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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Question Of Cover. If You Cannot Bring Good News Then Don't Bring Any? , 3 Nov 2007
Taking on the words & music of Bob Dylan can do favour to both the song and the artist involved. The consistent successes of both The Byrds & The Band immediately come to mind. Those were perfect marriages; the capable musicians took the great songs ("My Back Pages", "Nothing Was Delivered", "Tears Of Rage", "When I Paint My Masterpiece" & so on) adding something of their own & producing interpretations of lasting value.
Covering Dylan has however been a minefield of considerable failure & embarrassment for some. William Shatner's theatrical reading of "Mr Tambourine Man" steps forward here (can we really buy the "it's so bad, it's good, the cult of kitsch" idea?). Even the involvement of acknowledged great musicians seems no guarantee of success; the attempted "Blowin' In The Wind" by Duke Ellington, although most probably a mere consession to fad & fashion at the time, may best be described as "quaint".
It appears to this listener at least that the validity of such "tribute" collections, which after all this here is as well as the official soundtrack of the film, depends not only on the choice of songs (maybe avoiding the obvious, bringing to the fore the unjustly neglected), but also the quality of imagination of those involved, their willingness to take a chance or two with their charges. We know that the songs are great already; we now require the contenders to add a little special magic of their very own as well.
We probably do not want yet another gung-ho rock out "All Along The Watchtower" such as the one opening proceedings here. The somewhat effete warbling "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" which (nearly) closes this collection is certainly not essential listening & definitely superfluous to our needs. These two songs have already been notably over-done; their simple, but attractive three & four chord cycles seeming irresistible to many would-be interpreters; but, hey, enough is enough, chaps.
On the brighter side however I'm pleased to report that between those two offerings here are many many unexpected treasures to be found. More than competent & pleasingly imaginative performances throughout make this double CD well worthy of investigation. On such cover-version sets as this it seems the individual efforts may be divided into three types . . . (1) the very good, the interesting, (2) the perfunctory attempt, the pale copy of the original, (3) the downright dismissible, even laughable. Luckily here there are plenty plenty of the first group to reward & hold the listener & only two or three of the last.
The "old guard" folks here, including Roger McGuinn (one of the early Dylan cover agents with The Byrds in 1965, of course), Willie Nelson, Los Lobos & Tom Verlaine (wow!) put in honourable performances on excellent tracks, all expanding the musical palate of the originals. Former Television man, Verlaine, it should be mentioned is also part of one of the "house bands" featured, the finely-named Million Dollar Bashers who also boast within their ranks current long-serving member of Dylan's band, bass player Tony Garnier.
There is such a wide variety of grand style on display here & the calibre of the songs, stretching from 1964's "The Time's They Are A-Changin'" to 1997`s "Cold Irons Bound" cannot be denied. There are many tracks that immediately hit the spot. Karen O gives us a bubbling, high spirited "Highway 61 Revisited" complete with slide guitar courtesy of Mr Verlaine and appropriate "police car" effects present & correct. Jeff Tweedy offers a heartfelt, desirable "Simple Twist Of Fate" while the brass-laden "Goin' To Acapulco" by Jim James is extremely impressive with it's controlled power.
The aforementioned Tom Verlaine ticks all the right boxes, unexpectingly slowing down "Cold Irons Bound" with formidable success. There is most soulful credibility in the renditions by Mark Lanegan, John Doe & Sutjan Stevens. The version here of "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window", a favourite song of mine, is given a forcefully rocking treatment by The Hold Steady & even the "old-timers" Richie Havens & Ramblin' Jack Elliott (especially Jack) deliver the goods with gusto.
Finally, of course, there's the strange & compelling title song performed by the man himself accompanied by The Band (you can forget Sonic Youth, sorry). It makes me yearn for more excellent "Basement Tapes" material that is left shamefully hidden, without official release. (Come on, Columbia/Sony, how about it?) That, however, is another story. To conclude, what we have here with this film soundtrack is an album well worth investigating. You probably can't hope to like it all there being 34 tracks in total with such diverse musical landscapes, but in general this is very good news.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
When Its Good Its Really Good , When Its Not..., 29 Nov 2007
I have to admit I was expecting a lot from this album. Since I'm a big admirer of Bob Dylan's work, and have always liked the idea of interesting new takes on time worn classics, it all looked very promising. Especially so upon seeing the calibre of some of the artists involved in this project(although cool points deducted for the inclusion of Jack Johnson(who actually does OK!)).
Unfortunately the material is very variable in quality with the overall tendency toward the mediocre or poor. I guess part of the problem is that the artists here are competing with both Dylan and the numerous people who have already released successful covers of Dylan tracks.
The usual maxim with covers is 'if you are going to do it, do something different(Hendrix: 'All Along The Watchtower') or do it better(Sandy Denny's rendition of 'I'll Keep it With Mine)and preferably try and do both(The Byrds 'Mr Tambourine Man' perhaps?). Too many of the artists here are content to plod through a 'straight' reading of the original(Eddie Vedder + MDB actually choose to 'cover' the Hendrix version of 'All Along the Watchtower') and those that try something different often sound rather half-hearted(or just fail)in their efforts.
Some of the track selection appears, at first glance, inspired, I was particularly looking forward to 'Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll' but Mason Jennings removes all the spirit and soul from the song.
OK so why three stars, not one, or two? Well there are some genuinely excellent tracks on the album. I'm not going to give a 'track by track' but a few standouts are: `Goin' To Acapulco' - Jim James & Calexico, `Pressing On' - John Doe, `You Ain't Goin' Nowhere' - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova and, of course, probably the best track on the album `I'm Not There' - Bob Dylan with The Band, which, to my knowledge, has only been available in bootleg form prior to this.
You could certainly trim this down to one CD, just don't expect to fill the disc! However even some of the failures are interesting and I do feel that the best here would certainly justify the purchase of this record.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bob's still too alive for some..., 30 Oct 2007
Back in the early 60s Columbia launched an ad campaign to sell Dylan records: Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan, ran the tag line. And even now, 40 or so years on, it largely rings true. Sure, Hendrix's regime change worked a treat on All Along The Watchtower, but in general Bob covers pale beside the old goat's (many, usually) versions.
This album is no exception: some gems, some duds, and mostly a harmless collection of so-so covers that are careful, well played and diligent. Given the adventurousness of the movie that this release is attached to I was expecting more from the music. I don't mean that I needed to hear Cradle of Filth doing Father of Night or Kanye West taking on Love Sick, but I was hoping for more, considering the pedigree of the participants.
I guess this is a bit like the recent Dylan release: how the hell do you pick a song from that catalogue and still get a sense of the weird, moustached gent behind it all? So, there's something here for everyone, and not enough for anyone.
The good things here, however, are really good, while the weaker stuff, is well, here. In the former camp are Jim James and Calexico, Cat Power, Tweedy, Sufjan Stevens, Yo La Tengo (sounding nothing at like YLT and everything like the Stones c. 1965), and John Doe. In the latter are Ramblin' Jack, Richie Havens, Sonic Youth (defeated by the almost unplayable title song - I mean that in the best sense, the song is an odd concoction of imagery and odd melodies - that is best played by Bob and the Band), The Hold Steady, The Black Keys, and so on.
Begin the games now: there's a really good single CD album here, off you go and start selecting the songs now.
Having said all of that I think you probably need to get this album for one song: John Doe's astonishing take on Pressing On. Originally from Saved, the song comes alive in Doe's take, ably assisted by Joe Henry's excellent production, and dammed near falls into The Weight. Holy moly!
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