Bob Dylan, Cover versions, Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith covers Bob Dylan

1 Comment

elliott_smith
Elliott Smith covers Bob Dylan

“My father taught me how to play ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’. I love Dylan’s words, but even more than that, I love the fact that he loves words.”
– Elliott Smith

Steven Paul “Elliott” Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived for much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity. Smith’s primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient with piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style, characterized by his “whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery”, and used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures and harmonies.

In his time, Elliott Smith did some very fine cover songs. From rock, country and folk standards, to Neil Young, Oasis, Beatles, Bob Dylan and his beloved The Kinks (and many more), Smith took covering a song very seriously.

We have found some of his Bob Dylan covers, all live and some with terrible sound. But, he adds a touch of sadness to most of them and he sings them like he loves them.

Elliott Smith @ Newbury Comics in Boston (10/05/1998) covering Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece:

Continue reading Elliott Smith covers Bob Dylan →

Bob Dylan, Cover versions

6 good cover versions of Bob Dylan’s Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)

3 Comments

Senor, senor, can you tell me where we’re headin’?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?
Seems like I been down this way before.
Is there any truth in that, senor?
– Bob Dylan

“One of the most interesting Street Legal songs is “Senor.” Dylan sings it magnificently, with real purpose, and the song’s melody is highly original and infectious. …  “Senor” could have been one of Dylan’s finest songs of the 1970s. As it stands, however, it is an ambitious song which doesn’t quite come off.”
– Thomas Ward (allmusic)

I agree it is an interesting song, however I do not agree that it doesn’t “come off”, I love the song!
It has proven rather difficult to cover but there are some good ones out there. I have dug up six of the best.

Jeffrey Foucault – Señor (live, may 14, 2009, Spijkerboor):

Continue reading 6 good cover versions of Bob Dylan’s Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) →

Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon

May 14: Legendary producer the late Bob Johnston was born in 1932

3 Comments
Photo by Al Clayton
Photo by Al Clayton

May 14: Legendary producer  the late great Bob Johnston was born in 1932

“Is it rolling, Bob?”
– Bob Dylan at the beginning of To Be Alone With You (Nashville Skyline)

“Johnston had fire in his eyes. He had that thing that some people call ‘Momentum.’ You could see it in his face and he shared that fire, that spirit. Columbia’s leading folk and country producer, he was born one hundred years too late. He should have been wearing a wide cape, a plumed hat, and riding with his sword held high. Johnston disregarded any warning that might get in his way. … Johnston lived on low country barbecue, and he was all charm.”
– Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One

“I had the best in the world in my hand – there was no place I couldn’t go with him, so that’s where I went. I think Blonde On Blonde is the best record Dylan ever cut… Blonde On Blonde was the first symphony cut in Nashville!”
– Bob Johnston (Uncut magazine)

Donald William ‘Bob’ Johnston (born May 14, 1932, Hillsboro, Texas, died August 14, 2015) was an American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Simon and Garfunkel.

Great interview from youtube (by Harper Simon):

Continue reading May 14: Legendary producer the late Bob Johnston was born in 1932 →

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Concerts

May 14: Bob Dylan & The Hawks: Odeon Theatre, Liverpool, England 1966

10 Comments


BobDylan1966 liverpool

 If not the best sounding recording, Liverpool is as good a performance of the electric set as you will find on the tour. Perhaps inspired by playing the hometown of the Fab Four, the band is tight and powerful. Dylan’s vocals, Robbie’s lead guitar playing and Garth’s erie B-3 all seem truly inspired.
~bobsboots.com

…… that they could go on stage in Liverpool in May 1966—the city that had so recently been the centre of the musical universe— and hurl at their audience rock music a thousand times more sublime, challenging, multi-layered and exciting than anything Liverpudlians had ever heard before? Impossible to say, but easy to prove. Play that night’s ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’. By this point Dylan’s cawing voice and searing harmonica were both perfectly integrated instruments in amongst those of the Hawks, whose hardwon knowledge of each other’s playing freed them all to ride each moment in a ceaseless interchange of fiery, creative levitation.
~Michael Gray (BD Encyclopedia)

One of the best concerts I’ve heard from the 66-tour..

Continue reading May 14: Bob Dylan & The Hawks: Odeon Theatre, Liverpool, England 1966 →