🦋 A good idea
 Nigel Smith at Carnival Saloon notes that "after his classic 60s records I reckon Blood on the Tracks is the Bob Dylan album most commonly cited as a favourite." This seems true from conversations I've had; and I've never quite understood why so many people name this as their favorite, when to me it seems like pleasant music not remotely in the league of the classic 60's records. Anyways, Mr. Smith had the great idea of assembling a Blood on the Tracks disc on which every song is performed by a different artist -- Robyn Hitchcock, Joan Baez, Elvis Costello,... You can listen to it at his blog. Mr. Smith also links to a previous instance of the same idea, put together by JayEss of The Saddest Music in the World; the music files there are no longer online but the track list is nice.
 Update: Also, here are some alternate cuts of these tunes by Dylan himself, courtesy of Recessed-Filter: Blood on the Tracks: New York Sessions. Another Update: and more! Mary Lee's Corvette has recorded covers of these tunes on their 2002 live album Blood on the Tracks. I'm listening to their "Simple Twist of Fate" right now and digging it. (Though I am missing Dylan's harmonica...)
posted morning of Friday, July 10th, 2009
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a great idea. i much prefer people covering Dylan's songs to Dylan doing his own stuff.
posted morning of July 10th, 2009 by cleek
Funny, because my favorite Dylan performances these days are him playing traditional music. As far as his own music, I'm skeptical about whether an all-covers version of "Bringing it all back home" or "Hwy. 61 Revisited" could be put together that would be as good as this is. (I wonder if anyone has even ever covered "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"?) Those are the two records of Dylan original music where having the songs be performed by Dylan is really important to me.
posted morning of July 10th, 2009 by Jeremy
Thanks for your kind words. I agree with the above that Dylan's classic 60s work remains untouchable (although some tracks have been brilliantly covered).
I'm new new to this blog but but it seems like you all have excellent taste so I think y'all enjoy what I do at Carnival Saloon. Your first drink is on me!
posted evening of July 10th, 2009 by Nigel Smith
Thanks Nigel -- I've been poking around your place a bit, it looks like a lot of fun.
posted evening of July 10th, 2009 by Jeremy
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