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Post by fatfingerjohn on Aug 12, 2013 16:16:56 GMT
Not sure if this should belong in the 'anything acoustic' section and will probably get howls of derision anyway. Watched a recent programme on Sky Arts on Bryan Ferry and an album he made a few years back called 'Dylanesque'. I hadn't seen this before. Now, I love Dylan and I like Bryan Ferry. But bearing in mind most attempts by someone to do someone else's music fail dismally and are pale imitations of the original. In this instance I love the originals and also love the BF interpretations; now bought the CD and have it blasting out in the car wherever I go. Why does it work for me? Because it is a totally different treatment; it is unashamedly 'Ferry' and not Ferry trying to be Dylan. Just Ferry using Dylan's amazing lyrics and tunes, but creates a very different sound, beat and mood. Here's two videos to demonstrate (turn 'em up loud)! 'Times they are a changing' is done in classic Ferry 70s style and, if you forget the Dylan original it's just great. This is 'Positively 4th Street', sung by Ferry very much as a ballad and again works in a very different way. What do you guys think? Turning in your graves? And what other 'interpretations' of other people's originals do you love/hate? FFJ
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Wild Violet
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Post by Wild Violet on Aug 13, 2013 6:54:59 GMT
I hadn't seen that before, thanks for posting it. I love Mr Ferry, and this works for me!
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Martin
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Post by Martin on Aug 13, 2013 7:46:56 GMT
I'm a bit of a fan of Bryan Ferry and his sound, so I like these very much. I also think that it's the sign of a very good song that it can be performed and/or interpreted by different people and still come out sounding good.
This proves at least (I think) that Bob Dylan is one of the very best songwriters, regardless of what one thinks of his style, making his work so widely and successfully covered.
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Aug 13, 2013 23:07:04 GMT
His Bobness's songs often work really well done differently from how they first emerged. Bob himself was among the first to demonstrate that, although he didn't get 100% approval from his fans at the time!
Really enjoyed the Bryan Ferry vids, John, especially Positively 4th St which was superb! Thanks for those.
As for other 'interpretations', this June Tabor and Martin Simpson version of Richard Thompson's "Strange Affair" is one of my very favourites (and I love the original too!)
An 'interpretation' that I dislike intensely is Ronan Keating's bland version of "Father and Son". Cat Stevens' original and very moving version presents the lyric as a dialogue, with the two characters parts sung in different octaves, the father's part lower than the son's. RK sings both parts in the same octave and does nothing in his phrasing or vocal expression to differentiate the words of the two characters in the song. This defeats the whole object, and all but eliminates the poignancy from the song. So I'll not post RK's version, just a "proper" one!
Keith
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Aug 14, 2013 7:47:37 GMT
As for other 'interpretations', this June Tabor and Martin Simpson version of Richard Thompson's "Strange Affair" is one of my very favourites (and I love the original too!) An 'interpretation' that I dislike intensely is Ronan Keating's bland version of "Father and Son". Cat Stevens' original and very moving version presents the lyric as a dialogue, with the two characters parts sung in different octaves, the father's part lower than the son's. RK sings both parts in the same octave and does nothing in his phrasing or vocal expression to differentiate the words of the two characters in the song. This defeats the whole object, and all but eliminates the poignancy from the song. So I'll not post RK's version, just a "proper" one! Keith Hi Keith, Agree regarding the RT song and that June's rendition is excellent; the original with Linda and Richard's gentle harmony is very touching, clearly written when RT was going through his misery creativity period. (I'm not knocking this because it produced some amazing songs e.g. Waltzing for Dreamers and my favourite, Dimming of the Day (where the Bonny Rait version is great too). Once again RT shows that a song doesn't have to be fancy to be effective and moving. Also agree with the comment on Father and Son, although I have never been mad about it myself; I'll steel myself to dig out RKs version but expect it will be ruinous. As I said on the original post I love Dylan, mainly his earlier stuff; but I saw him live (just) about 18 months ago in a double hander with Knopfler. MK was brilliant, but I'm afraid the Dylan bit was very disappointing. It was just this barely recognisable old chap standing to one side in a long black coat playing the keyboard and groaning away. To be frank it could have been anyone and he was drowned out by the heavy backing. I've no doubt that others may have thought he was great, but for me it was a tour too far. FFJ
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brianr2
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Post by brianr2 on Aug 14, 2013 8:42:12 GMT
I enjoyed the Ferry interpretations a lot though I missed the bitterness of the original version of Positively 4th Street.
As for "Strange Affair", June Tabor's version is absolutely superb. I am afraid that I just cannot seem to warm to RT's originals but love other's interpretations, e.g. Norma Waterson and "God Loves a Drunk".
I am totally with Keith and FFJ on "Father and Son". So often Keating and his cohorts just seem to go through the motions and rely on cynical marketing and fan loyalty. I doubt that many of their songs will remain as fresh as Cat Stevens' in 40 years time.
Brian
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