I'm Not There
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Free Music Notes for I'm Not There
Free Music Review: All Over the Map
Hit: 4 Stars
This soundtrack, like the movie, is erratic, diverse and mostly successful, often great. The best cuts are those where the performers take the Dylan material as a starting point and bring their own styles and sensibilities to it. The weakest are those where Dylan is approached on tiptoe, as if crawling too close to a deity, as if simply to sing a version of one of his songs is an audacity, and the result of that approach is just a pale copy of the original.
One other overall random thought -- what a great day it was when Dylan first plugged in. So many of these songs work as rock, electrifying them made (and makes) them all the more original and outrageous.
Best cuts: Sonic Youth's I'm Not There; Goin to Acapulco (don't much care for My Morning Jacket, but Jim James is fine here and everything Calexico does on the CD is arresting); Stuck Inside of Mobile (Cat Power snotty and sensuous at the same time, a nice trick); John Doe on Pressing On and I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine (and check out his latest CD, A Year in the Wilderness); Highway 61 from Karen O, truly revisited; Los Lobos taking Billy south of the border; Can't Leave Her Behind; Yo La Tengo's I Wanna Be Your Lover; the Once couple on You Ain't Goin Nowhere; Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, Hold Steady at their best on one of Dylan's great under-known songs; Maggie's Farm, more because of the Million Dollar Bashers than Malkmus' vocals; Moonshiner; and Antony and the Johnsons glorious dirge take on Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
Less successful (see the too cautious comment above): Tombstone Blues (though to be fair, Havens' singing really works in the film); Dark Eyes; Senor (yes, I know Willie's a god, but he's also boring here); Ring Them Bells; and -- especially -- two standards, Just Like a Woman and The Times They Are a Changin' .
Free Music Review: So much more than the movie's soundtrack
Hit: 4 Stars
Let me state upfront that, while I was rather apprehensive of the movie concept as such, I ended up really liking the non-delinear interpretation of Bob Dylan's life by director Todd Haynes. The structure of the film had the potential to turn this into a (well-intended) disaster, but it turned out to be quite the enjoyable surprise. When you watch the film. you hear a lot of Dylan songs, mostly from Dylan himself, and once in a while fragments from Dylan-covers also can be heard. The "I'm Not There" is a collection of those covers.
"I'm Not There" (2 CDs, 34 tracks; 159 min.) brings 33 covers, many of which do not appear in the movie. I am generally speaking not a great fan of these types of collections (cover songs of big name artists) but must admit that it works quite well here. Among the many highlights on tis collection, my personal favorites include "Goin' to Acapulco" by Jim James & Calexico (done brilliantly in the movie), "One More Cup of Coffee" by Roger McGuinn & Calexico, Jeff Tweedy's somber take on "Simple Twist of Fate", Charlotte Gainsbourg (who stars in the film) whispering-soft version of "Just Like A Woman", a surprising appearance of the Hold Steady for their cover of "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?", an almost subdued performance of the Black Keys on "The Wicked Messinger", and a memorable "Highway 61 Revisited" from Karen O (of the Yea Yea Yeas). The very last song brings Bob Dylan himself, doing "I'm Not There", along with the Band (from the Basement Tapes-era).
Bottom line: I was very pleasantly surprised by this album, which is so much more than a soundtrack. The best proof of that is of course that you can play this and it will resonate just as well, whether you've actually seen the movie "I'm Not There" or not.
Free Music Review: A good showcase of Dylan's music
Hit: 4 Stars
The soundtrack to Todd Haynes excellent 2007 biopic of Bob Dylan contains 34 Dylan songs from all decades of his career. Only one of them is performed by Bob himself (the title track, also covered on the record by Sonic Youth), and while I usually prefer Dylan's own versions of his songs, I found this a strong and interesting album, with hardly a dud track on it. It would make a good introduction to Dylan's music for younger listeners not so familiar with him as older devotees.
There are a few flat moments - Stephen Malkmus and The Million Dollar Bashers' reading of "Ballad of a Thin Man" fails to recapture the biting scorn of the original, but perhaps that song, unlike a lot of Dylan's work, is too much of its own time. The same band though, headed by Eddie Vedder, do a thumping version of "All Along the Watchtower".(This song must be intimidating for guitarists to play on because you know you are going to be compared to Jimi Hendrix, but Tom Verlaine and Smokey Hormel do pretty well.) Other highlights include Cat Power's "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", and Rambling Jack Elliot's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", but for me the standout track is Willie Nelson and Calexico's haunting performance of "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" - just superb.
Free Music Review: Fog, amphetamines and pearls
Hit: 4 Stars
This soundtrack to I'm Not There is absolutely packed with music, featuring two CDs that are each 80 minutes long. I don't recall hearing many of these recordings in the movie itself, but that's not uncommon for a soundtrack these days. The songs were all written by Bob Dylan, as you are probably already aware. Most of these cover songs are quite good, although some are better than others. Of course, it's all a matter of personal preference, my favorites may be different from your favorites. Fittingly, Dylan himself gets the final word, with the previously unreleased title song (it was recorded at The Basement Tapes sessions). This is a fine collection of Dylan songs.Free Music Review: Million Dollar Bash
Hit: 4 Stars
I think the critical review posted on here is a bit over the top. This is a fantastic collection of Dylan songs - both famous and more obscure ones - by some of the most relevant artists working today. It's a loving homage to the master songwriter. Each artist brings his/her/their own interpretation of the song to the table, but they also keep his sensibilities in mind (with a few exceptions). Some of the covers are obvious love letters to their songwriting hero (e.g. those by Cat Power, Jeff Tweedy, Stephen Malkmus), but there are also many artists on this collection that I previously wouldn't have associated with Dylan, but now I'm happy to see the connection. My advice is simple: take a look at the artists who appear on this collection. If you like them, and you love Dylan, I think it's a safe bet you'll enjoy this soundtrack.