Day: May 25, 2016

In a break from my usual sleep patterns, I stayed up until midnight yesterday to catch as much as I could of the KCRW “Day of Dylan” program that ran from noon to midnight. I probably caught the lion’s share in my nearly five hours of listening, as much of the content appeared to have been repeated. Most seemed to be covers, with originals here and there. (I snagged a playlist that you can see here.) Among the covers were quite a few I had never heard before. Did you know that Duke Ellington covered “Blowin’ In The Wind“? 

For many people, hearing that song, as performed by Peter, Paul and Mary — quite different from the original — was their first introduction to Dylan’s music.

In 2012, Amnesty International produced a 4-CD album, Chimes of Freedom, as a charitable project in which Bob Dylan songs were covered by a broad range of musicians, with Dylan doing the title track himself.  Recommended, and it’s a good cause. Hear a SoundCloud sampler here.

Speaking of covers, the soundtrack for the 2007 film, I’m Not There is one not to miss. The film itself, rife with artistic liberties, is intriguing on its own, not in least part for the astonishing performance of Cate Blanchett, just one of the actors who play the part or alter ego of Bob Dylan.

In that film, Dylan does the title track himself, originating from the 1967 Basement Tapes stuff with The Band. One of my fav Dylan numbers ever. And memorable covers abound in that sound track, among them a terrific version of the surrealistic “As I Went Out One Morning“, performed by Mira Billotte, of the White Magic band (and sister of famed punk guitarist, Christina Billotte).

Another recent source of interesting covers or derivations would be the group known as The New Basement Tapes. This group’s 2014 Lost On The River album, instigated by T Bone Burnett, presented tracks that were based on newly discovered, previously unpublished 1967 Dylan lyrics. Here’s one of the best, created in the Dylan spirit:

In the 80s and certainly by the 90s, I was hearing, “Who?” from younger people when Bob Dylan was introduced into conversation. For all the covers, for me there is nothing quite like hearing the raw, essential nature of the songs as done by Dylan himself, and would urge new listeners to go right to the source. I have already mentioned the strong impression that the Bringing It All Back Home album made on me. With the possible exception of Dylan’s 2009 Christmas album, every release has had at least something that made me pause and listen. But the albums that really stand out for me, that I played continually for days on end, would include Blood on the Tracks, especially for “Idiot Wind”, “Tangled Up In Blue” and “Simple Twist of Fate”.

Same for John Wesley Harding, with “All Along The Watchtower” and the aforementioned “As I Went Out One Morning”. (By the way, a good reason to watch the Battlestar Galactica TV series, if you can find it, is to discover how “All Along The Watchtower” figures in its soundtrack!) 

And the Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid soundtrack to the lovely, underrated movie of the same name. 

Another album I couldn’t get enough of was Planet Waves, with the incredible backing of The Band, including “Dirge”, “Wedding Song”, “Going, Going, Gone”, “Forever Young” and more.

And the 1976 Desire album; think “One More Cup of Coffee”.

You can track down lots of this stuff on YouTube, of course. And many, many compilations and reviews and lists can be found on the Greater Interwebs. One of the best, Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs” would serve as a great sampler, although I would differ with a few specific choices and their ranking (in spite of the diminished credibility and stature I have accorded to R.S. in the past few years).  Another good intro would be to listen to good ol’ Bob Lefsetz’ Spotify compilation, the Bob Dylan Starter Kit. 

(But … where was “Bob Dylan’s Dream” from the 1963 The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album (his second, and the first with mostly his own compositions)? One of my sentimental favorites. Missing from both the KCRW playlist and Rolling Stone’s collection.  Where was “Moonshiner” from one of the Bootleg Series?)

And you can always visit the official Bob Dylan site for discography information, and to read the lyrics of everything.   Or to buy stuff, as it is basically a marketing site.

Enough of this. It could go on forever. I expect to be listening mostly to Dylan for maybe the next month. And then I will need to pick up where I left off the other day, getting back into Radiohead’s (themselves oldsters by now) new A Moon Shaped Pool album. But, in a few months or a year, I will almost surely binge again on Dylan for a few weeks, and Kim and I will likely continue our on-and-off tradition to listening to Bob on Sunday mornings.