Bob Dylan's 80th Birthday Bash & Bob Dylan Covered Shows # 884, 883 & 882

On May 24th, 2021 Bob Dylan turned eighty years old. To celebrate this Revolution Rock did two shows focusing on the music of Bob Dylan. One episode focused on selections from Dylan’s vast discography and one show focused on cover song versions of Bob Dylan’s music.  Dylan has 39 studio albums to date, not counting compilation albums, live albums, singles, box sets and his Bootleg Series. You can find selections from some of these releases in the May 22nd episode of Revolution Rock. The show on May 29th shows his vast influences across different decades and genres. 

Here are some quotes from previous articles written for this website from the past and present:

In the span fourteen of months from January 1965 to roughly February 1966, Bob Dylan made a transition from the folk music scene that he was a part of starting in Greenwich Village into the wild spontaneous world of rock music. Already able to fill Carnegie Hall, Dylan looked for something new and did not want to be labeled as a protest songwriter. It is also fitting that his first album where he would experiment with what he would eventually call his “wild mercury sound” was produced by Tom Wilson. Wilson produced the three acoustic Dylan albums that preceded Bringing It All Back Home (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), The Times They Are A Changin’ (1964) and Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964)) and Wilson would assist in bringing Dylan’s electric sound to a new audience. 

In 2014, The Basement Tapes Complete were released as part of Bob Dylan’s bootleg series. This set took us through Dylan’s next phase of music following his “Dylan goes electric” era. Those songs reached out to Dylan’s roots exploring folk music, roots rock and country, which led to the sounds that would produce both Music From Big Pink by The Band and 1967’s stripped down John Wesley Harding. The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 rewinds the tape, going back to the time before any of that occurred. We see Dylan searching for a sound through rock music, which would put him in the public eye. The Cutting Edge shows the listener what it would be like to be a fly on the studio wall as Bob Dylan and a series of musicians create three very different highly influential albums that brought in a rock & roll sound with a new kind of lyric.

Blood On The Tracks is an album where the songs take on a literate, complex narrative, but also shows a more personalized Bob Dylan, whether it is autobiographical or not, shedding his emotional turmoil and heartbreak. With the recently released Bootleg Series Volume 14: More Blood, More Tracks, we see glimpses into the creative process and a devotion to these songs that came at a time in Dylan’s career when people thought they had him figured out. The lyrics on this album are delivered in a raw, unapologetic, unnerving fashion. Dylan rearranges the concepts of time within the context of the songs on this album, challenging song conventions and his approach to lyrics that are different from what he had done before. As the listener makes their way through the album’s ten tracks, the pains of break ups, their aftermath and emotional baggage that come along with them, we see that these are tracks we all must cross at some point. But, sometimes certain feelings are not so easy to leave behind.

What’s left to say about Rough and Rowdy Ways? The bard’s 39th studio album was met with glowing praise on its release, with dozens of articles acclaiming the Protean-songwriter’s return to original material after a clunky series of covers-records. Like the other great late-era Dylan albums (think Time Out of Mind and Love & Theft), the legend hoarsely intones his elliptical poetry over sympathetic bare-bones blues arrangements. However, what stands out about the record is the quality of Dylan’s songwriting. His acerbic verse describes encounters with the spectre of death in “Black Rider,” the Pygmalion-cum-Frankenstein creation of an idealized lover in “My Very Own Version of You,” and describes passing into old age as a tumultuous sea-voyage on “Crossing the Rubicon.” It also features the best up-tempo numbers to come from Dylan in over a decade, such as in the bluesy “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” or the hard-hitting satire of “False Prophet.” Then there is “Murder Most Foul,” the epic seventeen minute piano ballad about the assassination of JFK which landed Dylan his first ever number one single. Though just shy of eighty, Rough and Rowdy Ways proves that Dylan has lost no steam and is still capable of producing some of the most profound and moving music of his storied career.

Find the Bob Dylan & Bob Dylan Covered playlists/episodes below.

Show 884 Bob Dylan Covered Playlist (Originally Aired On May 29th, 2021):

1. Beck - Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat (War Child Presents Heroes Vol 1 - Parlophone - 2009)
2. Queens of the Stone Age - Outlaw Blues (Chimes of Freedom: The Song of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International - Fontana - 2012)
3. White Stripes - One More Cup Of Coffee (White Stripes - Sympathy For The Record Industry - 1999)
4. 13th Floor Elevators – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Easter Everywhere - International Artists - 1967) 
5. R.L. Burnside – Everything is Broken (Tangled Up in Blues: Songs of Bob Dylan - House of Blues - 1999) 
6. Julie Dorion – On the Road Again (Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute - Reimagine Music - 2010) 
7. Lee Renaldo - Visions of Johanna (Outlaw Blues Volume Two - Imaginary Records - 1993) 
8. Patti Smith –Drifters Escape (Chimes of Freedom: The Song of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International - Fontana - 2012)
9. Cowboy Junkies – If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Rarities, B-Sides, and Slow, Sad Waltzes - True North/Latent - 1999)
10. The Byrds - You Ain’t Going Nowhere (Sweetheart of the Rodeo - Columbia Records - 1968)
11. Neil Young & The Sadies - This Wheel’s On Fire (Garth Hudson Presents A Canadian Celebration of The Band - Curve Music/Sony Music - 2010)
12. Neko Case - Buckets of Rain (Live From Austin, TX - Austin City Limits 2007)
13. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Neighborhood Bully (Do (What Could Have Been) Infidels By Bob Dylan & The Plugz - 2020)
14. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - License to Kill (Do (What Could Have Been) Infidels By Bob Dylan & The Plugz - 2020)
15. Daniel Romano – Jokerman (Do (What Could Have Been) Infidels By Bob Dylan & The Plugz - 2020)
16. Richard Hell & the Voidoids – Going, Going, Gone (Destiny Street - Red Star - 1982/Omnivore Recordings - 2021) 
17. Ramones – My Back Pages (Acid Eaters - Radioactive - 1993) 
18. The Headstones – Tweeter and the Monkey Man (Picture of Health - MCA - 1993) 
19. PJ Harvey – Highway 61 Revisited (Rid of Me - Island - 1993) 
20. David Lynch - The Ballad of Hollis Brown (The Big Dream - Sacred Bones/Sunday Best -  2013)
21. The Clash - The Man In Me (Vanilla Tapes) (London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition - Epic - 2004)
22. Devo (as Dove) - Gotta Serve Somebody (Live 1980)(Recombo DNA -  Rhino - 2000)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the May 29 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 883 Bob Dylan 80th Birthday Bash Playlist (Originally Aired On May 22nd, 2021):

1.  Bob Dylan - Mixed Up Confusion (Biograph - Columbia Records - 1985)
2.  Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Demo) (No Direction Home: The Soundtrack:  Bootleg Series Vol 5 - Columbia Records - 2005)
3.  Bob Dylan - Black Diamond Bay (Desire - Columbia Records - 1976)
4.  Bob Dylan - When The Ship Comes In (The Times They Are A-Changin' - Columbia Records - 1964)
5.  Bob Dylan - Spanish Harlem Incident (Another Side of Bob Dylan - Columbia Records - 1964)
6.  Bob Dylan - She Belongs To Me (Bringing It All Back Home - Columbia Records - 1965)
7.  Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Highway 61 Revisited - Columbia Records - 1965)
8.  Bob Dylan - I Want You (Blonde On Blonde - Columbia Records - 1966)
9.  Bob Dylan - Dirt Road Blues (Time Out of Mind - Columbia Records - 1997)
10. Bob Dylan - High Water (For Charley Patton) (Love and Theft - Columbia Records - 2001)
11. Bob Dylan - Someday Baby (Modern Times - Columbia Records - 2006)
12. Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong (World Gone Wrong - Columbia Records - 1993)
13. Bob Dylan & The Band - Belshazzar (Bootleg Series Vol 11: The Basement Tapes Complete - Columbia Records - 2014)
14. Bob Dylan & The Band - 900 Miles From My Home (Bootleg Series Vol 11: The Basement Tapes Complete - Columbia Records - 2014)
15. Bob Dylan - The Man In Me (New Morning - Columbia Records - 1970)
16. Bob Dylan & The Band - Medicine Sunday (Take 1) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
17. Bob Dylan & The Band - Jet Pilot (Take 1) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
18. Bob Dylan & The Band - I Wanna Be Your Lover (Take 2) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
19. Bob Dylan - Tombstone Blues (Take 9) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
20. Bob Dylan - As I Went Out One Morning (John Wesley Harding - Columbia Records - 1967)
21. Bob Dylan & The Band - Going, Going, Gone (Planet Waves - Columbia Records - 1974)
22. Bob Dylan & The Band - Lo and Behold (The Basement Tapes - Columbia Records - 1975)
23. Bob Dylan & The Band - Open The Door, Homer (The Basement Tapes - Columbia Records - 1975)
24. Bob Dylan - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go (Blood On The Tracks - Columbia Records - 1975)
25. Bob Dylan & The Band - Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35 (Isle of Wight Live 1969: Another Self Portrait:  Bootleg Series Vol 10 - Columbia Records - 2013)
26. Bob Dylan & The Hawks - Tell Me, Momma (Bob Dylan Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert:  The Bootleg Series Vol 4 - Columbia Records - 1998)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the May 22 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 882 Playlist (Originally Aired On May 15th, 2021)(Kraftwerk, Blue Peter Paul Humphrey tribute, N.E.E.T., The Chills, Bob Dylan):

1.  Kraftwerk - Pocket Calculator
2.  Kraftwerk - Computer Love
3.  Brent Amaker and The Rodeo - Pocket Calculator
4.  Kristian North - Halfway To Heaven
5.  Blue Peter - Same Old Place
6.  Blue Peter - Radio Silence
7.  Blue Peter - Don't Walk Past
8.  N.E.E.T. - Digital
9.  N.E.E.T. - 1969
10. N.E.E.T. - Sunglasses After Dark
11. Iceage - Gold City
12. Rec Centre - The Last Time I Vomited
13. Juliana Hatfield - Mouth Full Of Blood
14. Spencer Krug - River River
15. Born Ruffians - Ring Finger
16. The Leather Uppers - Slow Puke
17. The Dry Heaves - I Can't Puke
18. Vaguess - Cherry-Flavored Chunks
19. Electric Vomit - Boredom Abolishing
20. The Follow Ups - Just For Dave
21. Poison Suckers - Stick Up
22. The Routes - Mesmerised
23. Bob Dylan & The Band - I Threw It All Away (Live)
24. Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Guess Things Happen That Way (Take 3)
25. Bob Dylan - I Went To See The Gypsy (Take 6)
26. Bob Dylan & The Plugz - Don't Start Me Talking
27. Bob Dylan - Romance In Durango (Live)
28. Beams - Born To Win
29. The Chills - Monolith
30. The Chills - Hidden Bay

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the May 15 file to download/stream the episode.