Dylan - BOB DYLAN***

Lily Of The West/Can't Help Falling In Love/Sarah Jane/The Ballad Of Ira Hayes/Mr Bojangles/Mary Ann/Big Yellow Taxi/A Fool Such As I/Spanish Is The Loving Tongue

This album was released by Columbia without Dylan's authorization after he had signed with Asylum Records. It is a curiosity in that it is comprised entirely of covers. (US:17)

“Dylan earned a gold record despite being reviled by critics and the artist himself. It was his first album to contain no original compositions. Dylan's contract with long-time label Columbia Records was up for renewal, but he decided to sign with David Geffen's fledgling Asylum imprint. Columbia's reaction was to release this album without any input or blessing from the artist.”

“Nearly any Dylanophile would admit that this album does not rank among Dylan's best, but with the release of The Basement Tapes and Another Self Portrait these misunderstood tracks fit nicely into the mix of both of those albums, showing Dylan's appreciation for other artists songs.”

“Dylan's album-that-never-should-have-been. Self Portrait outtakes released by Columbia in retaliation for Bob jumping over (however briefly) to Asylum.”

“There is little coherence to the album, with oddments collected from earlier recording sessions. But it is still a decent album and well worth the getting. It features Dylan's covers of Fool Such As I, and Big Yellow Taxi, which he adapts to his style superbly. His ragged rendition of the former really packs a punch and brings a tear to the eye. It might lack in thematic coherence, but it does deliver in feeling and depth, and I often wonder why some of these tracks were dropped.”

“Almost universally disparaged and dismissed as the worst ever Dylan album, this collection of covers recorded in 1969/70 is actually not at all bad. Bob's voice is perhaps not the best for some of these tunes, but on the whole, this album hangs together with a fair degree of coherence. It's well performed and arranged, the main problems really being Bob's ability to hold the tunes, and the fact that sometimes he and his backing singers seem to be not entirely in the same key.”

“These songs appear to be warm up exercises for Dylan and his band before launching into the songs he had a mind to eventually release. CBS released them when Bob left the company. The album was deleted when he returned to the fold.”