Discovery and rediscovery are considered parallels, but Bob Dylan and the work on Shadows in the Night begin to blur the two together. Similar in tone to Fallen Angels but soothing in its immediacy, this creative display of new perspectives on old classics is just what Dylan needed before he embarked on Triplicate. He discovers that self-doubt that kept him fiery and crashes through with the songs that Frank Sinatra infamously covered. Distinctions are made, influence is clear, and most of all, Shadows in the Night provides another collection of American classics and soulful, bluesy standards for Dylan to work over, to nail his production under the Jack Frost moniker, and to rediscover that burning passion for the songs of his youth.
Noir aesthetics, the smoky cowls and the pinstripe suits of the era are rediscovered. Dylan makes it clear that discovery and rediscovery are bedfellows. Stay With Me still has the raw beauty of those other covers, but stripped back to its swooning beauty under Dylan’s impressive twilight years presence and the vocal changes now at his hand give this track, like many, new meaning. Reflection is the lock and Dylan’s voice is the key. Shadows in the Night comes with great consistency to the vocal presence Dylan gives each track. Wandering through classic tracks, rarely a stumble throughout. I’m A Fool To Want You has that emotional security to it, a perfect opener that leads onto The Night We Called It A Day, a performance from Dylan so clearly inspired by the noir features of Humphrey Bogart.
Looking back on that era with interpretations similar to the lyrics but unique in where they stand is what brings discovery and rediscovery together here. It is not the grasp Dylan and the additional musicians that bring out those secure, horn and percussion tones, but the understanding Dylan has of the original intention of the writing. Some Enchanting Evening flows softly as Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers had intended. Autumn Leaves leaps through from French original to English translation and here through Dylan’s fine form. Charlie Sexton’s intimate guitar flourishes are felt once more, another successful collaboration for him and Dylan. These classics manage a consistent tone and while some do lack the variety often necessary for a covers album, the vocal strength and comfortable listen Shadows in the Night creates make it hard to pick too many holes in.
In a Capitol vault somewhere are the remaining twelve tracks Dylan and company recorded but never released for Shadows in the Night. As reflective as The Bootleg Series gets, it is high time these American standards and the uncovering of them are turned over again. Another page from the deep annals of the American songbook, and for Dylan to turn them over again and again as though it was his own material shares the intimacy between the artist and influential tracks. Every creative has them, Dylan is one of the few that goes out of his way to show why they influenced him, and what he can bring to him through learning from the context, and the passage of time. Rediscovery is helmed by those that will discover these beautiful tracks, the lush finisher That Lucky Old Son for instance, for the first time.
