A Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His Sixtieth Birthday

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 8, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Red House Records
• ASIN: B00005BGGV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,609 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In honor of Bob Dylan's 60th birthday--May 24, 2001--the singer-songwriters and roots musicians of Red House Records offer yet another homage to the master. The tracks here range from the memorable and sometimes profound to forgettable and pleasant. With the exception of Eliza Gilkyson, whose gossamer version of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" opens the collection, the finest interpreters are the wise, time-worn voices who let the mysteries of Dylan's songs speak for themselves. Martin Simpson evokes the most heartbreaking tones of "Boots of Spanish Leather." Norman Blake and Peter Ostroushko (the only performers on the disc who have recorded with Dylan) see into the old-timey, almost 19th-century spirit of "Restless Farewell." Rosalie Sorrels, with her stately, burnished voice, gives perhaps the definitive version of "Tomorrow Is a Long Time." On the other hand, Lucy Kaplansky, Cliff Eberhardt, and John Gorka indulge in an earnestness Dylan mostly eschewed. --Roy Kasten

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars inconsistent, but when it's good it's wonderful July 3, 2001

By Adam McClay

Format:Audio CD

This is not the star-studded glory of the 30th anniversary concert, nor does it pretend to be. This tribute is just what it claims to be: a nod, that is quiet, respectful, tasteful. As such, the most understated and sensitive efforts contained herein are by far the most effective and poignant tributes to Master Dylan. By contrast, there are several attempts here to "improve" on the Dylan orignals in various ways, and these range from merely vapid to truly appalling. Lucy Kaplansky's saccharine "It Ain't Me, Babe," for example, misses the point entirely, with its righteous earnestness and too-precious false cadences. Also, while "All Along the Watchtower" has been successflly interpreted in a variety of styles, it doesn't seem to fit well in the Latin/Celtic fusion sound employed by Tom Landa & the Paperboys. And winning the award for most inappropriate Dylan cover since Franki Valli's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," we have "With God On Our Side," sung in French, by a man and a woman in harmony, in waltz time, with a major modulation in the middle. I'm not sure it's even POSSIBLE to corrupt the song further.

That said, there is quite a bit of beautiful stuff here. Eliza Glikyson starts off the set with an approriately sweet, yet still slightly stinging, "Love Minus Zero / No Limit," and in doing so is one of the only of the younger performers not to embarrass herself. The Roches demonstrate just how cool Dylan can be with their tongue-in-cheek "Clothes Line Saga," and Martin Simpson's effortless guitar on "Boots of Spanish Leather" is exactly right. Norman Blake's and Peter Ostroushko's "Restless Farewell" veritably improves on the original. Rosalie Sorrels is, of course, a proven force, and her version of the gorgeous "Tomorrow is a Long Time" is not only even prettier than the original, but also demonstrates a full understanding and appreciation of the song's power (something almost never accomplished in this collection, especially among the younger performers). And finally, in a moving tribute from one grizzled warrior to another, Ramblin' Jack Elliott's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is both the thinnest arrangement (just the singer and his spare guitar picking, recorded live), and the most powerful performance, of them all. Jack's voice and phrasing, and his mastery of and intimacy with the song, prove he is clearly a man who has been there and back, and who understands that Bob has made the same trip. Listening to Jack sing Bob's song, you have to smile even as your eyes mist up at the thought of all those years. Jack's "Don't Think Twice" may or may not be the best version of the seminal song, but it's far and away the best thing here.

This collection is inconsistent, surely, but if you skip over the self-righteous efforts of the new folkies to the musicians who have a clue, your patience is more than rewarded. As Ramblin' Jack Elliott says at the end of his piece, Happy Birthday, Bob.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Red House roster pays tribute to Bob Dylan May 31, 2001

By D. Plentus

Format:Audio CD

This is a great album, with a wide range of artists: Dylan predecessors Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Rosalie Sorrels, contemporaries Spider John Koerner and Dave Ray, newer names John Gorka, 2 of the Roche sisters, and others. Add bluesman Guy Davis, world-beat band The Paperboys, Quebec band Hart-Rouge, string legends Norman Blake & Peter Ostroushko, and UK folkie Martin Simpson and it's a varied and interesting album.

Most unsusual selection: Clothes Line Saga by Suzzy & Maggie Roche, originally on "The Basement Tapes."

Highlights are a very slow version of I Want You by Cliff Eberhardt, Tom Landa & The Paperboy’s Irish reel treatment of All Along The Watchtower, and Hart-Rouge’s French-language version of With God On Our Side. Spider John Koerner & Dave Ray offer Delia, the traditional song Dylan himself covered on his "World Gone Wrong" album. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s Don't Think Twice, It's All Right is the only live track (from 1990) on the CD, complete with a spoken introduction that's worth the cost of the CD.

Packaging: jewel-box in a slip-case; 20-page booklet with artist photos, bios & comments; credits

Format: CD; 15 tracks (14 songs-#14 is a 1:48 spoken intro); 63:09

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting Real with Bob Dylan December 4, 2001

By T. G. Palaima

Format:Audio CD

Superb interpretations of America's supreme musical genius. Each version here is 'real', the shining quality of even Dylan's flawed or tossed-off compositions. Standouts are Guy Davis' "Sweetheart Like You", Spider John Koerner and Dave Ray's "Delia", and John Gorka's "Girl from the North Country." If you can listen to Martin Simpson's "Boots of Spanish leather" without weeping for the beauty of it, you haven't got tears. The range of styles (cf. Tom Landa and the Paperboys doing "All Along the Watchtower" and Hart-Rouge doing "Dieu a Nos Cotes") reflects how Dylan has absorbed and transformed all genres of American music.

Dylan still appreciates the real and he certainly recognized that this 'birthday gift' was the real deal. Read, by contrast, Mikal Gilmore's interview with Bob Dylan in the November 22 Rolling Stone for Dylan's keen nose for phoniness.

Mikal knows what's what. His brother is Gary Gilmore, of Mailer's *Executioner's Song* fame and Mikal's own superb *Shot in the Heart,* which I have used in my war and violence courses. His attachment to the 'real' in life seems to have gotten Bob Dylan to speak in non-oblique ways about what he is about.

Well, there was the 1991 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy's where Dylan was presented with a ridiculous proposal to have others (mainly pop phonies) sing a medley of his songs, and all he had to do was "show up." So he said okay.

BEGIN QUOTE

DYLAN: Then the Gulf War broke out. The Grammy people called and said, "Listen, we're in a tight fix. So-and-so, who was going to sing 'Times Are A-Changin',' is afraid to get on an airplane. So-and-so, who was going to do 'Like a Rolling Stone,' doesn't want to travel becuase he just had another baby and doesn't want to leave his family." That's understandable. But then so-and-so, who was going to sing, "It's All Over, Baby Blue," was in Africa and didn't want to take a chance flying to New York, and so-and-so, who was going to sing "All Along the Watchtower," wasn't sure he wanted to be at any high-visiblity place right then, because it might be a little dangerous. So they said, "Could you come and sing? Could *you* fill the time?" And I said, "What about the guy who's introducing me [Jack Nicholson]?" They said, "He's OK. He's coming."

Anyway I got disillusioned with all the characters at that time-with their inner character and their ability to be able to keep their word and their idealism and their insecurity. All the ones that have the gall to thrust their tortured inner psyches on an outer world but can't at least be true to their word....I just lost respect for them. There's a few that are decent and God-fearing and will stand up in a righteous way. But I wouldn't want to count on most of them.

END QUOTE

Count on "A Nod to Bob" instead.