I know it’s a parody but it’s a Dylan thread and this belongs here.
I was always partial to the version of “I Shall Be Released” at the end of The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball. There’s almost a Gospel tone that anticipates the joy of release, whether it be from captivity or this mortal coil.
https://youtu.be/GTOnXdwC6jw?si=JJPmkHTDZuH5bEf_
Goodness, no-one has mentioned Jennifer Warnes “Famous Blue Raincoat” album?
Stand-out tracks are “Famous Blue Raincoat”, “Ain’t No Cure For Love”, and “First We Take Manhattan”
Well, that’s Leonard Cohen. Or am I whooshed? (btw. I agree that’s a great album, but just not Dylan)
I’ve always liked Fleetwood Mac’s version of “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”.
It’s on YouTube if you want to find it. I couldn’t link it here.
There’s also a moving version from the Kast Waltz:
Knockin on Heavens Door by Heaven.
The Grateful Dead covered at least one Dylan tune almost every night during the late 80s. It’s hard to pick a favorite but here’s a pretty amazing “Memphis Blues”
And oh, what the heck, I’ll throw in a “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.
Now I’m going to get super nerdy…“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” has always reminded me of the final scene of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. It’s nearly twenty years old, but I guess I’ll spoil this anyway: Roland comes to the Tower at twilight, when “it’s gettin’ too dark to see”. He lays his gun on the ground. The “long black cloud” could easily be the shadow of the Tower looming over him, and of course the Tower itself is a door to…well, somewhere.
But the Dead added a final line that’s not in the Dylan version; “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door…/Just like so many times before!” Now that really fits the Dark Tower theme, but they were singing it several years before the book was published! Trippy, man.
Back in our teens a friend and I aspired to be a rock band. We did a mash up of Knocking on Heaven’s door and Neil Young’s Helpless.
ETA: a quick Googling shows a lot of folks have thought of that since then!
This version by Steve Earle off of the ‘Chimes of Freedom’ Dylan cover album is good as well. A little more laid-back than the White Stripes version. I think I like Earle’s vocals more than Jack White’s, who almost sounds like he’s yodeling.
Joan Baez doing “You ain’t goin’ Nowhere”
Slight hijack: I’ve always thought that either “Chimes Of Freedom” or “I Shall Be Released” should be the anthem for Amnesty International. I didn’t know this cover album, but I see that it was recorded in honor of AI which warms my heart. I have to check out the whole album.
I’m glad (not to mention amazed, with your depth of musical knowledge) to introduce an album that’s new to you, EH.
Well thanks, but that’s really too much praise. I do know a lot of albums, but it’s still only a fraction of all albums ever released.
I’m a fan of Albert Hammond Jrs take on Don’t think Twice, It’s All Right.
Nice.
Not sure this counts as a great cover, but I think it deserves a mention…
That’s good - really good.
Still, I have a special place in my heart for Dolly’s version of the song:
