New Morning - Bob Dylan

...he was desperate for a new direction (or half a dozen at once). 'One More Weekend' is a return to the rolling bluesy style of some of the numbers from 'Blonde on Blonde', and 'The Day Of The Locusts' is said to have been written as a cynical comment on his attendance at Princeton University to be granted an honorary Doctorate of Music (which his more radical fans saw as a sell-out to the establishment), with something of his old passion, but the ...
.../> 'Father of Night' is hymn-like in its simplicity, anticipating the born-again Christianity which would find full flowering nine years later on 'Slow Train Coming'. 'Time Passes Slowly' and 'Winterlude' are rather slight piano-driven songs in waltz time, and the overtly religious, mainly spoken 'Three Angels' is almost sickly.

As for the album's strangest track, 'If Dogs Run Free' is part jazz, part beat poetry; but it has nothing ... more

'New Morning' is an often-overlooked curiosity in Dylan's back catalogue. It came in the wake of his baffling 'Self Portrait', made up of self-written throwaways, live tracks from the Isle of Wight and dreadful MOR crooner fare like 'Blue Moon'. After its hostile critical reception the man had to prove himself once again, hence this quickly-recorded set recorded in a few days and released only five months later.

Part of it is an extension of the more mellow feel that was apparent on the (in my view pretty bland) 1969 'Nashville Skyline' set. But the songs are certainly not his best, and perhaps it's significant that only the opening track has been covered by others. 'If Not For You' is a sprightly countryish number that, harmonica work apart, could almost have appeared on 'Skyline'. A superior, slower version appeared at around the same time on George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass', with an arrangement copied by Olivia Newton-John who took it into the Top 20 a few months later. (Dylan recorded a slower version around the same time, with Harrison on guitar, which saw the light of day on the 3-CD 'Bootleg Tapes' on 1991).

Although lyrically nothing special, the title track is quite spirited. I'll never forget a friend of mine hearing to it for the first time and telling me it sounded like 'Hi Ho Silver Lining'! Both 'Morning' and 'If Not For You', by the way, appeared on the 1971 'More Greatest Hits' compilation.

As for the mix of styles on the other songs, it's open to argument as to whether he was genuinely having fun by experimenting and perversely trying his hand with musical ideas which fans and critics didn't expect, or whether he was desperate for a new direction (or half a dozen at once). 'One More Weekend' is a return to the rolling bluesy style of some of the numbers from 'Blonde on Blonde', and 'The Day Of The Locusts' is said to have been written as a cynical comment on his attendance at Princeton University to be granted an honorary Doctorate of Music (which his more radical fans saw as a sell-out to the establishment), with something of his old passion, but the song otherwise has little to recommend it.

'Father of Night' is hymn-like in its simplicity, anticipating the born-again Christianity which would find full flowering nine years later on 'Slow Train Coming'. 'Time Passes Slowly' and 'Winterlude' are rather slight piano-driven songs in waltz time, and the overtly religious, mainly spoken 'Three Angels' is almost sickly.

As for the album's strangest track, 'If Dogs Run Free' is part jazz, part beat poetry; but it has nothing of the energy of 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. "If dogs run free, then why not me/just do your thing, you'll be the King", he intones to a slick cocktail-type piano accompaniment and backing vocalist Maeretha Stewart trilling scat-jazz sweet nothings behind him. (Either that, or she's doing something best left to the imagination.) I've known people who think it's brilliant, but personally I find it embarrassing. Hit the Next button fast!

All in all, it's a baffling record, and I've got about 80% of his works but this is certainly one I don't play very often. At the time it was hailed as a sparkling return to form after 'Self Portrait', simply because it was self-penned once again. Thirty years later, the general view is that 'S P' was a deeply flawed set but not quite as bad in parts as everybody thought at the time, and that 'Morning', though self-penned, was not much better. It may have been comfortable easy-listening fare but much of it was uninspired. I can't argue with that verdict.

Nevertheless the other musicians' playing is good, with special mentions in despatches for Al Kooper, who will always be remembered as the man who played organ on 'Like a Rolling Stone' and keyboards/French horn on the Stones' 'You Can't Always Get What You Want', and guitarist David Bromberg. The sound is clear and well-produced, even if it only goes to emphasize that Dylan had a heavy cold at the time. If you're a diehard Dylan fan and have the best of his other works, this can be picked up at mid-price. Otherwise, I think you can survive without it!

[Just to save you looking it up, by the way: in the UK, where Dylan could do little wrong in the eyes of the faithful, both 'Self Portrait' and 'New Morning' entered the album charts at No. 1, something which rarely happened at the time. In the US, they peaked at No. 4 and No. 7 respectively. But never again would he top the UK chart, something he subsequently did three times in the mid-70s in the US].
 

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