Bryan Ferry’s new album of Dylan covers, Dylanesque, is being released in the United States today. It gets a good review at this link and a not-so-good review at this link.

I’ve been listening to it myself. It’s clear that Ferry has a deep affection for the songs, but the album hasn’t bowled me over, although I came to it very willing to like it. The way I’d express it is that Dylanesque seems a little too Dylanesque. That is, it rarely seems like Ferry is taking the songs anywhere very different from where they already reside. Add the recurring harmonica licks and occasional organ sounds, and the Dylanesque-ish nature of Dylanesque can’t help but make me wonder what the point was of redoing the songs at all. It has its moments: I like the sadness in the string-accompanied Positively Fourth Street, for instance. But too often, although the arrangements are different, the basic pace and even the phrasing of the performances doesn’t depart too far from Dylan’s original recordings, as in the case of Simple Twist of Fate; to my ears, anyway.

The album closes — just like most of Dylan’s live gigs these days — with All Along the Watchtower. And, just like the version Dylan has performed live since 1974, Ferry’s owes more to the spirit of Jimi Hendrix than the spirit of John Wesley Harding. Now, going the other way would’ve been an idea: a very hushed and spare version of the song, highlighting the atmosphere in the words rather than the swirling musical backing. That might have been something. As it is — and especially for someone who has heard Dylan do it live on countless occasions — there’s not so much here that’s new.

All that said, the record is intelligent and sensitive and layered and will probably reveal more in future listens. I was hoping for more of a pow upfront. Perhaps, if this one is reasonably successful, Ferry could try a Volume II — this time without leaning on so many of the most obvious tunes.

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