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We've Got You Covered

Anberlin searches for the rolling stone.

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, MN. Thus far, his life has spanned almost seven decades and has included 32 studio albums, multiple books and two recent films about his life and career. Dylan is possibly the most influential musician in rock and roll history. Musicians have been covering his songs for longer than most, if not all, of our readers have been alive. Even if you don't particularly like Dylan 's music, you have to appreciate how talented and influential the man is. He had two albums in the top ten of Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time, " and twelve of his songs were on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Out of those five hundred songs, his recording of "Like a Rolling Stone" was number one.

The song was written at Woodstock in one day and was originally only a minute and a half long. It took Dylan two days to record the song, and out of almost two dozen separate takes, only one complete take was achieved. It was this take that appeared on his 1965 record Highway 61 Revisited. Jump forward forty years and we have the release of Listen to Bob Dylan: A Tribute. The two-disc album featured covers of Dylan's music by a variety of artists, including the Stay at Home Joneses, the Format, and Anberlin.

Anberlin was signed to Tooth & Nail Records at the time and was no stranger to covering famous songs.Their debut release, Blueprints For the Black Market included a cover of The Cure 's "Love Song. " On Listen to Bob Dylan: A Tribute, they chose the dubious task of covering the greatest song of all time.

The original version is known not just for Dylan's distinct vocals, but also the organ and percussion that rule most of the recording. Anberlin put their own flavor on the tune, replacing the organ with acoustic and electric guitars as well as bringing up the bass line and changing the drums.The lyrics are the same, but for the sake of time a verse was dropped. Vocally, Anberlin 's Stephen Christian is completely different than Bob Dylan. His voice is much clearer and a bit higher, which wouldn't work if Anberlin had chosen to keep the music fairly similar to the original recording, but it does work and very well.

STREAM: Anberlin - Like a Rolling Stone

Posted by Cory Roop on Mar 31, 2008 @ 12:00 am