New Morning | ||||
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Studio album by Bob Dylan | ||||
Released | October 19, 1970 | |||
Recorded | June–August 1970 at Studio B and Studio E, Columbia Studio Building, 49 East 52nd Street, New York City | |||
Genre | Folk rock, country rock, country | |||
Length | 35:21 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Bob Johnston | |||
Bob Dylan chronology | ||||
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Singles from New Morning | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Chicago Tribune | |
Christgau's Record Guide | A– |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
Entertainment Weekly | B |
MusicHound Rock | 2.5/5 |
PopMatters | 6/10 |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide |
New Morning is the eleventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 19, 1970 by Columbia Records.
Coming only four months after the controversial Self Portrait, the more concise and immediate New Morning won a much warmer reception from fans and critics. Most welcome was the return of Dylan's familiar, nasal singing voice. While he has a slightly nasal tone to his voice on "Alberta #1" from Self Portrait this was the first full album with his familiar voice since John Wesley Harding in 1967: he had taken on a country croon since then. In retrospect, the album has come to be viewed as one of the artist's lesser successes, especially following the release of Blood on the Tracks in 1975, often seen as a fuller return-to-form.
It reached #7 in the US, quickly going gold, and gave Dylan his sixth and last UK number 1 album until Together Through Life in 2009. The album's most successful song from a commercial perspective is probably "If Not for You", which also was recorded by George Harrison, who had played guitar on a version of the song not released until 1991's Bootleg Series Volume 2, and was also an international hit for Olivia Newton-John in 1971. Bryan Ferry also included the song on Dylanesque.
Dylan discusses the recording of New Morning at length in one chapter of his autobiography, Chronicles, Vol. 1. Several alternate, preliminary forms of the album have been documented, including tracks which later appeared on the 1973 Dylan. He has played only four of the album's twelve songs in concert; one, "If Dogs Run Free", made its live debut on October 1, 2000, within days of the 30th anniversary of the album's original release.