Music Review: I'm Not There Soundtrack

I guess I've bought enough compilations, covers albums, soundtracks, and tribute albums to realize the roster of talents is usually more interesting and inspired than the results. I admit I was curious when I saw the list of artists covering Dylan songs for the soundtrack of the "biopic" I'm Not There and that's usually enough to get me to buy. When it's not, a cameo or contribution by Mark Lanegan almost certainly is yet somehow I resisted the urge until now. I've been a slow learner, but having been burned enough times made me reluctant to investigate this compilation/soundtrack.

Everyone has covered Dylan. There are scores of bland Dylan covers because just about everyone has tried it at least once. It's the "easiest" thing in the world to do. No one questions the quality of the songs, but there exists a sizable listening audience out there who recognizes Dylan as a songwriter yet they have trouble getting past the man's voice. One gets the feeling that a lot of artists think they can have a hit if they mix Dylan's lyrical mastery with their more "ear-friendly" sound. Some artists have had extraordinary success with Dylan covers. There are some people who think Jimi Hendrix wrote "All Along The Watchtower." Others think at the very least he's recorded the definitive version of the song.

For every hit, like Hendrix, there are countless misses. Over the years I've developed an appreciation for Dylan's ability to interpret his own work, so I'm not as eager to embrace other artists' vision for his songs. Rather than comparing each cover to the original, I decided to approach I'm Not There differently. I saw this set as an opportunity to sample some artists I knew by name but whose music I'd never heard because of the wide range of artists involved in the project. Rather than viewing this as a collection of Dylan covers, I approached this as a jukebox.

The only Los Lobos song I've ever heard was "La Bamba" from when I was a kid. They've done critically acclaimed work since then, but I've never investigated any of it. I read the occasional review praising their albums, but they never seemed to fit well with what I was listening to at a particular moment so I never felt a surge of motivation to take a gamble. Their cover of "Billy 1" is one of the high points on the record. I can't compare it to the Dylan original, but I like what LL have done here. There are a couple of LL compilations out there, so this might be the nudge I need to see what they're all about when they're doing their own songs.

Cat Power is another artist I know by name but had never heard before. I'm seriously considering her further because I love what she did with "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again." It's one of my favorite Dylan songs and Chan Marshall plays this one straight. She doesn't reinvent the song, instead finding a way to shine within the basic constructs of the song. Marshall injects a little bit more R&B into the song than Dylan's original, and it works extremely well. Although I like Dylan's versions of his own songs, he sometimes (intentionally or otherwise) fails to capitalize on his melodies. Marshall's performance brings the melody into sharper, catchier focus. I like what she's done here she just might have forced me to head to Amazon.

Article Author: Josh Hathaway

Josh Hathaway is a Senior Editor for Blogcritics. He is formerly an award-winning journalist and broadcaster and publishes the BC Network site Confessions of a Fanboy.

Visit Josh Hathaway's author page — Josh Hathaway's Blog