Bob Dylan-New Morning (1970)

May 08, 2024

Artist: Bob Dylan

Title: New Morning

Label: Columbia

Format: LP

Catalog Number: KC 30290

Year of Release: 1970

Country and Year of Edition: US 1970 Santa Maria Pressing

Sell Price: $6.20

Sell Date: 5/2/24

Condition: VG+/G+

Discogs Last Sold 4/29/24 NM/NM $32.26

Low: $3.00 VG/VG

Median: $3.42

Average: $8.56

High: $36.46

Current low price: $4.44

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 31

Have/Want: 1994/264

Where Sold: Minneapolis, MN

Time It Took To Sell: 9 years

Where and When Bought: early 80's Al Bums Worcester $3.99

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A

Sad To See It Go: No

"So happy just to see you smile/underneath that sky of Blue...."

Nobody really listens to Bob for blind spiritual uplift or at least I didn't. The Christian records were the voice of a wrathful God and everybody ripped "Wiggle Wiggle" apart when Bob just wanted you to enjoy life and dance. For me, I look to Bob to push intellectual, sonic or my own nostalgic buttons, if I'm gonna be honest with you. That means I listen to vocals more than words, then guitar and whatever ensemble work he has going on. For that reason the title track of "New Morning" usurps "The Man In Me" as my favorite song on the album, at least for today. It gives Good News as well as any Specialty side can but without the direct religious underpinnings Sam Cooke gave or Bob gave later.

"The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen/but that's just because he doesn't wanna turn into some machine..."

I didn't grow up with New Morning or Planet Waves the way I did with Bob's catalog up through Blonde on Blonde or Blood On The Tracks through Slow Train Coming. For whatever reason, my mother passed on this period and I had to discover it myself except for whatever was on the Greatest Hits Vol. 2 cassette I had in the 70's. When I got this copy used in the early 80's, I didn't think that much of it, but at some point in the early 90's I had a "what was I thinking" moment and New Morning took it's rightful place in my brain. Really it was the "The Man In Me" that hit me for whatever reason. I didn't even really think that it was a great confessional love song--he had "To Ramona" for that. I thought of it more along the lines of a psychological manifesto for survival. I didn't want to turn into some sort of machine either. ONJ could have "If Not For You" for the forlorn creatures void of form. And she did.

"That must be what it's all about..."

Links For Further Review

Other Bob Dylan Titles Discussed

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Nashville Skyline (1969)

Watching The River Flow b/w Spanish Is The Loving Tongue (1971)

Before The Flood (1974)

Slow Train Coming (1979)

Saved (1980)

Shot Of Love (1981)

Infidels (1983)