I’m Not There: Music from the Motion Picture

I’m not usually the one to rave over soundtracks to movies, but this one has to have some glimmer of amazing-ness: a movie using Bob Dylan as a metaphor, while apparently not being autobiographical, has only one song actually by the guy the movie’s about anyway. And an added bonus: Of all the many different playing Dylan in the same film, the only one of them who looks anything like the real thing is Cate Blanchett, famous for playing Queen Elizabeth in that one movie.

Nevertheless, there’s something that puts you in a great mood in hearing Eddie Vedder yell out “All Along the Watchtower” with Wilco’s Nels Cline (as a part of the Million Dollar Bashers, a continuous presence on the record) spinning Hendrix-rivaling solos nonstop. Or letting Craig Finn and the Hold Steady slurr out “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” with an extra side of Springsteen.  Or letting Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy go solo on “A Simple Twist of Fate”, where you can finally notice the similarities with Dylan and his voices. And even Karen O, someone who Iíve still got a bit of a grudge against for sucking so much at last year’s Download Festival, sounds great with her art-metal screech over “Highway 61 Revisited.”

And those are just the highlights by artists I’ve been previously aware of. Mark Lanegan’s rendition of “Man In the Long Black Coat” is dark and moody and epic on many levels. Stephan Malkmus’s “Ballad of a Thin Man” is an air-keyboard marathon.

Calexico, the Million Dollar Bashers, and Stephen Malkmus have continuous appearances throughout, and they fail to disappoint on many or most of their slots.

There are some weaker points on the record, like Yo La Tengo’s freak-fuck-up “Fourth Time Around,” and Marcus Carl Franklin’s boring cut of “When the Ship Comes In”, Anthony & The Johnsons completely butcher “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and there are a few other skippable portions, but for the most part itís a solid CD.

This being the second Dylan Covers album does take some of the effect off the thing, but that doesn’t mean that itís not fun to hear. When the artist who’s playing the song knows what they’re doing, everything goes well, even if you didnít expect it would.

Listen here

Words by Evan Greenwald