in 1973, Columbia released an album simply called Dylan. There wasn't much information on the sleeve, just some garish artwork and a list of songs, mostly covers.
Bob Dylan was about to make one of his many supposed comebacks early in 1974 with a new album (Planet Waves) and tour (his first in eight years, with the Band).
Columbia was not happy about this. Why? Because Dylan had left the label for David Geffen's maverick Asylum Records. Originally, Dylan was to have his own imprint, Ashes and Sand, but eventually decided against it, citing too much "label pollution."
In retaliation, Columbia gathered out-takes from his recent albums, Self Portrait and New Morning - both from 1970 - and put out an album without Dylan's consent.
The return of Dylan was creating quite a buzz, and the album was actually a hit, probably because the public saw it as a new Dylan album. Maybe not THE new Dylan album, but after years of fans bootlegs, it probably didn't make much difference anyway.
When Dylan's contract with Columbia ended in 1967, there was talk of the Bob signing to MGM, who were in dire need of updating their image. One of the things that killed the deal was the fear of Columbia releasing Dylan recordings from 1961 to 1966 - the first Bootleg Series, as it were. While he was recouperating from his motorcycle accident, Columbia released Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits.
Dylan's deal with Columbia ended with the release of 1971's Greatest Hits Vol. II. After The Concert For Bangla Desh movie and Grammy-winning 3-LP set, Dylan was back in the news and in critical favor. It's my understanding that Columbia bought the rights to Dylan's 1973 Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid soundtrack, which produced a hit single, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door".
Now that Dylan was gone, Columbia decided to release Dylan as his 13th LP in November, 1973. While it was thought to be out-takes of the critically maligned album, Self Portrait, at the time, research shows that the first seven tracks are from the follow-up LP, New Morning. Only the last two tracks were from the Self Portrait sessions:
Side one
1 "Lily of the West" (Traditional; arrangement by E. Davies, J. Peterson) – 3:44
June 3,1970 NEW MORNING session 4
2 "Can't Help Falling In Love" (George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore) – 4:17
June 3,1970 NEW MORNING session 4
3 "Sarah Jane" (Dylan) – 2:43
June 1, 1970 NEW MORNING session 2
4 "Ballad Of Ira Hayes" (Peter LaFarge) – 5:08
June 1,1970 NEW MORNING session 2
Side two
1 "Mr. Bojangles" (Jerry Jeff Walker) – 5:31
June 2,1970 NEW MORNING session 3
2 "Mary Ann" (Traditional) – 2:40
June 2,1970 NEW MORNING session 3
3 "Big Yellow Taxi" (Joni Mitchell) – 2:12
June 4,1970 NEW MORNING session 5
4 "A Fool Such As I" (Bill Trader; wrongly attributed to James Buford Abner, who wrote a gospel song with the same title) – 2:41
April 26, 1969 SELF PORTRAIT session 2
5 "Spanish Is The Loving Tongue" (Charles Badger Clark) – 4:13
April 24, 1969 SELF PORTRAIT session 1
Original Recording Sessions Produced by Bob Johnston
Original photograph by Al Clayton
Front cover serigraph by Richard Kenerson
Back cover and album design by John Berg
The album was a top-20 hit in the U.S., and certified gold.
"A Fool Such as I" was released as a single, and became a moderate hit. The version of "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue" included here is generally regarded as an inferior version to the one issued as the b-side to the 1971 "Watching The River Flow" single. Joni Mitchell would incorporate the verse Dylan rewrote for "Big Yellow Taxi" in her own live performances.
Musicians:
Self Portrait: Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica & piano), Bob Wilson (piano), Charlie Daniels (guitar), Charlie McCoy (bass), Peter Drake (steel guitar), Kenneth Buttrey (drums), Fred F. Carter (guitar), Norman Blake (guitar)
New Morning: Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica & piano), Charlie E Daniels (guitar), David Bromberg (guitar, dobro, bass), Ron Cornelius (guitar), Al Kooper (organ), Russ Kunkel (drums).
The first sequence of New Morning was actually:
SIDE ONE: Mr. Bojangles, Ballad Of Ira Hayes, The Man In Me, One More Weekend / SIDE TWO: New Morning, Father Of Night, Sign On The Window, Tomorrow Is A Long Time (new version), If Dogs Run Free
The Dylan album has never been released on CD in the U.S., but in Europe, it was released under the title, A Fool Such As I. It is listed on Dylan's official website.
After releasing two albums for Asylum, Dylan returned to Columbia, and recorded Blood On The Tracks. He's been there ever since.
You can listen to the entire album here, or you can hear Dylan's take on "Big Yellow Taxi", embedded on the left.
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