over the place (owing mostly to the fact that the sessions the material is culled from spans three years) it also is remarkably coherent." Slate concluded that "the thing that struck me in reflecting on this entry in the series and the nine volumes that came before it—not to mention Dylan's official studio output—was the consistency of Dylan's output. It's all great. Seriously."

In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, David Fricke gave the album four and a half out of five stars, calling it "one of the most important, coherent and fulfilling Bob Dylan albums ever released". Fricke found the performances to be "immediate and invigorating", with Dylan delivering "virile singing". Fricke continued:

Despite the vintage, or maybe because it's all been hidden for so long, everything here feels like new music, busy being born and put to tape with crisp impatience. 'Let's just take this one,' Dylan says before a take of the traditional ballad "Little Sadie," one of 17 raw, magnetic tracks from a single three-day sprint with guitarist David Bromberg and pianist Al Kooper in March 1970. Dylan was, in fact, on the verge of a crossroads: the widely scorned double LP Self Portrait, issued three months later. He sounds eager to get there. That album is still tough going: a frank, confrontational likeness of the artist at 29 and loose ends, crooning folk tunes, pure corn and odd, plaintive originals, mostly through thick Nashville syrup. There may be no better description of Dylan at the close of his first, whirlwind decade, exhausted and uncertain of his way into the next, than Self Portrait's opening mantra, sung in his place by a group of country-gospel angels: "All the tired horses in the sun/How'm I supposed to get any ridin' done?"

Fricke believed that Self Portrait and New Morning were part of a "long, connected act of self-examination and re-ignition". This latest addition to the Bootleg series highlights "Dylan's breadth of drive at a time when many thought he had no direction forward".

Track listing

All songs written by Bob Dylan except where noted; traditional songs arranged by Dylan.