For his ninth solo album, guitar virtuoso Steve Howe turned his focus onto a personal hero. An encounter with Bob Dylan’s sophomore album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan in 1963 started a musical love affair that’s spanned decades and continents, and continues to this day. With the help of a few friends, Steve recorded a dozen tracks that dig deep in Dylan’s discography, excavating more than a few surprises that pays ultimate homage to one of music’s brightest stars. Out of print for several years, Portraits Of Bob Dylan gets a loving reissue, and a faithful remaster ensures it has never sounded better.
When Portraits Of Bob Dylan originally dropped in 1999, this album created a degree of consternation for its (perceived) artistic mismatch. The virtuosic nature of Steve Howe’s playing and the (deceptively) simple melodies of Bob Dylan were two strands that seemed impossible to connect. Yet, join them Howe did and much of this album’s charm comes from that very juxtaposition and it evidences a facet of Steve’s playing rarely heard. While his performance on this record is enough to make any amateur musician throw down their instrument in exasperation, it’s a pleasure to hear him play from within the songs. There’s no rampant ego on display and he often steps back to allow the songs themselves to come to the fore. Like his hero Dylan, Howe adopts a less-is-more aesthetic; as with any good musician he understands that sometimes it is not what you play but what you don’t, it’s all about leaving room for the listener and Portraits Of Bob Dylan offers plenty of scope for that. It also means that when his guitar does come to the fore, such as on the penultimate ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright’, it’s all the more precious.
This album features a host of guest vocalists and it feels as if a great deal of thought has gone into pairing the right singer with the right song and subsequently Annie Haslam adds her birdsong trill to ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’, Max Bacon adds a dramatic edge to ‘Going, Going, Gone’, whilst P.P. Arnold provides a soulful texture to ‘Well, Well, Well’. It’s a fluctuation that ensures the album never becomes staid and gives things a sense of perpetual motion. With a touch of Ray Davies in his voice, Steve Howe sings on a few tracks, and while he might not be the world’s most powerful vocalist (as Dylan isn’t), he certainly doesn’t seem out of place amongst such illustrious company and adds another spice to the mix.
While it’s true that Steve Howe isn’t reinventing the wheel on this record, he isn’t treading water either, and along with the guest vocalists brings a new dimension to these tunes. While you won’t find them acting in new, strange ways, there’s enough invention here to make this an essential listen for fans of both Bob Dylan and Steve Howe.
- Portraits Of Bob Dylan is released via HoweSound/Cargo Records on 12th September 2025.
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Track List:
- Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
- Mama You’ve Been On My Mind
- It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
- Going, Going, Gone
- Just Like A Woman
- Well, Well, Well
- The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
- Lay, Lady, Lay
- One Too Many Mornings
- I Don’t Believe You
- Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright
- Buckets Of Rain
