Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International | |
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Compilation album by | |
Released | January 24, 2012 (USA & Canada) February 6, 2012 (Rest of the World) |
Genre | Rock, pop, folk, country, punk, blues, jazz, alt-rock |
Length | 5 hr 21 min |
Label | Amnesty International distributed by Fontana |
Producer | Jeff Ayeroff, Julie Yannatta. (Executive Producers) Helen Garrett, Karen Scott (Executive Producers for Amnesty International) Martin Lewis (Contributing Producer) |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Rolling Stone | [2] |
Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International is a charity compilation album featuring new recordings of compositions by Bob Dylan by multiple artists, released on January 24, 2012. [3] Proceeds from the album were donated to the human rights organization Amnesty International. [4] It debuted in the U.S. at number 11 on the Billboard 200 with 22,000 copies sold while the 2-CD version available at Starbucks debuted at number 38 with more than 10,200 copies sold. [5]
Featured artists include Diana Krall, Johnny Cash, Adele, Miley Cyrus, My Chemical Romance, Silversun Pickups, Kesha, The Gaslight Anthem, Pete Townshend, Seal, Jeff Beck, Elvis Costello, Mark Knopfler, Darren Criss, Eric Burdon, Sting, Patti Smith, My Morning Jacket, Pete Seeger, Steve Earle and Rise Against.
The 4-disc CD version of the album features 73 tracks - with a further 3 tracks available on a digital-only basis - making for a total of 76 tracks. Among the 76 recordings is Bob Dylan's original 1964 recording of the title track. Of the other 75 tracks, 69 were brand-new studio recordings purpose-made for the album. The other 6 tracks were recent live performances recorded for other purposes by the artists and subsequently donated for inclusion on the album.
All tracks are written by Bob Dylan as sole composer - with four exceptions: Two songs co-written by Dylan, one title an arrangement by Dylan of a traditional song and one title a traditional song arranged by a fellow folksinger. All four exceptions are noted after the pertinent song title
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "When the Ship Comes In" (released on The Times They Are a-Changin' ; 1964) | Outernational | 3:27 |
2. | "Song to Woody" (released on Bob Dylan ; 1962) | Silverstein | 2:12 |
3. | "Man in the Long Black Coat" (released on Oh Mercy ; 1989) | Daniel Bedingfield | 2:27 |
Of the 69 new studio recordings, Amnesty made music videos for 16 tracks.
5 of the artists who recorded tracks made promotional appearances on US or UK TV shows performing their contribution to the album:
Amnesty created "making-of" mini-documentaries about the recording of 9 of the 69 new studio tracks.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963, by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
"Chimes of Freedom" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Tom Wilson produced 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. The song depicts the thoughts and feelings of the singer and his companion as they shelter from a lightning storm under a doorway after sunset. The singer expresses his solidarity with the downtrodden and oppressed, believing that the thunder is tolling in sympathy for them.
"People Get Ready" is a 1965 single by the Impressions, and the title track from the People Get Ready album. The single is the group's best-known hit, reaching number three on the Billboard R&B chart and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition that displayed the growing sense of social and political awareness in his writing.
John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick is an American keyboardist and vocalist. He is best known for his work with the rock band the Who and associations with others including Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roger Waters, Free and Crawler. Bundrick is noted as the principal musician for the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the mid-1970s, he was a member of the short-lived group Mallard, formed by ex-members of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. He is also known as a composer and has recorded solo albums. He was also a member of the Texas group Blackwell, who had a hit single in 1969 entitled "Wonderful".
Chimes of Freedom is a live EP by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was released in 1988 to support the multi-artist Human Rights Now! Tour in benefit of Amnesty International. This tour was announced near the end of a first-set radio broadcast during Springsteen's July 3, 1988, show in Stockholm, Sweden, after which Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom" was performed. The performance of "Chimes of Freedom" on this EP peaked at number 16 on the Mainstream Rock charts in mid-late 1988.
"Ballad of Hollis Brown" is a folk song written by Bob Dylan, released in 1964 on his third album The Times They Are A-Changin'. The song tells the story of a South Dakota farmer who, overwhelmed by the desperation of poverty, kills his wife, children and then himself.
"Corrine, Corrina" is a 12-bar country blues song in the AAB form. "Corrine, Corrina" was first recorded by Bo Carter. However, it was not copyrighted until 1932 by Bo Carter, along with his publishers Mitchell Parish and J. Mayo Williams.
"Bob Dylan's Dream" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1963. It was recorded by Dylan on April 24, 1963, and was released by Columbia Records a month later on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
"Song to Woody" was written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and released on his debut album, Bob Dylan, in 1962. The song conveys Dylan's appreciation of American folk legend Woody Guthrie. The song is one of two original compositions featured on Dylan's debut album. Dylan also rehearsed the song in a country arrangement during sessions for Self Portrait on May 1, 1970, as heard on the 2021 compilation album 1970.
"Girl from the North Country" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in April 1963, and released the following month as the second track on Dylan's second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash in February 1969. That recording became the opening track on Nashville Skyline, Dylan's ninth studio album.
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.
Great White Wonder, or GWW, is a rock bootleg album, released in July 1969, containing unofficially released recordings by Bob Dylan. It is the first notable rock bootleg, and specifically the first release from bootleg record label Trademark of Quality. Seven of the twenty-four tracks presented here were recorded with The Band in the summer of 1967 in West Saugerties, New York, during the informal sessions that were later released in a more complete form in Dylan's 1975 album The Basement Tapes. Much of the other material consists of a recording made in December 1961 in a Minnesota hotel room, studio outtakes from several of Dylan's albums, and a live performance on The Johnny Cash Show. It was the first time that these previously unreleased recordings came to the market; many more would be released in similar formats over the coming years, though most were single albums, not double albums like this record.
"The Bells of Rhymney" is a song by the folk singer Pete Seeger, which consists of Seeger's own music accompanying words written by the Welsh poet Idris Davies. Seeger first released a recording of the song on a live album in 1958, but it is the American folk rock band the Byrds' 1965 recording that is the best known version of the song.
"Breakout" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus. It was released on her second album of the same name as its opening track. The track was originally recorded by American singer Katy Perry as a demo track for her album One of the Boys but due to not being included in the album, the song was passed on to Cyrus. "Breakout" is a pop rock song whose instrumentation includes keyboard, guitar, and drums while lyrics discuss growing up and being carefree.
"I'd Have You Anytime" is a song written by George Harrison and Bob Dylan, released in 1970 as the opening track of Harrison's first post-Beatles solo album, All Things Must Pass. The pair wrote the song at Dylan's home in Bearsville, near Woodstock in upstate New York, in November 1968. Its creation occurred during a period when Harrison had outgrown his role in the Beatles and Dylan had withdrawn from the pressures of fame to raise a family. "I'd Have You Anytime" is recognised as a statement of friendship between the two musicians, whose meetings from 1964 onwards resulted in changes in musical direction for both Dylan and the Beatles. The song reflects the environment in which it was written, as Harrison's verses urge the shy and elusive Dylan to let down his guard, and the Dylan-composed choruses respond with a message of welcome.
We Shall Overcome is a 1963 album by Pete Seeger. It was recorded live at his concert at Carnegie Hall, New York City, on June 8, 1963, and was released by Columbia Records.
"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" is a song by Bob Dylan. Recorded in September 1974, it appeared as the fifth track on Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks, released in January 1975.
Every Mother Counts 2012 is the second compilation album in Starbucks' annual series, released by Hear Music on May 1, 2012. Featuring thirteen previously unavailable tracks, the album was sold exclusively at Starbucks locations and benefited Christy Turlington's Every Mother Counts foundation, which seeks to increase childbirth safety for mothers. The compilation received a positive critical reception.
Paul Santo is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and sound recording engineer. He is best known in the music industry for his work in the recording studio, collaborating with multi-platinum recording artists such as Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Kid Rock, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Ringo Starr, and Ozzy Osbourne.