Episode 9

Dylanisms | Podcast Mixes Celebrating Bob Dylan Cover Versions | ‘Dylanisms’ is my 10-song mix podcast project, building an extensive archive of (mostly) 1960s recordings of Bob Dylan songs as recorded by various solo performers and groups many years ago.

I will zoom in on the well known and the very obscure outfits who covered Dylan’s numbers, in particular those unknown teenage garage bands from USA. There are many but this list on Wikipedia doesn’t even acknowledge them.

My ‘Dylanisms’ project will be regular and will uncover everything worth hearing. It will last for a one-year paid subscription with my hosting platform RSS.com. By then, my mission will have been accomplished and the Gods shall anoint my feet with patchouli oil . . .

Tracks in order of appearance:

01 The Alan Bown – “All Along The Watchtower”
The Alan Bown Set were veterans of London’s R&B and soul scene who recorded the rousing “London Swings Live At The Marquee Club”, as well as a handful of singles for Pye. They signed to MGM Records’ Music Factory subsidiary in 1967, having abandoned soul music to embrace the new underground where their punchy soul riffs were now passe.

Rechristened the Alan Bown, singer Jess Roden suggested they add ‘All Along The Watchtower’ to their live set, where it became a real crowd-pleaser.

02 Boz – “I Shall Be Released”
Raymond “Boz” Burrell was an in-demand session musician and singer, originally a guitarist who played in various under-the-radar R&B, jazz and soul groups. He fronted his own group, Boz & the Boz People, but recorded this 1968 single simply as Boz, coupling two Dylan songs, with ‘Down In The Flood’ as the A-side.

03 Sandie Shaw – “Lay Lady Lay”
This one one of her final recordings for the Pye label, the album ‘Reviewing The Situation’ coming in a lavish gatefold sleeve and dedicated “to the people, who have by their presence or ability, influenced pop in the last decade.”

Dylanisms | Podcast Mixes Celebrating Bob Dylan Cover Versions

04 The Hollies – “I Shall Be Released”
05 The Hollies – “Blowin’ In The Wind”
taken from the LP ‘Hollies Sing Dylan’ (Parlophone) May 1969

06 The Byrds – “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
taken from the UK EP ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’” (CBS) 02/66 | This was probably the strangest and most wayward of the Byrds’ Dylan cover songs.

Originally intended as a possible single, the group attacked the song in a sardonic manner, subverting the commitment evident in Dylan’s acoustic protest and replacing it with an ambiguous and decidedly ironic reading.

07 Richie Havens – “Just Like A Woman”
taken from the LP ‘Mixed Bag’ (Verve Folkways) 1967

08 Marianne Faithfull – “Blowin’ In The Wind”
released as a single on (Decca F12007) October 1964

09 William Shatner – “Mr Tambourine Man”
Although the most prolific Trek tunesmith, Nimoy was by no means the only Enterprise crew-member to beam up a record deal. William Shatner‘s notorious LP ‘The Transformed Man’ was released by Decca Records in 1968, and has enjoyed numerous re-issues.

A bewildering collision of Dylan, Shakespeare and The Beatles narrated over a strangely disconnected free-for-all, ‘The Transformed Man’ was initiated by Shatner’s desire to bond with his audience in new ways. “I’ve been entranced with music for the longest time,” he explained in 1972, “and the bane of my life is I really can’t sing . . . I’m kind of feeling my way into an area that I’m discovering.”

Discover Bill’s staggering interpretations of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ and you’ll get a pretty good handle on his evocative style.

10 Rod Stewart – “Girl Of The North Country”
track taken from the LP ‘Smiler’ (Mercury) 1974