Masked and Anonymous

by

Various Artists and Bob Dylan

Edit

I like the album. The alternate versions of previously released stuff is good, but Dylan's voice obviously wasn't in tip top shape for them. Either way, he makes the best of what he has. Diamond Joe is the only one you'll understand completely if you don't already know the words (like me). If you are looking for an album full of people re-singing Dylan in Dylan's style, this album isn't gonna give it to you. There's a song that samples Rolling Stone and the rest of the lyrics are rapped in Italian. It's doesn't have the same gravity as Dylan, but it's fun to listen to and catchy. The Japanese cover of My Back Pages is good- really angry sounding. I thought Sophie Zelmani's cover of Most of the Time was excellent. It's quiet, she's got a pretty voice and she let's the desperation of the song into her voice. The Los Lobos track's was nice. The Dead track and Garcia track I found to be a little too slow and drab for me to appreciate. One more cup of coffee was pretty wild - very gypsyesque. City of Gold was OK - reminded me of a song Joe Cocker would do. It didn't sound like a Dylan song.

Okay, let me get this straight -- eight Dylan tracks were newly recorded by Bob and his band and used in this movie. But this CD contains only four of them. Yo, Sony -- we Bob fans want BOB, and to think that these tracks were left off this album for the likes of Dylan covers by Articolo 31, Sertab, Francesco de Gregori, and Sophie Zelmani (not to mention the tracks by Shirley Caesar and the Dixie Hummingbirds, which aren't even in the film) kind of boggles this fan's mind. Some of the covers are interesting, but others are old hat (like the Dead's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and Jerry's "Senor," both of which are more notable for their length than anything else). I would have been happy to give up any of these for the four missing Bob-tracks. The digipak edition is otherwise dandy, with a good booklet and a great seven-track SACD bonus sampler. The sound is breathtaking on these remasters, but one wonders why the duplication of the film's "Cold Irons Bound." Ah well. We'll probably see a Masked & Anonymous II with the four missing tracks eventually. Maybe as The Bootleg Tapes Volume 7. Heh heh...