Amazing scenes in the Uncut office last week, when Bob Dylan finally announced Shadows In The Night โ his latest studio album featuring interpretations of Frank Sinatra standards.
Anyone surprised by the news of Dylanโs affection for olโ Blue Eyes would have done well to reach for their copy of Chronicles Volume 1. There, Dylan noted, โI used to play the phenomenal โEbb Tideโ by Frank Sinatra a lot and it never failed to fill me with aweโฆ when Frank sang that song, I could hear everything in his voice โ death, God and the universe, everything.โ
For Shadows In The Night, Dylanโs 36th studio album, he and his band have recorded ten songs popularised by Sinatra during the 1940s. Keen Dylanologists will already know that Dylan previously recorded an unreleased version of Sinatraโs 1967 song โThis Is My Loveโ during the Infidels sessions. He also covered โAll My Tomorrowsโ, from Sinatraโs All The Way album, live in 1986 and delivered a moving version of โRestless Farewellโ at Sinatraโs 80th birthday tribute in 1995. Heโs played โThat Lucky Old Sunโ in 1986 and 2000. More recently, he unveiled his version Sinatraโs 1964 single, โStay With Meโ during his run on shows in December at New Yorkโs Beacon Theatre, a few days before Shadows In The Night was formally announced. The very first episode of Theme Time Radio Hour, broadcast on May 3, 2006, included Sinatraโa โSummer Windโ.
Anyway, itโs all exciting stuff. What I thought might be instructive is to run below Sinatraโs original recordings (plus Dylanโs currently available versions). That way, it might be possible to get a flavour of what we can expect when Shadows In The Night is finally released on February 3, 2015โฆ
โIโm A Fool To Want Youโ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iQhGb2db-Q
โThe Night We Called It A Dayโ
โStay With Meโ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2I1ctqIR2M
โAutumn Leavesโ
โWhy Try To Change Me Nowโ
โSome Enchanted Eveningโ
โFull Moon And Empty Armsโ
โWhere Are You?โ
โWhatโll I Doโ
โThat Lucky Old Sunโ