Extra Scenes: Bob Dylan's "Back to Mono" (March - April 1970)

March 3, 1970

Bob Dylan, 1970.

After his performances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight in August, the remainder of the 1960s were very quiet for Bob Dylan. Two months into 1970, he was finally back in the studio to record a followup to his previous album, Nashville Skyline.

BOB DYLAN: "I wanted the Nashville followup to be something of a joke when it came out. For all the success I had in the 60s, I just wanted people to get off my back and destroy the 'spokesman of a generation' label I was given by critics and fans alike. However, Bob [Johnston] took me aside, and said, 'The Beatles had almost destroyed their own reputation with [Back in Your] Safely Beds.' I'd heard that album when it came out and thought it quite comical. I think Bob was afraid that that album would inspire other artists to do the same thing and talked me out of it. That's pretty much how Back to Mono came to be; a tribute to the days before rock and roll." (2013)

Recording for the album took place over a three day period, with at least half of the material being recorded on March 4. Dylan had wanted to do overdubs for some of the material, but once again, Johnston talked him out of it, and instead, insisted on having the album released as soon as possible, much like the early days. The only Dylan originals recorded during the sessions were "All the Tired Horses" and "Wigwam", but both were left off the album to focus solely on covers.

April 10, 1970

Bob Dylan - Back to Mono

Released: April 10, 1970

Recorded: March 3-5 1970

Producer: Bob Johnston

Track listing[1]

Side A

Copper Kettle
Railroad Bill
Pretty Saro
Days of '49
Annie's Going to Sing Her Song
In Search of Little Sadie
House Carpenter

Side B
Little Sadie
Thirsty Boots
Belle Isle
This Evening So Soon
These Hands
Tattle O'Day
Alberta #3

The release of Back to Mono was met with confusion amongst fans and critics. This was Bob Dylan's first work of the new decade - a collection of covers? Many even derided it as "a complete step backwards". But after that initial shock wore off, some listeners felt that Back to Mono truly was a callback to rock and roll's roots, and even believed that Dylan did justice to the songs, despite that he would disparage the album in later years, feeling like he was being controlled during the album's production. However, the one cover that managed to draw consistent praise for the past fifty years has been Alfred Frank Beddoe's "Copper Kettle" from 1946, originally later covered by Joan Baez in 1962.

Back to Mono reached #4 in the United States and hit #1 in the United Kingdom before being toppled by the Beatles' Everest. The fact that it was an album consisting solely of covers was a novelty at the time, and in years to come, artists like Linda Ronstadt, David Bowie, Jeff Lynne, Bryan Ferry, Eric Clapton, George Michael, and most recently, Weezer.

Footnotes

1. All tracks are sourced from The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971). Of the material chosen, five songs were recorded on March 3, eight songs on March 4, and "Alberta #3" on March 5.

Author's Comments

Here's the first of what we'll call Extra Scenes. This is where we go back to an earlier stage of one of the Phases of the series and expand on an element that I didn't cover during that particular Phase. This one is a sort of replacement for Bob Dylan's Self Portrait, considered by many to be one of his worst albums. Another Self Portrait was a very convenient source for the material needed for making Back to Mono.

The overall result runs at 48 minutes long, which is a bit lengthy for a callback album; of course, if you like, you can remove two to four of the songs you consider of weaker quality and still have a decent album overall. But is Back to Mono really superior to Self Portrait? That's up to you, dear listener/reader, to decide.