The Byrds Play Dylan. Columbia Legacy. CK 85430.

I remember when my college friend Douglas and I first heard the Byrds' rendition of Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom." "'Did he just say "midnight's broken toe?'" I asked, in a marijuana haze. The line actually reads "midnight's broken toll," but even today as I listen, pot-bereft and with a vastly superior sound system, the line still sounds the same. This is one of the many treats contained in this new compilation. Not only does it contain all the Dylan songs released on Byrds' albums, it also features rare singles, such as their version of "Lay Lady Lay" with its execrable back-up singers. (Ironically, there is a more successful "alternate version" recorded the same day, but not released until 1990.) There are the songs that Dylan had not released, such as the melodious "Lay Down your Weary Tune" and the countrified "Nothing was Delivered," with its shockingly flat lyrics. Sometimes the Byrds nailed Dylan's spirit, as in "Mr. Tambourine Man," that still unequaled paen to romantic youth, and "The Times They Are A-Changin," whose instrumentation and propulsive anthem is vastly superior to Peter, Paul and Mary's 1963 version. Other times they couldn't quite match Dylan's sardonic tone, as in "Positively 4th Street" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Too bad Columbia Legacy didn't include the personnel on each song. In the case of the Byrds, it changed so often. Despite this oversight, this is one of the best sixties song compilations I've heard this year. One of the most intriguing discoveries is the live version of "Chimes of Freedom," not released until 2000 and sung by a world-weary Roger McGuinn without chorus (but with guitar solo). And yes, that toe is still broken.

--Peter Bates

anything anytime anywhere. Bruce Cockburn singles 1979-2002. Rounder Records/Golden Mountain Music Corp.

It is difficult to turn this CD off once it's playing. You almost feel like you're silencing a singer whose voice is urging you to do something. Bruce Cockburn is a consummate artist whose music defies pigeonholing into a category, but I'll try. Let's call it commited folk-rock. There is the intensely radical sentiments expressed in "If I Had a Rocket Launcher." I haven't heard a song this angry since Bob Dylan's "Masters of War." However melodic and driving its beat, this song is not your standard top-forty fare. Yet it is engaging and unique, so much so that the US government used it to torment Manuel Noriega when he refused to abdicate. (If they only knew that this is an anti-interventionist song.) "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" has wondrous lyricism as well as poetic lyrics, such as "nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight/got to kick at the dark until it bleeds daylight." Cockburn has the endearing ability to blend a smooth baritone voice with a dramatic sprechtstimme reading style, such as the one he uses in the environmental song "If a Tree Falls." In later years Cockburn, like many of us, has become more contemplative, but his thoughts still strike a universal chord. In "Dream Like Mine," he sings "when you've got a dream like mine, nobody can push you around." It doesn't matter what his dream is (he never says), the complex percussive patterns forge such a convincing unity with both melody and lyrics that the song's truth becomes incontrovertible. Some of the songs are less powerful than others, such as "Trouble with Normal," whose instrumental line tends to obscure the words and "Listen for the Laugh," which has a driving beat and excellent solos, but a repetitive vocal line. The title cut that concludes the disc is a tender love song, but lacks the poetry, ironic commentary, or social awareness of his other love songs. However, in the context of this excellent album, these are merely the "good" songs. If you heard them on the radio, you probably wouldn't change the station. Like the others on this astounding collection, these songs are still compelling and eminently listenable.

--Peter Bates

 

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