I’ve reviewed several CDs of singers covering Bob Dylan songs. There’s Baez Sings Dylan (you can read my review here, Songs of Bob Dylan by Joan Osborne (you can read my review here), Judy Collins Sings Dylan…Just Like a Woman (you can read my review here), and BOB’S BACK PAGES: A NIGHT OF BOB DYLAN SONGS By Lucinda Williams (you can read my review here). And then there’s EVERY GRAIN OF SAND: BARB JUNGR SINGS BOB DYLAN (you can read my review here) and A NOD TO BOB (you can read my review here).
Cat Power (aka, Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall) takes a unique approach to her Dylan album: she recreates the famous The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert by Bob Dylan from 1966 (you can read my review here). The first CD reproduces Dylan’s acoustic set. The second CD has Cat Power backed by electric guitars and a full band just as Dylan did it (and Dylan got booed for it–you can hear it on Dylan’s concert CD).
I enjoyed Cat Power’s singing. She captures the essence of Dylan’s music convincingly, both acoustic and electric. Cat Power recored FOUR CDs of covers. I’ll be ordering them and you’ll see some posts about them in the months ahead. Why do you think so many female singers cover Dylan songs? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
| A1 | She Belongs To Me | |
| A2 | Fourth Time Around | |
| A3 | Visions Of Johanna | |
| A4 | It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue | |
| B1 | Desolation Row | |
| B2 | Just Like A Woman | |
| B3 | Mr. Tambourine Man | |
| C1 | Tell Me, Mamma | |
| C2 | I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) | |
| C3 | Baby, Let Me Follow You Down | |
| C4 | Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues | |
| D1 | Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat | |
| D2 | One Too Many Mornings | |
| D3 | Ballad Of A Thin Man | |
| D4 | Like A Rolling Stone |
Until this, I wasn’t aware that so many women did cover Dylan! If you have the right kind of voice – Lucinda, Joan Osborne – you can do it, so why not? Bob did write a lot of good songs.
Jeff, I’m always surprised by the songs chosen by the singers of these cover albums. Cat Power took the unconventional route by recreating one of Dylan’s famous concerts. Great singing and great music!
I think, of course, a lot of singers of all descriptions cover Dylan songs because some of them are good (or better), a whole lot of them are popular, and nearly every professional is a better singer technically than Dylan himself. So most of the talented professionals (particularly those with a grounding in blues and folk and rock more than the balladry of Judy Collins) can do well by them. And have both a good time and at least some amount of default audience. Cat Power has a good voice for this project.
Clearly time fro your Fairport Convention reviews (at least in the Judy Dyble and Sandy Denny years, and the younger women who’ve stepped in for the reunions).
Hm. Am I on default moderation?
Testing!
(Two comments I left from a new computer, featuring no “excess” links, went directly to moderation.)
Todd, you’ve been approved. Yes, I’ll have to find my Fairport Convention CDs.
Weirdly also, my aging Chrome browser hates your “unsecured” address…even when on https://…other brosers (including a newer Chrome) don’t seem to have the same problem. Heard of that one?
Todd, WORDPRESS controls access to the blog. I can only APPROVE comments. WORDPRESS has had a years long block on Cap’n Bob’s comments for reasons I can’t fathom.
Looks interesting. Added to my Spotify library.
Deb, I think Cat Power does a nice job with her reenactment of Dylan’s famous concert. Let us know what you think.