ANOTHER SELF-PORTRAIT

well, Sony has released "Pretty Saro" on YouTube

as a teaser for the upcoming release

of the Bootleg Series No. 10...


aside from being another slap at the tone-deaf

ignoramuses who still insist "Dylan Can't Sing"

it and the other fragments highlighted previously suggest

this may be a superior release to the original...


hard to say without hearing it full...

I'm not famous...therefore I do not exist

to these proud custodians of our culture

(academic critical and fiscal)

and so will not be invited to any pre-release

listening parties


but since Dylan's connection to the Divine

was seemingly broken by the famous motorcycle accident

he's had the habit of burying absolute gems in the vault

while utilizing inferior material

(oh I know...not for me to judge...maybe...

but as a working artist I understand why one piece goes into a work

and why one comes out...see Bootleg 8's version of

"Someday Baby"...more interesting and inventive

than the Muddy waters re-hash that appeared on Modern Times...

but the Waters re-hash fit the thematic concerns of MT more exactly...)


Self-Portrait was the first instance of the cyclical nature of Dylan's work...

having gone beyond the pale and come back with the alchemist's gold

of The Basement Tapes and John Wesley Harding

he returned to the music that formed him as an artist

(think years later of Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong)

and if he weren't so angered by the public's conception of him

as some Be-All End-All prophet that he made a sloppy job of SP

it seems in his maturity he's sanctioned a stronger set that finally

illuminated the album guiding principle i.e. "this is the music

that formed me and my art"


"Pretty Saro" "Tell Old Bill" even his friend Eric Andersen's "Thirsty Boots"

all great performances that a common fan would say should've been

on the original...but so what? it's here now and I suspect will be worth the wait...


high talk for something that for promotional purposes has been exposed

in dribs and drabs...but as a long time Dylan close listener

I think these pre-conjectures before the fact won't be too off the mark...


after all these years...and in years to come...even the Great Dylan will finally

"have to stand naked"

but I'm sure he'll be damned if he caves to that...





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