a tale of two Dylan covers

I finally invested in 'I'm Not There', the Dylan covers album. Was a bit sceptical because I have yet to hear anyone do a better version of a Dylan song that Dylan himself. However 'I'm Not There' contains tracks from such a dazzling array of artists that it has to be checked out.

Unsurprisingly, after a couple of listens, it appears to be a mixed bag. Rather than attempt to comment on all of the renditions, I thought I would highlight a couple of efforts that show how wildly inconsistent covers albums like this can be.

The Hold Steady's version of 'Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window' is wonderful. Choosing a relatively unknown song from the 'Highway 61 Revisited' era, the song starts quietly with just Craig and Franz Nicolay's keyboards in evidence before turning into a full band stomp with some wonderful guitar and those great cymbal sounds that I love from 'Chips Ahoy'. Just when you think things can't get any better, Craig shows that his habit of taking lines from songs and placing them in other songs isn't just confined to Hold Steady songs, as the coda features a line from 'Positively 4th Street', "You've got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend". It fits perfectly and the song is evidence of a band at the very top of their game, full of confidence.

On the same record Sufjan Stevens takes on 'Ring Them Bells', one of my favourite Dylan songs. It is on 1989's 'Oh Mercy' album and, along with 'Man In The Long Black Coat' which Mark Lanegan does a great version of here, was a sign of Dylan rediscovering his muse. A beautiful, dark, haunting ballad. Here it is an ugly, lazy mess. Starting off quiet with Sufjan singing the words with very little feeling, the last three minutes of the song sound like the soundtrack to a children's party. Musically it sounds like an out-take from the 'Illinois' out-takes album, vocally it sounds like Sufjan is totally disinterested. The whole thing completely loses the feeling and meaning behind the original song and ends up sounded like an unedited jam. Appalling.

I think the difference between these two covers is that one is from the heart and one is from the brain and we all know that music from the heart wins every single time.