Self Portrait

For his tenth album Bob Dylan began the 70s by scooping up all the self-serious goodwill he had accumulated as the Voice Of The People and throwing it in a giant, goofy fire pit. Self Portrait, much like The Beatles’ White Album, is a cut-and-paste collection of clashing tones and styles, and it doesn’t really care if you approach it as a straight-through album or you punch in and out as you please, taking in bits when need be. From the widescreen opening credits of “All The Tired Horses,” to the gospel-tinged “Let It Be Me,” all the way through covers of his peers and predecessors and right into surprise top ten instrumental hit “Wigwam,” it’s full of true weirdness from a dude who continued his decade getting both weirder and better.