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So what happens when two of music’s greatest song writers get together after a few drinks in the back of a cab? Is it mind blowing? Is it face melting with deep insights about humanity and culture and how to make it better?

Ah no, not exactly. Unless talking about Johnny Cash, John Lennon’s song publishing company named “Rick James,” and Dylan giving Lennon a hard time about being “interesting in the big chick” from the Mamas and the Papas counts as deep and meaningful.

In this sense it’s reassuring that their drunken cab ride conversations are no different from my drunken cab ride conversations.

When done right, this blistering song has no comparison. It is so amazing that it lends itself to interpretation over and over again.  Yes, Dylan may have recorded it originally and Hendrix may have perfected it, but there have been so many other great covers.

Enjoy renditions from some of the greats. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing is to see how all these great musicians interpret this Bob Dylan song.

Jimi Hendrix

Anyone who tells you that Hendrix’s version of this song isn’t the definitive version of this song is just lying to themselves.

Here he is at the Isle of Wright in 1970.

Neil Young

His version isn’t that bad.  It’s almost what you’d expect.  Very grungy, full of energy, and just straight nasty.

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It was shaping up to be a rainy Sunday afternoon here in Stumptown and something that always brings a smile to my ears is Wilco.? Add in a dash of Fleet Foxes covering The Band’s “I Shall Be Released” (whah? That’s a Dylan song!? Mon dieu! No, it was written by Dylan, performed by many but perfected and recorded first by The Band.) and the rain can’t hold me down.

This was recorded during the stop in Spokane, Wash. on Aug. 21.? Jeff Tweedy really goes for those high notes made famous by Richard Manuel and Fleet Foxes provide sumptuous backing harmonies (though I think I’ll always prefer Levon Helm and Rick Danko).

Mp3: Wilco and Fleet Foxes - “I Shall Be Released”

For Comparison’s Sake

Here is The Band performing “I Shall Be Released” during The Last Waltz. Not exactly fair given the shear musical genius on stage during this performance. But who said life was fair?

Mp3: The Band - “I Shall Be Released”

On a not so random note, I’m hoping the future Mrs. Oyster will let me name my first son Danko.

A few weeks back the makers behind the Bobby Dylan biopic, featuring the likes of Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, etc. etc. all portraying Dylan, held a concert in NYC to celebrate the living legend’s music by having the likes of My Morning Jacket, Mason Jennings, Yo La Tengo, The Roots, Calexico and J Mascis.

It was a vip type of thing and by all acounts one of the concert events of the year.? Haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s been getting mixed reviews and we weren’t really sold on it after seeing some early footage.? Soundtrack though, is definitely as good as we expected it to be.
The good news is that Wolfgang’s Vault is streaming the concert for your listening pleasure. ? Mason Jenning’s performance of “The Times They Are-a Changin’” is one of our highlights for sure.

We’re not entirely convinced that Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan biopic is going to amount to anything more than just a masturbatory exercise in filmmaking. It’s premise seems pretty stupid, what with six different actors all portraying Dylan at varying times of his career, and the early footage that we’ve seen looks like a Mr. Show sketch - complete with David Cross playing Allen Ginsberg.

But that doesn’t mean that the music for the film won’t be dope. Rodrigo over at The Playlist (quickly turning into one of our must reads every morning) has the skinny on the entire soundtrack. According to him, there are going to be plenty of Dylan covers from the likes of Eddie Vedder, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Mason Jennings (yes! yes! yes!), Jeff Tweedy, Stephen Malkmus, Sufjan Stevens, Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Charlotte Gainsberg, Willie Nelson, The Hold Steady and The Black Keys.

Wow! So if that doesn’t bake your noodle, then what about Calexico being the house band for the entire project? Also, The Million Dollar Bashers will be featured on several cuts. This thing will probably be a two or three CD set judging by the amount of music contained.

Track list after the jump! Soundtrack will be released on 10.31 MORE »

It’s February 1969. Bob Dylan, two years removed from the release of the somber and contemplative John Wesley Harding, returns to Nashville to begin work on what will become his ninth studio album, the full-on country record Nashville Skyline.

Though it was met with great commercial success, it peaked at #3 on the charts, many critics didn’t know what to make of it, despite knowing Dylan’s penchant for shifting gears, changing sounds and his chameleonic nature.

The album, under the direction of producer Bob Johnston was recorded in about nine days, from Feb. 12-21. Midway through the sessions at Columbia’s Studio A, friend (since the 1964 Newport Folk Festival) and fellow label mate Johnny Cash stopped by to say hello.

Cash was still basking in the success of the release of his live record At Folsom Prison, was still four months away from his other legendary live performance At San Quentin and that year he would begin playing television host for The Johnny Cash Show on ABC. Needless to say, these two musicians were not only at the height of their popularity (well some thirty years later it’s debatable as both are as popular now as they were back then) and creative peak.

During a two day stretch of playing and recording together, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash recording a bevy of songs together, all of them deemed unworthy to be released or featured on Dylan’s new record. Only one of them, a reworking of “Girl From the North Country” was added to Nashville Skyline.

What’s interesting about this session is how much fun Dylan and Cash had playing music together. Many of the songs are sloppy and rightfully don’t belong on any official release. Lines are screwed up, notes are misplayed, both artists sing over each other. It feels like one of those moments, a rare glimpse into two Supernovas playing for no reason but the hell of it.

There’s an excellent mix of Cash tunes, Dylan originals, more traditional Americana arrangements, even an Elvis Presley cover song. After a few listens, one can easily understand why neither wanted this released, but these sessions deserved to be heard for not just music fans or fans of either gentleman, but as a slice of American history, a sharp moment in time, never to be duplicated. For these sessions represent the improbable intersection of what could have been had Cash and Dylan said screw it and tossed aside any notions of The Traveling Wilburys or The Highwaymen.

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash - The Nashville Sessions

1. One Two Many Mornings (recorded Feb. 17)
2. Mountain Dew (recorded Feb. 18)
3. I Still Miss Someone (recorded Feb. 17)
4. Careless Love ( traditional / recorded Feb. 18)
5. Matchbox (recorded Feb. 18)
6. That’s Alright, Mama (Elvis Presley cover / recorded Feb. 18)
7. Big River (recorded Feb. 18)
8. Girl From the North Country (recorded Feb. 18)
9. I Walk the Line (recorded Feb. 18)
10. You Are My Sunshine (recorded Feb. 18)
11. Guess Things Happen That Way (recorded Feb. 18)
12. Just a Closer Walk With Thee (traditional hymn / recorded Feb. 18)
13. Blue Yodel #1 (Jimmie Rodger’s cover / recorded Feb. 18)
14. Blue Yodel #5 (Jimmie Rodger’s cover / recorded Feb. 18)
15. I Threw it All Away (LIVE FROM THE JOHNNY CASH SHOW)
16. Living the Blues (recorded Feb. 18)
17. Girl From the North Country (LIVE)
18. Nashville Skyline Rag (recorded Feb. 18)
19. I Threw it All Away (alternate album version)
20. Peggy Day (alternate album version)
21. Country Pie (alternate album version)
22. Tonight, I’ll Be Staying Here With You (alternate album version)

Now this is not the complete session, as versions of “Ring of Fire” “Mystery Train,” “Don’t Think Twice it’s Alight,” “How High the Water” and “Wanted Man” were also attempted. Those songs, I was unable to track down.

If anyone has versions of them, please pass them along from one fan to another. I’ve been told there are bootlegged versions, commercial or otherwise, of these sessions. Which means, those have to be out there, right?

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE SESSION HERE