Columbia Records will release Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969-1971) on Aug. 27. The label says the set will bring a “fresh perspective to one of the artist’s most controversial periods and revealing it to be one of his most wonderfully creative and prolific.”
With 35 rarities and previously unreleased recordings, Another Self Portrait (1969-1971) is the latest edition of Dylan’s acclaimed Bootleg Series and is available in both a standard two-disc set and in a four-disc deluxe box set.
The unreleased recordings, demos and alternate takes on Another Self Portrait — drawn mainly from the 1970 studio recording sessions that resulted in the official 1970 albums Self Portrait and New Morning albums — shed new light on an essential and pivotal period in the artist’s ongoing musical evolution.
The original Self Portrait, released in June 1970, was Dylan’s tenth studio album and his first to receive real pans from the music press (“What is this s***?” was literally the opening sentence of Greil Marcus’s review in Rolling Stone while Robert Christgau gave the album a “C PLUS” rating in the Village Voice). Nevertheless, Self Portrait hit Number 4 on the US Billboard 200 and Number 1 on the UK album charts.
In the Self Portrait sessions, Dylan played a selection of songs accompanied by a small ensemble of musicians, primarily David Bromberg (guitar) and Al Kooper (keyboards, guitar), with producer Bob Johnston later adding overdubs to the basic tracks in Nashville. Another Self Portrait presents these original session masters for the first time without overdubs.
