| Odetta Sings Dylan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1965 [1] [2] | |||
| Studio | RCA Victor Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | Folk, blues, acoustic, covers | |||
| Length | 52:27 (LP) 59:02 (CD) | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer | Jack Somer | |||
| Odetta chronology | ||||
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Odetta Sings Dylan is an album by American folk singer Odetta, issued by RCA Victor in 1965. [3] [4] It consists of covers of Bob Dylan songs. [5]
Odetta was a civil rights activist. [6] Although she grew up in the city, she described black folk music and spirituals as "liberation songs" and used this music to "do my teaching and preaching, my propagandizing." Both Odetta and Bob Dylan sang at the 1963 Civil Rights March in Washington DC.
When this album was recorded, Bob Dylan was only just turning away from his protest singer phase and had not yet released music done with electric instruments. His songs "Blowin' in the Wind" (which Odetta had recorded earlier) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" were still anthems of the civil rights movement, and "With God on Our Side" and "Masters of War" are longer, bitter anti-war songs.
Yet Odetta also made sure to include love songs, and other not obviously political tracks written by Bob Dylan, transformed by her powerful voice. In addition to a number of well-known Dylan compositions, a couple of fairly obscure songs were included, including "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You".
This album was re-released on CD in the UK by RCA Records in 2000. "Blowin' in the Wind" (which first appeared on Odetta Sings Folk Songs , 1963) and "Paths of Victory" ( Odetta Sings of Many Things , 1964) were added as bonus tracks.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Record Mirror |  [8] |
In his review for AllMusic, critic Richie Unterberger wrote of the album, "other than an obscure 1964 album by Linda Mason, it was the very first album of Dylan covers. And in part it was because, unlike most of the artists who would take a swing at the concept, Odetta was actually a major folk musician, one who had done much to inspire Dylan himself. But most of all, it was because the arrangements were excellent." [7]
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds—several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend the sounds of rock with their pre-existing folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music.
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple compilation albums. It has been translated into other languages and has been used or referenced in television shows, films, and books.
Beach Boys' Party! is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, and their third in 1965, consisting mostly of cover songs played with acoustic instruments. It reached No. 6 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. The album spawned one single, a cover of the Regents' "Barbara Ann", which reached No. 2 in the US and No. 3 in the UK, and was their highest-charting British single to that point.
"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.
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released on June 21, 1965, by Columbia Records. The album is characterized by the Byrds' signature sound of Jim McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and the band's complex harmony singing. The material on the album mostly consists of cover versions of folk songs, primarily composed by Bob Dylan, and originals written or co-written by singer Gene Clark. Along with the Dylan-penned single of the same name, Mr. Tambourine Man established the band as an internationally successful act and is widely regarded by critics as representing the first effective American challenge to the chart dominance of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s.
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits is a 1967 compilation album of songs by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Released on March 27, 1967, by Columbia Records, it was a stopgap between Dylan's studio albums Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding, during which time he had retreated from the public eye to recover from a motorcycle accident. It was Dylan's first compilation, containing every Top 40 single Dylan had up to 1967, plus additional album tracks which had become popular singles as recorded by other artists. It peaked at No. 10 on the pop album chart in the United States, and went to No. 3 on the album chart in the United Kingdom. Certified five times platinum by the RIAA, it is his best-selling album in the U.S.
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan is a 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his "retirement" from touring following his motorcycle accident in July 1966. This period encapsulates Dylan's rise to fame as a folk singer and songwriter where he became the center of a cultural and musical upheaval, and continues through the electric controversy surrounding his move to a rock style of music.
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and as the b-side of the Blowin' in the Wind single. The song was covered by several other artists, including Peter, Paul and Mary who released it as a single which reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Bruce Langhorne was an American folk musician. He was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, primarily as a session guitarist for folk albums and performances.
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By 1965, Bob Dylan was the leading songwriter of the American folk music revival. The response to his albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin' led the media to label him the "spokesman of a generation".
Odetta Sings of Many Things is an album by American folk singer Odetta, issued by RCA Victor in 1964.
Odetta Sings Folk Songs is a studio album by American folk singer Odetta, released on the RCA Victor label in September 1963. The album peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts.
Masters of War is the eighth and final studio album by American hard rock band Mountain, released in 2007. The album consists entirely of Bob Dylan covers.
Hollies Sing Dylan is a 1969 cover album featuring songs written by Bob Dylan and performed by the Hollies. It is their eighth UK album. It was also released in the US as Words and Music by Bob Dylan with a different cover but using the same band image and track order. First released on compact disc in West Germany in the late 1980s, it was not released in that format in the rest of Europe until 1993. For this issue, two bonus tracks, the single version of "Blowin' in the Wind" and a live version of "The Times They Are a-Changin'". A later remastered issue in 1999 added a third bonus track, a live version of "Blowin' in the Wind".
Gil Turner was an American folk singer-songwriter, magazine editor, Shakespearean actor, political activist, and for a time, a lay Baptist preacher. Turner was a prominent figure in the Greenwich Village scene of the early 1960s, where he was master of ceremonies at New York City's leading folk music venue, Gerde's Folk City, as well as co-editor of the protest song magazine Broadside. He also wrote for Sing Out!, the quarterly folk music journal.
Richard S. Campbell, was a US folk rock singer-songwriter and film producer. He is best known for his 1966 album Dick Campbell Sings Where It's At, rated as "the sole masterpiece of the fake-Dylan field"
"Here Without You" is a song written by Gene Clark that was first performed on the Byrds' 1965 debut album Mr. Tambourine Man. It was later covered by other artists, including Reigning Sound and Richard Thompson.
A World of Our Own is the fourth studio album by the Australian group The Seekers. The album was released in 1965. In some countries, the album was titled The Seekers. The album peaked at number 19 in the Billboard 200 and number 5 in the United Kingdom.
