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HomeMusicPopTributesIs it Rolling Bob?: A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan |
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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
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 LOVE THIS ALBUM Jan 02, 2008
IN THE CAR OR ANYWHERE THIS IS THE GREATEST!SOME PEOPLE LOVE DYLANS'S POETRY BUT NOT HIS VOICE(I'M NOT IN THAT CATEGORY)THIS IS FOR YOU!
 We be jammin' and Rollin' Jul 30, 2007
I really enjoy covers of songs I like and these are no exception. An offbeat CD such as this can do nothing but bring a smile to yourself. And, yes, I have Reggae cover CDs of the Beatles and Police that I enjoy just as much!
Fantastic! May 22, 2007
If you like Reggae and you like Dylan, this is just fantastic. There's even a cut at the end featuring Bob himself doing "I and I". Killer track!
Highest recommendation.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Sure sounded like a good idea... Apr 22, 2007
Bob Dylan's work has been adapted to all kinds of musical styles, and you'd think reggae would be a perfect fit, since, like Dylan, it often fuses of the spiritual and the political and both Dylan and many reggae artists have a fondness for lush but not gooey romantic ballads (No Woman No Cry etc).
But this CD really doesn't work for me. I like my reggae rootsy (as far as I'm concerned, Lee Perry is God, or I guess Jah), and this sounds like slick, soulless beer commercial reggae, the kind of thing you'd probably hear at a resort pool party. Producer Doctor Dread has a very unfortunate fondness for smooth jazz sax, cocktail lounge guitar and sacharine flutes. It's all very professional, yes. These are some of the top studio musicians in Jamaica (Sly, Chinna) and they hit all the right notes. But they're just picking up a paycheck. After this session it sounds like they could well have laid down some tracks for a Jamaican Tourist Board spot.
Some of it is okay. Toots is always great, Apple Gabriel has a wonderful molasses-and-ganja voice, Michael Rose makes an interesting choice in The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol and Sizzla turns Subterannean Homesick Blues into a dancehall song, which works surprisingly well (and I don't like dancehall). The cover of Gotta Serve Somebody is pretty good too, partly because it was recorded separately from the rest of the CD so the backing music isn't so cold and efficient. You should probably just cherry-pick these from iTunes.
But even many of the good performances are sabotaged by that awful by-the-numbers studio sound.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
An intruiging melding of styles Nov 10, 2006
Reggae versions of other types of music often compromise both the genre and the original. I don't know whether this album is quite good enough to overcome that limitation to be enjoyed by fans of only reggae or Dylan, but if you are a fan of both, this album is a must.
I found some of the tracks genuinely enjoyable, and while it is very much a reflection of my personal taste, I thought the singers of other tracks rather mangled Dylan's inimmitable delivery. But I find all the tracks a lot of fun and enjoy hearing these different renditions of old Dylan favourites.
So good is this that I'm hanging out for a second volume of 'Is it rolling Bob?'.
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