I saw this on the Shoebox blog...
A whole bunch of artists are doing brand new, totally different renditions of Bob Dylan songs. Kind of like Dylan does every time he plays them.
And then I trotted off to investigate. The first few paragraphs of the review... and it IS a review... had me thinkin' "no frickin' way." No way in HELL, to be frank. I detest hip-hop or rap or Urban Whatever and the very thought of one of those asshat "artists" desecrating what is dear to me makes my skin crawl. Then I had a "waitaminnit" moment as I read on. A couple of 'em, actually... like these:
Interesting... yet those artists still ain't enough to make me pay the freight. There's simply too much possibility for too much disappointment. Make MY Dylan Dylan, please... straight up, no ice, no mixer.The savviest musicians here flip Dylan's messages for their own aims, just as Dylan reappropriated protest songs by civil rights heroes. Celtic-rock stalwarts Flogging Molly take on ''The Times They Are A-Changin' '' -- which itself was inspired by Irish drinking songs -- and reclaim it for Dublin. Sinéad O'Connor recasts 1981's born-again ''Property of Jesus'' as a fiery church-reform anthem. And Carly Simon smartly plays ''Just Like a Woman'' as a feminist ballad. When she sings ''You break just like a little girl,'' it sounds like she's telling Dylan to man up.
[...]
By contrast, Kronos Quartet and Philip Glass sound almost revolutionary on their gorgeous, avant-classical ''Don't Think Twice, It's All Right,'' the only song that appears twice here. It takes major innovation (and some musical-saw interludes) to create a wholly original take on an artist who reinvents his own songs every time he plays live.
OTOH, I might give a listen to a Ten Cen Snoop Pile version of Glass's "Einstein on the Beach".
ReplyDeleteI second that motion.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I can't stand the hip hop or rap covers of old classic rock songs that keep cropping up either.
ReplyDeleteReally irritates me. Write your own damn music. Or at least keep it somewhat close to the original, at least the same genre.
Lin: Heh. Lemmee know if ya find that.
ReplyDeleteMoogie: Thanks.
Matt: I'm with you. There's a serious lack of originality in the hip-hop genre.
Buck, I'm stealin' that dylan poster which I remember came with one of the albums back in the day.
ReplyDeleteDylan's Greatest Hits, circa 1970-sumthin'. That poster was on my wall for the LONGEST time...
ReplyDeleteI thought it was funny when George Harrison said "Bob want's a 1/3 cut, but he doesn't want to give interviews"
ReplyDeleteWhich is to say, he didn't want to help sell the damned records, but didn't understand why he should get less.
It all adds to his being labeled an asshole most of the time, but his name tended to sell tickets.
So I guess his selling tickets is equal to selling albums in his mind.