LEILA FADEL, HOST:

On Could 17, 1966, Bob Dylan performed a live performance in England that went down in historical past. As a substitute of the topical people songs he was recognized for, he introduced an electrical guitar and a band. And so they performed loud.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BOB DYLAN: (Singing) As soon as upon a time, you dressed so positive, threw the bums a dime in your prime, did not you?

FADEL: Now, the folkies within the crowd weren’t completely satisfied. One famously yelled out, Judas. However the present marked a shift in Dylan’s profession and the arc of common music. Now singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, higher often called Cat Energy, has issued a song-by-song recreation of this legendary live performance. Will Hermes has this overview.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SHE BELONGS TO ME”)

CAT POWER: (Singing) She’s acquired every thing she wants. She’s an artist. She do not look again.

WILL HERMES, BYLINE: Although it was recorded in Manchester, the well-known bootleg of that Bob Dylan present was incorrectly titled “The Royal Albert Corridor Live performance.” Chan Marshall as soon as known as Dylan’s catalogue the Mount Everest of songwriting. So when supplied the prospect to carry out at London’s fabled Royal Albert Corridor, she impulsively agreed, with the caveat that she’d play all Dylan songs in a sly nod to the well-known bootleg. The dwell album that resulted from her efficiency may look like a ginormous act of hubris however to not me. Marshall is each a superb songwriter and track interpreter, now with 4 full-length albums of canopy songs. She’s one in all our Billie Holidays, Frank Sinatras, Nina Simones, a singer who uncovers new meanings and recent feelings in basic songs.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IT’S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE”)

CAT POWER: (Singing) Yonder stands your orphan along with his gun, crying like a fireplace within the solar. Look out. The saints are coming via. And it is throughout now, Child Blue.

HERMES: After all, Bob Dylan started his profession singing different individuals’s songs. He nonetheless does it. And lots of the biggest recordings of Dylan songs are by different artists. Suppose Jimi Hendrix’s “All Alongside The Watchtower.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER”)

JIMI HENDRIX: (Singing) There have to be some sort of means out of right here, mentioned the joker to the thief.

HERMES: And The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MR. TAMBOURINE MAN”)

THE BYRDS: (Singing) Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a track for me.

HERMES: Chan Marshall covers that one, too, unpacking the lonely restlessness of Dylan’s model with one which’s sultry and a bit bit flirty.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MR. TAMBOURINE MAN”)

CAT POWER: (Singing) Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a track for me. Within the jingle jangle morning, I will come following you.

HERMES: “Cat Energy Sings Dylan” is, in a way, a kind of drag present, demonstrating what Shakespeare knew – how artists can reveal truths about gender and romance via cross-dressing. The album can also be a mash observe to a fellow singer-songwriter and a torch passing to one in all our nice torch singers.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LIKE A ROLLING STONE”)

CAT POWER: (Singing) As soon as upon a time, you dressed so positive, threw the bums a dime in your prime, did not you?

FADEL: Cat Energy Sings Dylan: The Royal Albert Corridor Live performance” is on the market on Domino Data. Critic Will Hermes is creator of the brand new biography “Lou Reed: The King of New York.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LIKE A ROLLING STONE”)

CAT POWER: (Singing) You used…

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