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Product Description

Many people have covered Bob Dylan's songs over the years, but few quite like this. On the double-disc soundtrack that accompanies Todd Haynes' extremely confounding biopic of the already plenty confounding folk icon, we get the likes of Sonic Youth, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, the Hold Steady, and Antony & The Johnsons doing their best Dylan impressions and often failing gloriously. Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus does a particularly fine job oozing his way through "Ballad of a Thin Man," while Wilco's Jeff Tweedy draws the moody beauty out of "Simple Twist of Fate," and Sufjan Stevens lends his typically baroque touch to "Ring Them Bells." Special credit has to go to the Million Dollar Bashers, the unofficial house band that includes Steve Shelley on drums, John Medeski on piano, and Tom Verlaine on guitar, along with other notable musicians. The generous track list and dynamic set of contributors promises that this album will provide plenty of awe long after the film itself has been forgotten. --Aidin Vaziri

Customer Reviews:

• revelatory
  yeah, i get what most people are writing here that dylan does dylan best. sure, i agree. but these covers are amazing!
  
  i think there's three songs on all these that i skip, and they're the same ones i skip when dylan sings 'em.
  
  i've been listening to this nonstop for days. i already liked a lot of these artists but even the people i've never heard of are outstanding. i honestly don't understand how someone could give this soundtrack a negative review. i pass on all the praise i can for this album. it's incredible! just listen to the few songs that have been posted on myspace for free- they will convince you.
  
  buy! and i've heard the movie is unbelievable....more info
• Incredibly good
  What a record!! The songs are not easy and perhaps many of them are not in my list, but the surprise is very good!!! Many blues much better than when performaed by own Dylan. Tombstone Blues with Ritchie Hevens is simply the best!! ...more info
• Monumentally satisfying
  There is so much here to enjoy. Some of the performances are tributes, some are reinventions; some songs are familiar to any casual Dylan fan and some may have managed to escape under the radar of even the most devoted. All of them are worth listening to. The backing provided by Calexico and the Million Dollar Bashers on many tracks is extremely supportive of the singers and songs. An additional benefit for old hipsters who may not have been keeping up with younger acoustic artists are the performances by groups like Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens, Stephen Malkmus and the outstanding Mason Jennings. Buy it, if for no other reason, for Jim James on "Going to Acapulco" & Bob (himself) on "I'm Not There"....more info
• interesting, but not great
  The problem with a set like this is that only a true Dylan fan would be interested, but the Dylan fan would immediately realize that the covers are less rich and dynamic than Dylan's originals. If you're looking for a different interpretation of Dylan's music, you're much better off looking for Dylan's covers of himself. Over the years, he was constantly reinterpreting his own music in often fresh and interesting ways and some of this is available on his many concert recordings.
  
  I'm not opposed to covers in general. I really enjoyed the "Instant Karma" and "I Am Sam" covers of Lennon and the Beatles. This Dylan collection is not in the same league, unfortunately....more info
• Dylan Is Here
  The first thing that struck about this generous 2 disc offering was the choice of material. You could, of course, dip into the Dylan songbook and compose various 'Best Ofs' from 100 plus songs, such are his superior and prodigal gifts. For mine, this, beats any such previous compilations for tonal shifts, themes and interpretations. Inevitably, some artists inhabit and interpret the material more convincingly than others, but this too, is a matter of personal choice. For instance, I think Anthony and the Johnson's,'Heaven's Door' sounds quite brilliant in his inimitable style. Verlaine's, Cold Iron's Abound', is riveting, even chilling, in a way the only other and earlier recording I've heard is not. I could happily erase the version of, John Wesley Harding and without ticking through the remainder of the list, some are merely competent versions without bring much freshness to the table. But these are small quibbles to the greater merits which will get a lot of play....more info
• Worth it for one cut
  Buy this album for one cut: the original version of "I'm Not There," performed by Dylan and members of The Band, that ends disc 2. If this were two discs of silence culminating in this song and this performance, it would still be worth every penny, plus shipping....more info
• Best Bob Dylan covers comp that I've heard
  There are a few multi-artist Dylan comps on the market, notably A Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His Sixtieth Birthday and the decent 30th anniversary concert soundtrack, the latter recorded long before his late 90's artistic revival when his new recordings again became as indispensable as his 60's and 70's output. Then there's compilations by individual artists like the Byrds, the Hollies, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, the Dead, and recently Brian Ferry, which aren't always spectacular either. Joan Baez, in my mind, is the greatest interpreter of Dylan's work; she can make each song her own like no one else.
  
  Baez doesn't appear on this album, and neither do the remaining members of the Band. Perhaps they've developed and have been developed to such an extent by Dylan that an interpretation by either would be almost worthless. It's far more interesting to see an artist with an entirely different style, like Sonic Youth, Steve Malkmus or Cat Power, come along and modernize an old Dylan song.
  
  Cat Power covered Dylan on her first Cover's Album, but her version of 'Stuck Inside a Mobile..' is not only recognizable, but up-tempo and very non-Cat-Power-like (almost happy). Former Pavement front-man Steve Malkmus has three songs on the album, as do Calexico. Both sets of contributions are outstanding; Steve Malkmus channels Dylan's vocals without leaving his own Lou Reed-influenced delivery far behind and Calexico may be an ideal backing band for Dylan himself if he didn't work so much in country and rockabilly; instead they play behind Willie Nelson, Roger McGuinn, Iron & Wine, and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket). Sonic Youth's cover of the title track, an obscure song, presumably off the basement tapes, with the original included at the very end of the second disc, sets the tone of the album along with a pretty good Eddie Vedder take of (the Jimi Hendrix interpretation of) All Along the Watchtower.
  
  Other surprises include Yo La Tengo's profoundly gorgeous take of the early gem, Fourth Time Around, the Hold Steady's cover (not that great, but entertaining) of the early B-side "Can You Please Crawl Out My Window?", Jeff Tweedy's passionate delivery on Simple Twist of Fate, and perhaps the most profoundly moving cover on the album was done by an actor in the movie, a young african-american kid named Marcus Carl Franklin, one of the several actors who portray Dylan.
  
  There aren't any big disappointments. Tom Verlaine's (of Television) cover of Cold Irons Bound comes to mind as one that could have been reworked a little so that it wouldn't drag as much. I skipped past Jack Johnson on my last couple listens, so I can't say much about that. Antony (of Antony & the Johnson's) sing Knockin on Heaven's Door just as you'd expect, but without adding much to note.
  
  After all that, there's still a lot of artist contributions to comment on, but the nicest thing about the collection is that it doesn't sound like a bunch of disparate recordings patched together on one album. The arbitrary differences in production on most movie soundtracks and collections can cause them to fall apart if not well-sequenced. These songs all sound like they were recorded in the same studio under the same conditions, and the result is largely a sense of cohesion and purpose that's lacking on most tribute albums (even including Dylan's own tribute to Jimmy Rogers).
  
  So, if you're going to get one collection of Dylan covers, this would be it. Now I can't wait to see the movie......more info
• I'm Not Displeased
  It's rare that a Dylan cover is better then the real Dylan. That's the case here; none of the songs are better then the orignal.
  
  I would buy the album for one reason: Dylan singing "I'm Not There." It's a mystery why it's taken so long for this song to make it on a record! I would pay 20 bucks for this song alone. It's that good. It's classic Dylan, and it now ranks in my Top 20 of best Dylan songs....more info
• I'm Not There....or there....
  Bob Dylan has always been a mystery to both his fans and his haters. He has one major trait that Hollywood no longer produces: mystery. This is why the upcoming Dylan biopic I'm Not There is a huge deal to such a huge amount of people. They want to see inside the mystery.
  But like most movies, the film was preceded by the soundtrack. A sprawling 37-song collection of Dylan covers by everyone from Jack Johnson to Willie Nelson. Some of the songs are good while others are not so good. But one thing can be made certain. Dylan himself would probably expect nothing less.
  The first thing one will notice upon listening to this soundtrack is that many Dylan staples have been left out, replaced by much more obscure material by the legend. Gone are "Like a Rolling Stone," "Hurricane," and "Blowin' in the Wind," among others. It's interesting that these tracks have been chosen not to be included, but one might attribute this action to one simple fact. Many people believe only Dylan can do Dylan, and especially if you're talking about those classics. I for one believe this was a good choice in that I believe only Dylan can do justice to the song "Hurricane."
  Another interesting thing about this compilation is the amount of well-known modern artists that contribute. In an age where Rihanna and 50 cent dominate the radio airwaves, many people of my generation don't even know a Bob Dylan song, much less like one. But artists like Jack Johnson, Eddie Vedder, and Sufjan Stevens all cover songs here. One can only hope that their names will lead a younger generation to the original Dylan classics.
  But now we'll move on to more important stuff like answering the question of if the music is even any good. As a disclaimer I must state that I might be a bit biased in this area. I'm one of the few in my generation that not only knows who Dylan is, but actually enjoys his music. In fact, he's my favorite artist in a pretty large collection of artists from both past and present. That being said, I do believe that a majority of these songs do justice to their original counterparts. This can best be explained by the fact that none of these songs is a radical departure from their original form. All the melodies and rhythms have basically remained the same. The songs are still good and in many cases are being sung by artists with a more pleasant voice than Dylan. (Of course, we all know Dylan was never lauded for his pipes.)
  I won't go in to the individual songs because those are things that people will argue about until the end of time. Some will love Yo La Tengo's gorgeous rendition of "4th Time Around," (in my opinion) others will call it sacrilegious. But whether you like the covers or not is not the point of this compilation.
  This record and the film accompanying it will once again have people talking about Dylan. And that can never be a bad thing....more info
• So I went to see the Gypsy.....
  Masterful songs taken, borrowed, reworked and then transformed into refreshing pieces of work, that are not quite on a planar level with the originals, but nevertheless graceful and powerfull tributes to Dylan's musical artistry. It's not just who Dylan influenced, say Jeff Tweedy on "Simple Twist of Fate", but who influenced Dylan, like Ramblin' Jack Elliot's version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", that make this soundtrack trul one of the greatest in recent memory.
  
  34 songs and not a bad one it....more info
• A Major Disappointment
  As a Dylan collector/completist, I disagree with those who believe "only Dylan does Dylan best." One measure of the greatness of Dylan's work is the extent to which it lends itself to interpretation. This has led me to not only collect the work of the man himself, but also to amass a collection of nearly 900 cover versions of Dylan songs. I was REALLY looking forward to this collection, but I'm sorry to say it is a major disappointment - which is hard to fathom given the level of talent involved. There are a few high points here: John Doe's "Pressing On" and "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine", Iron & Wine & Calexico's "Dark Eyes", Sufjan Steven's odd take on "Ring Them Bells", and The Black Keys "The Wicked Messenger." Most of the rest is, quite simply, uninspired and (horrors!) boring. Here's hoping the film is far better than its soundtrack.
  
  An addendum: I've now seen the movie and, unfortunately, have to place it in the same category as the soundtrack: a major disappointment. If you love Dylan and you love art film, then you should see it - realizing it is a flawed but valiant attempt to capture the "thin wild mercury" of The Man. Otherwise, don't waste your time. The high point: Cate Blanchette is astounding - if the Academy Awards actually rewarded talent, they would simply hand her the best actress statuette today and forego the rest of the charade....more info
• I'm Not There
  A great collection of Dylan songs covered by an eclectic group of artists. An essential must have for any Dylan collector. ...more info