The highly anticipated Todd Haynes film, "I'm Not There," a Bob Dylan biopic, doesn't open until Nov. 21 (and even then it's only showing in NY and LA), but the film's soundtrack, which consists of 33 Dylan covers, is a promising sneak peek.
The artist line-up ranges from music veterans such as Willie Nelson, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and Eddie Vedder to newcomers like Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Sufjan Stevens and the Hold Steady.
The soundtrack also gives shelter to the previously unreleased Dylan tune, "I'm Not There," which gave the film its name.
Sonic Youth also has a cover of this same song that also appears on the record. Lead singer Thurston Moore stays true to Dylan's infamous style with muffled, sometimes incomprehensible, singing that often resembles a mumble. Besides adding a slightly heavier electric backing, Sonic Youth doesn't seem to do much with the song.
Roger McGuinn and Calexico's rendition of "One More Cup of Coffee" adds a trumpet into the mix but lacks the eerie mood of the original, which makes the song stand out among Dylan's collection. For a better, more daring cover of this song, check out the version by The White Stripes.
Ramblin' Jack Elliot's cover of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is slower than the original and although Elliot turned 76 years-old this year, his voice is remarkably strong. The track sounds similar to many of the stripped down acoustic versions of his songs that Dylan performed throughout the 1960s.
Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and The Million Dollar Bashers tackle the widely-covered "All Along the Watchtower," but there's not much to be said, except that Jimi Hendrix's version is in no danger of losing its reputation as the greatest version of this song. The song isn't bad, but it's nothing special. With so many popular covers of this song available already, this one is sure to get lost in the shuffle.
Conversely, Jeff Tweedy's cover of "Simple Twist of Fate" and Mason Jennings' cover of "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" are both gems. The addition of a violin in Tweedy's cover gives the song a unique ambiance and his voice holds the last syllable of certain words long enough to resemble Dylan without seeming tacky.
Jennings' track is a pure folk song. Although it's not sung with the same outright spite as the original, there's something about Jennings' calm voice that succeeds in translating the tragedy that lies within the song.
Rolling Stone claims that "Bruce Springsteen was the 'new Dylan' and the Hold Steady are the 'new Springsteen,'" and that "this cover sounds like the greatest circa-1973 E Street Band outtake you never heard." As complicated as this sounds, I would have to agree with them. The Hold Steady's cover is among the best on this soundtrack.
For this track, they were able to tame their typically upbeat, borderline manic style to craft a cover that isn't too over the top but, at the same time, manages to avoid being just anothxqer lackluster carbon copy, like some of the songs on the soundtrack. However, the repetition of the line, "You've got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend," at the end of the song (which many Dylan fans who are unfamiliar with this song will recognize from "Positively 4th Street") does get a bit maddening.
For the most part, all of the artists on this record seem to be covering the songs without any innovation whatsoever. Although this was undoubtedly the decision of the producer, the format, which did allow a few to shine, made for a relatively lackluster soundtrack, compared to what it had the potential to be. That being said, most of the tracks on the record are still pretty good, and it can serve as a respectable introduction to Dylan for those who are somehow unfamiliar with his songs.
Contact Ashley McGown at
Ashley.McGown@UConn.edu.
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