To dig up a cover is not enough. Bob Dylan knew that well before he tackled Shadows in the Night. He has provided his voice to the greats of the past plenty of times before, a bulk of his self-titled debut is made up of the songs which still inspire him. These cover works have gone from necessity to comfort and back again, and nowhere is it clearer than in the live performances of Shadows in the Night, a brooding collection of pop standards. But there is a degree of separation, thanks to these being popularised by Frank Sinatra. An unofficial compilation of those classics remastered by Dylan, live on stage, is quite the experience. Goosebumps appear pretty fast when those crooner tones are taken on board by the legendary songwriter lending his voice to the likes of I’m a Fool to Want You.
Sinatra may claim popular ownership of these songs and the meaning behind them but other artists and their versions should not be snubbed. Without the studio mixing Dylan provided Shadows in the Night, stripped bare and thrown onto the stage with a competent, blistering set of musicians who understand the slower tone and form of these drawls, there is a barren beauty. Something like The Night We Called It a Day is reliant on just an instrument or two to keep the silence at bay. Respectful audiences are the key to this – those wanting to get an earful of those croaked yet confident tones from Dylan. It works as well as it did on the album, if not better. What makes Shadows in the Night: Live such a marvellous listen is that quiet. Those moments of silence. Dylan has played to boisterous crowds before but a decade on from these performances and the clarity is the most striking part.
Autumn Leaves has the more obvious traces of Sinatra to them, such is the case for a stage presence which lasts long after his death. Dylan does not go about replicating the legendary crooner, to do so is futile. He admitted as much in press comments on the album, the act of digging and covering are very different. Dylan opts to mould the songs to his voice, not his voice to the songs. Few are doing so, even now. Geordie Greep did it with his The New Sound album closer, If You Are But a Dream, but the likes of Tony Bennett would stick to a standard expected of the traditional pop classics. Not Dylan. He gives them a fresh spin and, whether that comes in a subtle, stretched instrumental or a cool vocal arrangement, is the gift that keeps on giving.
Head into Shadows in the Night: Live and expect a surprisingly ambitious series of songs that, despite being from shows across the globe, slot together incredibly. Maintaining the order of the album but being ripped from performances in Tokyo, Stockholm and London, only adds to the charm. Pieces like Full Moon and unofficial compilation closer That Lucky Old Sun may sound instrumentally similar to the rest of these pieces but such is the consistency necessary to carry covers of songs where the singer so closely tied to them is still, and always will be, the preferred option. Dylan used these cover albums as a chance to work on his understanding of the studio ahead of Rough and Rowdy Ways, but that does not mean a live demonstration was unnecessary. Shadows in the Night: Live, is, frankly, spectacular. Tender moments from a voice which is more than capable of carrying these classics.
