New Morning

 (26 customer reviews)

I have always had a soft spot for New Morning, since hearing "Went to See the Gypsy" on a college radio station one night shortly after the record was first released. Dylan is in fine voice on this album; his unique and eloquent style of piano playing dominates many of the songs, giving it a unique vibe; and it may be his "happiest" record, celebrating the joys of domesticity, family life, and country living. "Gypsy," "Day of the Locusts," "Sign on a Window," "Time Passes Slowly," "If Dogs Run Free" are all examples of Dylan contentedly working on miniatures in the light. Fans of The Big Lebowski will have a Dude-dream flashback when "The Man in Me" rolls along. At the time of its release this album was hailed as a return to form by a counterculture intelligentsia worried by the inscrutable mess that was Self-Portrait, following hard upon the MOR countrypolitan smoothness of Nashville Skyline. "New Morning" marks the beginning of the peak period of his mature singing voice; he sounds...Read more

I agree strongly with the positive comments on the sound of this remaster. Although New Morning was well-received at the time and has generally been considered a strong effort by the fans, the remaster was somehow skipped over when the SACD remasters came out in 03. That was a crime, because the old CD version was one of the worst in the catalogue, muddy, muddled, and almost unlistenable (the original vinyl was no great shakes either). Well guess what, this sounds as good as any of the SACDs, even though it is standard 16 bit redbook. The great music is like bird released from its cage, and now it really sings.

New Morning is a forgotten treasure which I gladly review here. This remastered version was long overdue since it clearly marks a renaissance in Dylan's career and life.

He'd been roughly 10 years in the public eye and all around things had changed. He'd changed. Nowhere else will we find Dylan so sure of being married, living in the country, trying to raise a family. This is where you get the impression of a happy frozen moment in his life as he wouldn't be this sure a mere three years later with Planet Waves.

Bob was definitely immersed in his life with Sara and most songs serve as a fitting tribute to his marriage and kids. His heartfelt lyrics on Sign On The Window go on like this: "Build me a cabin in Utah/marry me a wife/catch rainbow trout/have a bunch of kids who call me 'Pa'/that must be what it's all about/that must be what it's all about", he sings enthusiastically.
On Time Passes Slowly, he states: "Ain't no reason to go in a wagon to town/Ain't...Read more