10 Massive Drops In Quality Between Albums
9. Self Portrait - Bob Dylan
After the '60s, there was a good chance that nothing could have killed Bob Dylan's career. Even though folkies had dogged on him a few years before for going electric, his wordplay and critiques of the way that the counterculture was going was enough to put him in living legend status for the rest of his days. There was nothing that could tear him down, and Dylan tried to test his fans loyalty on Self Portrait.
From the first time you listen to this record, the production is a lot rougher than before, being a double album's worth of material focusing on sketches and obscure cover songs. Coming off of the country stylings of Nashville Skyline, this almost feels like a bait and switch on Dylan's part, almost like you're sitting in on him at a random open mic night, and not one that he was particularly prepared for either. While Dylan's voice is definitely an acquired taste for some, this is where he really tests his audience in terms of what he can get away with, like covering Paul Simon or trying his hand at Blue Moon.
The silver lining to this kind of disaster though is that...it's kind of a joke. After going through the past few years, this was Dylan's attempt to make something deliberately unpolished, in an effort to shake off the 'Voice of a Generation' moniker that he had been given in the past few years. He wanted to show that he was human, and this was where we got a sense that even musical gods can do wrong.