‘Self Portrait’: how Bob Dylan deceived his own audience
Life at the top of the musical food chain might not be as enticing as it seems. Some people might love the idea of having massive crowds chanting their name every time they make a record, but there comes a point where all of that screaming can get tiresome, and artists either want it to end or do everything in their power to go in a new direction. And while Bob Dylan did everything he could to keep his audience on their toes, Self Portrait is still the moment where he pulled a complete bait-and-switch on one of his albums.
Before getting into the album proper, though, you need to realise what Dylan meant to the public at large at the time. His star might not have been as big as it was during the mid-1960s, but even after The Summer of Love, he was still being looked at as a musical god among men who could spit out anything and make it work, with even George Harrison becoming a major fan and coaxing him to perform when putting together The Concert For Bangladesh.
Although Dylan tried to play with people’s expectations by going away for a while and rebuilding himself as a rootsy artist, that still wasn’t enough to shake audience admiration. There were still plenty of fans listening to what he had to say, and even if he had some twang to go with songs like ‘Lay Lady Lay,’ that was more than acceptable.
What Dylan wanted was a clean slate, and Self Portrait is the ultimate example of taking a giant eraser and trying to start all over again. Even though Dylan is far from unrecognisable on the record, this was the first time fans got the sense that he truly was fallible, with many of the first critics being absolutely appalled by what they heard. Compared to his fellow legends like The Beatles, Dylan received the same treatment Paul McCartney’s RAM had in its prime, with most people thinking he had lost the plot and had become irrelevant overnight.
But can we do the same thing with Self Portrait if we can treat RAM with the same kind of respect after years of hindsight? Well, while it’s far from being the worst thing that Dylan had ever recorded, it does have a few spots that simply don’t work, like his decision to include different versions of his classic tunes or trying his best to do justice to old doo-wop songs like ‘Blue Moon’.
Then again, the fact that it’s so ramshackle might be the point. Dylan was never looking to be put on that pedestal, and if anything, this was him making his version of Plastic Ono Band, where he takes off all the layers of pretension and lets everyone know that underneath that rough exterior is a regular person just like everyone else.
And while fans were tricked into getting something this subpar from Dylan, it did help him in the long run. Some of Dylan’s best songs have come from a personal place, but. In contrast, most of his material from the early 1960s sounded like musical parables. This was a nice bridge to eventually get him to albums like Blood on the Tracks, where he was finally free to talk about his innermost feelings.
With all that said, though, Self Portrait is a brilliant way for Dylan to kill his persona and pave the way for something new. Anyone is going to want to treat their fans like they are the most important part of the music, but the measure of any good artist is not being afraid to run away from that old sound and tell the fans that they aren’t coming back.
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