BOB DYLAN: "New Morning"

Original released on LP Columbia KC 30290

(US 1970, October 21)

"Self Portrait" had been in the shops for only four months when another Dylan album hit the racks. The story behind its inception was full of twists and turns. In early 1970, Dylan was approached by the poet Archibald MacLeish to work on "Scratch", a musical version of The Devil and Daniel Webster. He wrote three songs for this project - "New Morning", "Time Passes Slowly" and "Father of Night" - before MacLeish pulled the plug and used older Dylan songs instead. These became the fulcrum of the new album. To complete the project it took seven recording sessions at Columbia's studios B and E in New York, from 1 May to 4 June, plus a final unspecified session to produce an acceptable version of "Day of the Locusts". The original plan was "Self Portrait II", combining cover versions and new songs. An early track listing includes "Mr. Bojangles" and "Ballad of Ira Hayes" - both ressurrected on "Dylan" - and "Tomorrow is a Long Time", first recorded as a Witmark demo circa 1963. A studio session with George Harrison, consisting mainly of two old friends jamming on rock 'n' roll classics was aborted. Dylan never worked with Bob Johnston again. Al Kooper complained that Bob changed his mind about every three minutes. The album attracted ecstatic reviews, although the critical consensus now is that it is more of a holding operation, a far more genuine self portrait of a man happy in his domesticity, but with his creativity in limbo. The cover is all of a piece, a photograph by Len Seigler in which Bob glances up quizzically. The pose is mirrored on the back, a youthful Dylan standing with blues legend Victoria Spivey in the Cue Recording Studio New York, 2 March 2962. A mono version was issued in Brazil only. (Brian Hinton)