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Various Artists, “Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes”
(Electromagnetic Recordings/Harvest Records)
The bottomless well of material from Bob Dylan just got deeper with the release of “Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes,” an unqualified success.
The 20 songs with titles like “Card Shark” and “Duncan and Jimmy” are taken from recently discovered lyrics Dylan wrote in 1967, during the period that produced the so-called Basement Tapes recordings that were released in their entirety in a separate box set earlier in November.
Such luminaries as Elvis Costello, Jim James from My Morning Jacket, and Marcus Mumford worked out musical arrangements from the lyrics that Dylan either never recorded, or perhaps recorded and never released. Former Dylan band member and producer T Bone Burnett, who also pulled together the “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack among many other projects, oversaw the work and makes it all flow seamlessly.
“Down On The Bottom,” the James-led opener, is a standout, as is “When I Get My Hands On You,” with Mumford taking lead vocals.
The artists create something entirely new with lyrics written nearly 45 years ago that sound like they could just as easily have come from the Civil War, Dust Bowl or yesterday.
In other words, it’s timeless.
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