Various Artists - How Many Roads - Black America Sings Bob Dylan (2010) Ace + Booklet - Soul/R&B - (FLAC)

Seeing as bob dylans material is popular with you guys ive done some digging in the old collection and found a couple of goodies for you. Heres the first one with not a dud track in sight!..As i mentioned before in the review of the brothers and sisters amazing album,i acknowledge the man is an awesome writer but singing wise any artist from this album blows him away, IMHO but were all different regarding taste....No argument from me that his compositions have provided a prime source of repertoire for hundreds, even thousands, of recording artists for 60 plus years, and his catalogue continues to be regularly revised and revisited in all genres of music.Spanning more than two decades of dylan compositions, “How Many Roads” offers 20 first-rate examples of how well his songs have lent themselves to being remade & remodelled by high profile names in black American music. Few of his peers have had their catalogues visited as regularly by black singers and musicians. Only John Lennon and Paul McCartney come close in terms of breadth of catalogue and number of covers. Black America was very quick to wake up to the potential of dylan compositions for a source of inspiration. Early fans included the Staple Singers, who cut no less than three songs from his breakthrough album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and can be heard here on a stellar version of ‘Masters Of War’. Sam Cooke was inspired to write his masterpiece ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ after hearing Dylan sing ‘Blowing In The Wind’ on TV and wondering why no black songwriter had come up with anything that spoke so eloquently of the need for racial equality as the song’s opening line, “How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man?” That song is heard here in a compelling 1968 rendition by legendary memphis soulman O.V. Wright, one of more than 30 black American artists who recorded it within five years of dylan’s version according to my research.This set includes some of dylan’s favourite recordings of his songs and the CD was actually endorsed by the man.  My own favourite tracks are in the tasters. There’s plenty of superbly soulful singing to be savoured, on some of the finest songs that will ever be written by anyone, anytime. i cant say more than that!

AMM

 

                                                                       The Tasters!