T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Pretty self-explanatory
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The Gentleman
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by The Gentleman »

Love the description of the backing vocals. If you're going to do songs from The Basement Tapes period justice, you NEED loose and raucous backing vocals. See also Dylan & The Band at Isle of Wight.
The Gentleman
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by The Gentleman »

sweetest punch wrote: Anyway, the EC/BD-songs that aren't chosen for Lost On The River, may get played on the upcoming solo tour. So, I'm really looking forward to this release and the solo tour.
REALLY hoping to hear EC/BD songs on the solo tour. Aside from the "Jack of All Parades" that he opened with on a few of the east coast solo shows, I can't think of anything I'd like to hear more, in fact.

As I live in Minneapolis, the tour opener is a given for me. But I'm thinking about expanding my horizons to Milwaukee and perhaps Chicago as well. The prospect of hearing some of those songs is currently a prime motivator for me!
cwr
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by cwr »

Hmm. I might be proven wrong but I'd actually be surprised if EC played any of these songs before the record came out. Wouldn't that sort of be jumping the gun, given that this isn't just *his* project?

ALSO: it would be funny and frustrating if, like the original Basement Tapes, there end up being a ton of songs that aren't officially released from these sessions!
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by johnfoyle »

What with the Curse Of Costello announcing all this while it's a ongoing production makes it a real hostage to fortune . What if Elvis goes all ' only room for one star' & they all start fighting? Factor in the cameras & we might end up with Let It Be 2 :-)
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Ymaginatif »

However great the end result may sound, it's another excuse for Costello not to write an album.

One of the greatest lyricists in the world, and first he rehashes his own old lyrics, and now he's going to play with somebody else's rejects.

Am I the only one thinking that we get very watered down versions of Elvis' potential these days?
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by cwr »

At a certain point, even a songwriting machine like Costello might feel like taking some time away from writing songs, especially when you're long past the 500+ mark. Writing music for Dylan lyrics is hardly an opportunity he'd want to pass up, (and Dylan himself took a long break from writing new songs before returning with Time Out Of Mind.)

Besides, the last time EC wrote a double LP of new originals it was all but ignored, and forgotten 2 weeks after it came out, so I'd say he might justifiably be more eager to do a record like this that people might actually pay attention to!
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Jack of All Parades »

cwr wrote:Hmm. I might be proven wrong but I'd actually be surprised if EC played any of these songs before the record came out. Wouldn't that sort of be jumping the gun, given that this isn't just *his* project?

ALSO: it would be funny and frustrating if, like the original Basement Tapes, there end up being a ton of songs that aren't officially released from these sessions!
Exactly- there is an etiquette and protocol to these things. Not his project in the least. He has been asked to participate but it would be great hubris to premier something prior to the official release just to bolster his own shows. After the official release its fairgame but I would be shocked if material from that project made it into his current solo show prior to the release.
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by verbal gymnastics »

True.

If it was Elvis covering a song that's already been released as part of a project then that's one thing. It's different when it's an unreleased song. Mind you I bet His Bobness wouldn't be fussed.
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by bronxapostle »

agreed with all 3 of these last posts! AND maybe this little project WILL finally get us the POSITIVELY 4th STREET owed us from 10-16-1993! 8) 8) 8)
The Gentleman
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by The Gentleman »

bronxapostle wrote:agreed with all 3 of these last posts! AND maybe this little project WILL finally get us the POSITIVELY 4th STREET owed us from 10-16-1993! 8) 8) 8)
Completely agree with P4S is long overdue. Not sure I've ever heard an acoustic version of the song, but pretty sure EC could make it work spectacularly.

Not sure I agree that EC's history suggests he would necessarily hold off on covering a song in concert that isn't ENTIRELY HIS. In fact, examples to the contrary could make a fun thread in itself. Offhand, I'm reminded when he played "What I Like Most About Your Girlfriend" before the Special AKA had released it. But there MUST be other relevant examples. I'm opening the floor here...
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by The Gentleman »

cwr wrote:
ALSO: it would be funny and frustrating if, like the original Basement Tapes, there end up being a ton of songs that aren't officially released from these sessions!
That would be an awesome historical irony.

But I'd much prefer if 1 and 2CD sets were released at the same time, with the 2CD set collecting EVERYTHING. Though, more realistically, I suspect a potential Deluxe Edition would instead feature a DVD of the upcoming film (which is also quite intriguing, make no mistake) as the second disc. Though I have nothing against the prospect of a 2CD/1DVD set!
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by And No Coffee Table »

The Gentleman wrote:Not sure I agree that EC's history suggests he would necessarily hold off on covering a song in concert that isn't ENTIRELY HIS. In fact, examples to the contrary could make a fun thread in itself. Offhand, I'm reminded when he played "What I Like Most About Your Girlfriend" before the Special AKA had released it. But there MUST be other relevant examples. I'm opening the floor here...
EC premiered "That Day Is Done" and "The Lovers That Never Were" in November 1987, but Paul McCartney didn't release them until 1989 and 1993, respectively. He also played "You Want Her Too" more than a month before McCartney put it out. But those were the pre-YouTube days, when it wasn't so easy to spread these things around.

Speaking of which, if anyone wants scans of the print version of yesterday's Los Angeles Times article, here they are:
page 1 - page 2
bronxapostle
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by bronxapostle »

all this BASEMENT TAPES talk calls to mind that there has NEVER been any kind of reissue from Bob! sounds like, as the stars align later in the year or early next, it would indeed make for a spectacular THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOLUME 11 release. i hope there are no sort of contractual (The Band) or ever unyielding (Robbie Robertson) problems that would impede this. am i correct that R.R. has been the 'difficult' one in the past? i was lucky enough to see them live in 1976 and bumped into a man in a red suit in the men's room way before the show start time. he said HELLO. when i saw the gentleman on stage two hours later with that same red suit and a Stratocaster in his hand, i told my cousin who took me. sixteen year old ba did NOT recognize him as i was not yet a big fan. :oops: :oops:
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by FAVEHOUR »

And No Coffee Table wrote:
The Gentleman wrote:Not sure I agree that EC's history suggests he would necessarily hold off on covering a song in concert that isn't ENTIRELY HIS. In fact, examples to the contrary could make a fun thread in itself. Offhand, I'm reminded when he played "What I Like Most About Your Girlfriend" before the Special AKA had released it. But there MUST be other relevant examples. I'm opening the floor here...
EC premiered "That Day Is Done" and "The Lovers That Never Were" in November 1987, but Paul McCartney didn't release them until 1989 and 1993, respectively. He also played "You Want Her Too" more than a month before McCartney put it out. But those were the pre-YouTube days, when it wasn't so easy to spread these things around.

Speaking of which, if anyone wants scans of the print version of yesterday's Los Angeles Times article, here they are:
page 1 - page 2
Thanks for those, ANCT!
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Don't know if this link contains more info, but I share it in case it might be of use (not having seen it on this thread):

http://www.thenewbasementtapes.com/

Does anyone else have issues with EC being connected with Marcus Mumford? I have a real problem with Mumford and Sons. My own description of them is 'Folk Coldplay', i.e. obvious, occasionally pretty songs that have been overblown to horrendous stadium-filling proportions, but what I really loathe is the way they have to go mental with the headbanging and instrument thrashing to prove that they mean it, maaan. I hate watching them because I always think there isn't enough depth to the content for them to really mean it, and they're just doing it because it keeps them in the stadia. For example, their biggest hit, utterly vapid:



Added to this, Marcus M gets to marry the divine Carey Mulligan (even if they were childhood penpals) and hang out with Elvis. How is this fair?
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chickendinna
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by chickendinna »

I agree completely. Your description of Mumford and Sons being a folk version of Coldplay is apt. I would rather pour molten lava into my ears than listen to either one of them. That said, Lost on the River will be a first day purchase for me.
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Poor Deportee »

Mumford and Sons are awful. Just tactless folk histrionics. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for this idea that you have to bludgeon a song into submission. Good singers let the song be itself and get out of the damned way. Yet this lesson - the lesson of singing with taste - seems almost completely lost to pop music, notwithstanding many honourable exceptions, such as Nick Lowe, Jenn Grant, and the divine Jill Barber. Even EC has had a lot of trouble resisting the urge to spray his ego all over good songs (c.f. "Church Underground," a fabulous composition damaged by over-singing in the recorded performance).

Funnily enough, I wouldn't put Coldplay in quite the same category. With them, the problem seems to be basically uninteresting songcraft. The vocals tend to have an appealing fragility to them, and if they're definitely showy in this regard, at least they're not egregiously over the top IMHO. Then again, it's not like I've paid a great deal of attention to their work. Frankly, I toss them into a big category of Singing Influenced By Bono, which seems to cover about 99% of rock music coming out of the UK over the past decade.
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bronxapostle
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by bronxapostle »

chickendinna wrote:I agree completely. Your description of Mumford and Sons being a folk version of Coldplay is apt. I would rather pour molten lava into my ears than listen to either one of them. That said, Lost on the River will be a first day purchase for me.
agree...

COMPLETELY!

i thought i had become an old fart with certain acts doing NOTHING for me. but Mumford and Coldplay are right at the top of people i wouldnt give any of my listening time to EVER! unless they are working with Elvis. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I'm in good company! Mumf & Sons produce an almost pathological reaction in me. The combination of bludgeon + uninteresting songcraft, as you nicely put it, is a lethal one. I don't mind Coldplay anything like as much, and in fact was enjoying the song Viva La Vida as I checked in here, which I have a soft spot for. It's just that once they went stadium, their only concern was to write songs that would fill them. Fair more satisfying is the low-key, blokey warmth of Elbow. Yet again they've come up with an album that is both under-stated and filled with great songs. Here's a nice review of them at London's O2, bringing home that they are a nom-stadium act who (on the strength of one mega-hit and the charisma of Guy Garvey) have ended up playing them:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/a ... -o2-london

On a related theme, surely the endlessly ridiculed wording 'conscious uncoupling' was Gwinnie's not Chris's? I got quite into their first album before they were big. Yellow, Don't Panic, etc. Not bad at all.
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Lester Burnham »

Mumford and Sons and the Lumineers are utterly unbearable. If you want good folk music, listen to the Low Anthem :D
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by MOJO »

Bumford and Sons - not a fan. Otis W - good comments. Agree with you! Maybe Marcus is better solo. Don't know, really, but I'm open to hearing his solo stuff. Happy Easter. Although some here are celebrating 420 day. Sort of cheezy.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Here too, it would seem, though personally I had to look up what 420 day was:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/shor ... y-cannabis

Like this comment on the above article!:

"I wish I could be there with some sort of wheeled food cart. If anyone were to get the munchies I would rake it in."
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Phrased perfectly-PD and Otis. Bludgeoned is so evocative of the sound they often produce. It frequently lacks subtlety. PD, as we have discussed before on this page, our boy can occasionally suffer from the same affliction. My immediate reaction to Mumford and Sons, when they appeared on the Grammys a few years back, was to turn the station, as the flailing and belting of the lyric was painful. Walking the streets down here in New Orleans luckily has evidenced little of their influence on performers both in the clubs and on the street corners. I recommend the new Jill Barber as an antidote.
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by Poor Deportee »

Jack of All Parades wrote:Phrased perfectly-PD and Otis. Bludgeoned is so evocative of the sound they often produce. It frequently lacks subtlety. PD, as we have discussed before on this page, our boy can occasionally suffer from the same affliction. My immediate reaction to Mumford and Sons, when they appeared on the Grammys a few years back, was to turn the station, as the flailing and belting of the lyric was painful. Walking the streets down here in New Orleans luckily has evidenced little of their influence on performers both in the clubs and on the street corners. I recommend the new Jill Barber as an antidote.
New Orleans would, I imagine, make a perfect antidote! Speaking of which, this issue of taste in singing was hammered home to me during the "River in Reverse" tour. The contrast between EC's sweaty, overblown exertions and Alain Toussaint's understated effortlessness amounted to an object lesson. That was the first Costello concert I walked away from having wish I'd heard less of EC and more of the other guy. :shock:

In direct opposition to prevailing popular notions, which seem to see singing as a grotesque exercise in quantification - the most pointless grace notes, the biggest range, the highest volume, the most muscular-sounding bellowing wins - Jill Barber exemplifies the optimal combination: an exquisite and distinctive voice coupled with impeccable taste. Anyone can attain the latter with a lot of work and concentration, and most of all an awareness of the necessity of it; but the former is just a gift, and you either have it or don't, as unfair as that sounds.

All that said - we do need to leave room for vocal stylists. Bob Dylan might be one of the greatest singers in the history of recorded music, yet he does it by twisting the song into all sorts of directions so as to wring the profoundest feeling from it. This is a sort of "extreme" singing that is almost impossible to reproduce effectively. Tom Waits is another who completely reinvents his voice depending on the song, and this could perhaps be heard as intrusive (although it's almost always superbly effective to my mind).

Such exceptions aside, though, "getting out of the way" should the motto of all but the most extraordinary voices, IMHO.
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Re: T-Bone / Dylan project: Lost On The River

Post by sweetest punch »

Elvis talks about this project: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment ... d=11244219

Elvis Costello has fresh stories yet to tell

(...)
Costello has also been working with producer TBone Burnett on an album where a set of unpublished Bob Dylan lyrics have been set to music by a group including Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Marcus Mumford (Mumford and Sons).

"We had lyrics by a fairly good songwriter," he says, drolly, "but you could take the same lyric and there would be four different musical versions of that song. Somebody would write with complicated chords, another would have simple chords; somebody had done an up-tempo song, another had done a ballad.

"Marcus Mumford, who has that talent for writing memorable songs with very few chords in them, could write a song that made you go, 'wow, that's a good tune'. The next thing we'd be making a record of it," Costello says.

"We all saw what was on the page differently".

"And because we didn't have the author of those lyrics there to argue his side of it - and we were dealing with unfinished lyrics in some cases - there were choices to make."

The album to be called Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes - the title a reference to the famous set recorded by Dylan in 1967 with The Band - will be released later this year.

Though Dylan wasn't an active participant, a "Dylan-Costello" credit is certainly something to add to his "McCartney-Costello" and "Bacharach-Costello" collection.
(...)
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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