abangaku

gravatar
Member Since: 7/1/2005
Total Mixes: 104
Total Feedback: 228

Other Mixes By abangaku

CD | Rock - Prog-Rock/Art Rock
image
CD | Theme - Narrative
image
CD | Mixed Genre
image
CD | Rock - Prog-Rock/Art Rock
image

Theft & Love, Part 1: Love

Artist Song
Johnny Cash  Big River (2:30) 
Bob Dylan & The Band  Big River [Basement Tapes outtake] (2:30) 
Gaelic Storm  Bonnie Ship The Diamond [5:25] 
Bob Dylan & The Band  Bonnie Ship The Diamond [Basement Tapes outtake] (3:32) 
Ian & Sylvia  Early Morning Rain (3:58) 
Bob Dylan  Early Morning Rain [Self-Portrait] (3:34) 
Elvis Presley  I Forgot To Remember To Forget (2:29) 
Bob Dylan & The Band  I Forgot To Remember To Forget [Basement Tapes outtake] (3:11) 
Grateful Dead  Friend Of The Devil (3:24) 
Bob Dylan  Friend Of The Devil [Bathed in a Stream of PURE HEAT bootleg] (7:31) 
Simon & Garfunkel  The Boxer (5:12) 
Bob Dylan  The Boxer [Self-Portrait] (2:48) 
Warren Zevon  Mutineer (3:16) 
Bob Dylan  Mutineer [Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon compilation] (3:10) 
Sean MacDonnchadha  My Bonny Boy (Long Time A-Growin') (3:49) 
Bob Dylan & The Band  My Bonny Boy (Long Time A-Growin') [Basement Tapes outtake] (5:34) 
Buddy Holly  Not Fade Away (2:25) 
Bob Dylan  Not Fade Away [This World Can't Stand Long bootleg] (2:51) 
Linda Russell, Ridley Enslow, Steve Schneider  Hard Times (4:12) 
Bob Dylan  Hard Times [Good As I Been To You] (4:34) 
Bob Dylan  Wigwam [Self-Portrait] (3:09) 

Comment:

Whaddya know, it's another Dylan-themed abangaku mix...! This one might reasonably be called an "uncover" mix; we have Dylan's covers of other people's songs, coupled with, in most cases, the original of the song, or at least a previously recorded, influential version: Ian & Sylvia's version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" -- actually released before Lightfoot's own version -- and an Irish acapella version the ancient ballad "My Bonny Boy", aka "Long Time A-Growin'" a la Dylan, aka "The Trees They Do Grow High" a la Joan Baez (and featured on my "Given the Chance, I'll Die Like a Baby" mix). The two exceptions are Stephen Foster's "Hard Times (Come Again No More)", here in a classical arrangement recorded intentionally according to how it would have been heard in Foster's era, and an incredibly energetic Irish version of "Bonnie Ship The Diamond" recorded well after Dylan's, but representing the tune's origin in the British Isles. I originally had a mix completely comprised of originals of Dylan covers, without the Dylan covers themselves; it didn't hold together. Here, for coherence of the mix, we close with the wordless Dylan "bonus track", the orchestral-sounding, anthemic "Wigwam", the only track here actually written by Dylan, and one of the few instrumentals he ever composed (Bob does do some wordless singing in unison with the strings); amazingly, it's one of the highlights of the Self-Portrait album (along with the two other Self-Portrait tracks I included) and was even released as a single. Interesting to compare Dylan's messy approach to these songs with the originals, always far more precise; his version of "Early Morning Rain" sounds like he's just playing around, which most of Self-Portrait basically is, while his extended jam on "Friend Of The Devil" -- for me the absolute highlight of the "Bathed in a Stream of PURE HEAT" two-disc bootleg, itself representing the highlights of Dylan's '97 tour -- gives a seriousness and universal import worthy of Dylan's own best Christian-mythological songs to this previously lighthearted Grateful Dead ditty. The traditional songs, "Bonnie Ship The Diamond" and "My Bonny Boy", show the greatest lyrical differences; Dylan eliminates the "bonny boy" line entirely from the eponymous song (his version therefore retitled) and gives the song quite a different ending indeed, while his deliberate "Bonnie Ship The Diamond" is barely recognizable after Gaelic Storm's hyper-speed version, with an almost completely different set of lyrics, save for the refrain. Wonder what Part 2 is going to be like...??

Feedback:

gravatar
hemizen
Date: 10/2/2005
interesting