Customer Reviews

Masked & Anonymous

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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...

I'll have to disagree with some of the other reviewers, but mostly in terms of the songs they liked and hated. This is a pretty good record. A great Japanese version of My Back Pages starts it off. There is also a cool Italian rap (not Spanish) version of Like a Rolling Stone, and One More Cup... is good track. Most of The Time is also cool, but Sophie Zelmani changes all of the references to the female character to a male one, leading to all sorts of awkward non-ryhmes ("Most of the time/ I can't even be SURE/ if he was ever with me/ Or if I was ever with HIM"??). Los Lobos and De Gregori are annoying tracks. All of the Dylan-performed tracks are great, and I can never understand where the complaining about his voice comes from. Keep listening 'N Sync if that's what you're looking for. And for the record, I have never heard of anyone calling "Saved" one of his worst records. wtf?

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.

Like a lot of soundtracks, "Masked and Anonymous" plays it a little cheap by not including all of the performances to be heard in the film. This is probably a way to encourage those who like the music but are less enthralled with the film to shell out money for the DVD. This disc contains four Dylan performances, the standout being his version of the traditional "Dixie," but the movie gave us a few more, including the studio rendition of "Blind Willie McTell." I know it's already available on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3," but having been more appropriate to the theme of the movie than any of the other selections, it should have been included here, too. The rest of the disc, devoted to covers of Dylan classics by everyone from Shirley Ceasar to Francesco De Gregori, is certainly interesting, but may not warrant too many repeat listenings for Dylan fans who would prefer to hear the man himself sing "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "If You See Her, Say Hello."

This album contains music from Dylan's new movie "Masked and Anonymous". It opens up with powerful words from the movie. Then goes into some of the best Dylan covers, and songs in a long time. Most of the songs are covers of old Dylan songs, but Dylan preforms some new songs, as well as new versions of old favorites. The new version of Cold Irons Bound is just amazing. Jerry Garcia does an amazing job on Senor(Tales Of Yankee Power). It will just blow you away. A great version of The Dead covering Its All Over Now Baby Blue, the same version featured on the "Postcards of The Hanging" album. Other than Jerry Garcia's moving rendition of Senor, the other track that blew me away was Sophie Zelmani covering the song Most of The Time. She did a fantastic job. There is also a great version of One More Cup of Coffee preformed by Sertab
But what will really stick out to you about this album is the covers of Dylan's songs in differnt languages. My Back Pages is in Japanees. Like a Rolling Stone is called "Come Una Pietra Scalciata", and is in this spanish rap version, that I have to admit, is fun to listen to. If You See Her, Say Hello is known as Non Dirle Che Non E Cosi, and is preformed by Francesco De Gregori. The album ends with Dylan's words from the movie, then breaks into City Of Gold, preformed by the Dixie Hummingbirds. It ends the album in a perfect way. This is one of the best soundtracks you will ever hear. Any Dylan fan would love this album, and the movie.
Included in this package is an SACD hybrid disc of old dylan songs, for the upcoming re-release of the Dylan albums on SACD. Plus one new track from the upcoming Bootleg Series Vol. #6, Bob Dylan Live 1964, The Philharmonic Hall Concert.
The new mix of these songs is a great improvment.

My final thought, get this album, you will be glad you did. It is moving, yet fun and everything you loved with dylan's music before, with a new twist added to it.

Since almost every known band (famous and not) has recorded some cover version of a Dylan song this compilation (and movie soundtrack)contains
the most experimental,curious and particular ones
Music style varies from Tribal,Hip Hop,Rap,Country,Folk,Rock,psych
and others..Even if most of readers here,myself included, do not
know some of the artists who play on this CD,the first intention could be not to buy the album ,but after listening to the whole
thing you'll agree with me when I say these cover songs are extremely good,in few words Dylan Songs in a different point of view.
It's a pity the man himself has excluded "My Back Pages" by punk Metal band Ramones or "This Wheel's on fire" by Siouxie and the Banshees in that case i should have given 5 stars .This is not a Best of Bob Dylan,there are alread 100 -best of- cd around here,some reviewer misunderstood the meaning of this album
altough the rating is not 5 stars,Masked and Anonymous is worth buying then most of the releases of these modern years.cya

[Note: this review is part 1 of 2. Since my final score for the album is 3 stars, I'm giving it 4 stars here and 2 stars in the second installment, to average out to 3 stars.]

I don't know if it's hip anymore (or again, or whatever) to like Bob Dylan, but I've been an unapologetic fan for ages. I even considered taking in his latest movie after seeing his embarrassing performance in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Though the universally negative reviews kept me from seeing Masked & Anonymous in the theater, I had heard that at least the soundtrack was good (as was the soundtrack to PG&BTK), so I decided to give it a listen. Here's my review, track by track.

1. My Back Pages (performed by the Magokoro Brothers): An interesting Japanese take on a Dylan staple. At first listen, this seems like a throwaway novelty from a variety act, but after listening to it a few times I really appreciated it. It sounds great and works well. The only negative thing about this track (but it's a big negative) is the annoying and embarrassingly stilted preaching (imploring the listener to ask himself, "ARE YOU HUMBLE BEFORE GOD?") that begins the track. Every time I begin this album, I have to mute my CD player for about 20 seconds. I'll never be able to use this track on a mix disc. (Aside: it's amazing how many syllables it takes, in Japanese, to get out the words "But I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now." The syncopation adds to this version's charm.)

2. Gotta Serve Somebody (performed by Shirley Caesar): A compelling gospel version, performed with passion and flourish. This is one of Dylan's few religious songs that I actually like (another is "Every Grain of Sand"), and this interpretation smoothes out some of the edges. While Dylan's rasp sounds more like a warning against serving the devil, the beautiful voice on this version feels like a more positive opportunity to serve the Lord, if that sort of thing interests you. (Aside: whenever someone covers this song, I always wonder how they'll handle the line: "You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy." This version handles it well and actually improves upon the original verse, I think.)

3. Down In The Flood (performed by Bob Dylan): A good example of how Dylan can reinvent himself and reinterpret his own songs. He takes this old chestnut and polishes it up with his current sound. This track would fit comfortably on either Time Out of Mind or "Love and Theft". In my humble opinion, this version improves on the version released on Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, but it's not as good as the version on The Basement Tapes (where it's titled "Crash on the Levee").

4. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (performed by The Grateful Dead): Such a pretty song, it's hard to ruin. But The Grateful Dead give it a shot anyway. This isn't meant as a criticism of the Dead in general. It's just that the vocals fall flat throughout most of this track. That said, it still sounds okay. It might cause you to cringe a couple times, but I don't think you'll feel the need to skip ahead.

5. Most Of The Time (performed by Sophie Zelmani): An interesting take. It's quiet and slow, and the spoken-word feeling of most of it gets a little old (though the same might be said for Dylan's own version), but when she starts singing she adds some emotional weight to it. This song grew on me, I must admit.

6. On A Night Like This (performed by Los Lobos): A fun, dual-language version of a fun song. Alternating verses between English and Spanish works well on an album with so many non-English tracks.

7. Diamond Joe (performed by Bob Dylan): A fun, up-tempo rendition of a traditional bluegrassy number. This song will quickly have you singing along. (Note: this is a completely different song than the traditional "Diamond Joe" on Good As I Been to You).

Bob Dylan's songs are truly world music. They speak to all cultures, but for the most part, I like Dylan doing Dylan best. I loved all four of the new Bob Dylan songs. "Down in the Flood" and "Cold Irons Blue" are my two favorite of the four.

For me, the standout was Shirley Caesar doing the cover of "You Gotta Serve Somebody." It's outstanding and the one song that's gotten a lot of play in this house.

Los Lobos does a great job of "On a Night Like This," giving the song a romantic Latino flair singing part of the lyrics in Spanish. I probably would have liked the Jerry Garcia cover of "Senor" better, if it weren't live.

The Italian (rap) version of "Like a Rolling Stone" is a big miss for me. So's the opening "My Back Pages" in Japanese. This is somewhat anomalous since I love world music and different language covers.

Give the songs a listen before you buy this. If you're a strong Dylan collector, the CD is a must.

Rebecca Kyle, June 2008

In the movie Masked and Anonymous, there are 9 live Dylan tracks used in the movie, yet only 4 appear on this "soundtrack." Songs that are MIA on the CD include 5 others (!): "I'll Remember You" and "Drifter's Escape" (both of which Dylan and the boys are filmed playing), but also absent is a killer "Blowin' In the Wind," which rolls during the final scene and the credits. Also missing are the songs "Watching the River Flow" and "Dirt Road Blues" (both were listed in the credits, but I personally did not recognize in the movie...instrumentals perhaps?). The Dylan songs that did make it onto the CD are all phenomenal (especially if you are a fan of Love and Theft), but this soundtrack really could have been something special.

Disclaimer: I have not seen the movie. Which probably puts me in the same category as most here (the movie played exactly 1 week in Cincinnati--I guess the DVD rental will have to do).

The "Masked and Anonymous" soundtracks (14 tracks; 66 min.) is a hodge podge of Dylan songs and Dylan covers by notable and less-known (if not to say, anonymous) artists. The 4 tracks from Bob are excellent: new versions of "Down in the Flood" and "Cold Irons Bound", and also new songs "Diamond Joe" and "Dixie". Bob's songs were recorded live (on the movie set, in a matter of 2 days!) with Bob's current back-up band, which, if you have seen Bob in concert in the last couple of years, is simply excellent. All 4 songs sound like outakes from the "Love & Theft" sessions, and I mean that as a compliment.

The covers are a mixed bag. The Dead's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is pleasant enough, as is "Senor" from the Jerry Garcia Band (lifted from their 1990 double live album). The best cover is the gospel take on "Gotta Serve Somebody" by Sherley Caesar. There are some real misses as well, for example the Italian "rap" version of "Like a Rolling Stone".

Interestingly, the liner notes make clear that Dylan recorded 8 songs for the movie, but only 4 are on here. Where are the other 4 songs? Why are they not included on the soundtrack? Ot do we have to wait for the "deluxe" edition of the soundtrack in a few years (and fork over more money...)?