Reviewed by Tony Cummings As we all know, Mr Dylan could well be the most important songwriter of the post-war years and the executive producers of this four CD package (Jeff Ayeroff, Julie Yannatta) are to be congratulated for pulling in such a wide range of internationally known artists to sing Mr Zimmerman's songs. In case the considerable publicity surrounding this release has passed you by, all the performances have been donated by the artists involved with sales of the CD going to Amnesty International, the human rights organisation who have fought for justice around the world for decades. A comprehensive review of this project would end up being a small book so I will simply target a few of the many highlights as Bob's songs are offered in multi-faceted versions by an extraordinarily diverse range of artists. Disc One's ear catching items include Ziggy Marley's "Blowin' In The Wind', Patti Smith's "Drifter's Escape", Johnny Cash Featuring The Avett Brothers' "One Too Many Mornings" and Bettye Lavette's "Most Of The Time". Disc Two's standouts are Queens Of The Stone Age's "Outlaw Blues", Joan Baez's "Seven Curses", Natasha Bedingfield's "Ring Them Bells" and Adele's "Make You Feel My Love". Disc Three offers listeners Sinead O'Connor's "Property Of Jesus", Brian Ferry's "Bob Dylan's Dream", Flogging Molly's "The Times They Are A Changing" and Cage The Elephant's "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll". Disc Four showcases The Dave Matthews Band's "All Along The Watch Tower", Lucinda Williams' "Tryin' To Get To Heaven", Kris Kristofferson's "Quinn The Eskimo" and Bob himself singing the title track. Finally, I can't resist making a special mention of that grizzled survivor of the Animals, Eric Burdon, making a credible fist of "Gotta Serve Somebody". Here's hoping Eric took note of the lyrics.
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