Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" is nothing short of a landmark in 20th Century popular music, a continuation of the experimentation of "Highway 61 Revisted" that pushes the envelope yet further and sees Dylan redefining pop music twice within the span of two consecutive albums.
Blonde on Blonde's "shock of the new" weld of folk/rock/blues may not, initially, appear the more obvious choice for a project of this kind, most of the songs on "Highway 61 Revisited" providing an easier canvas for blues re-interpretations by a varied list of artists. However, "Blonde on Blonde" ranks among Dylan's more melodically crafted albums and its seemingly endless lyrical/musical revelations provide an even deeper bag for the contributors to "Blues on…" to delve into.
Along with Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums) guitarist Brian Stoltz provides backing for all but two of the guest contributors. As befitting a house band they open proceedings themselves with their own pleasingly slinky, funky take on "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35".
Self confessed Dylan nut Walter Trout takes on "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" and provides one of the CDs highlights. Rarely one to reign in the guitar pyrotechnics that he's more widely known for, Trout barnstorms his way through the song in his trademark style whilst delivering an equally swaggering vocal that captures some of the sardonic tone of the original.
Sean Costello takes an equally confident grip on "Obviously 5 Believers", a driving guitar riff shoves the song forward through the kind of runaway train arrangement that it's easy to imagine Dylan himself adopting, contemporary Dylan performances revealing a penchant for this kind of thing.
No stranger to Dylan covers, his celebrated siblings already laying claim to several other imaginative and successful interpretations, Cyril Neville takes a very pleasing run through "I Want You". Surprisingly jaunty, the song remains safe in the hands of an old pro like Neville, it's sense of longing and wistfulness intact despite a step up in tempo.
As would be expected, not everyone here finds Dylan's blueprints easy to follow. Sue Foley's "Most Likely You'll go Your Way and I'll go Mine" serves to highlight how right everybody else was to steer clear of emulating Dylan's own inimitable phrasing while the unenviable task of re-interpreting the epic, dreamlike "Visions of Johanna" falls to Anders Osborne. Sounding a little bemused by it's wayward surrealism and mystical psychadelia Osborne fails to convince that he's the faintest idea of what the song's about (hey, who does?) and the end appears to come as much as a relief to Osborne as it does to everybody else.
If a discreet veil is to be drawn over one or two of the contributions on offer Eric Bibb's gentle and sensitive "Just Like a Woman" is a stone success and would provide a real high water mark within any context. Bibb's emotional but understated vocal and stark arrangement successfully capture the original's sense of loss and regret. Almost worth the price of admission on it's own, it's a joy from beginning to end.
All things considered, "Blues on…" is not as consistent as the similarly thematic Dylan gospel project, the latter providing a lot more by way of fresh perspective and, at times, revelation via re-interpretation. Nevertheless, it's a good idea that's well executed and suggests that there's plenty of remaining mileage for subsequent volumes.
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