Masked and Anonymous remains a mystifying film. It appropriates not its leading man but his ideas, his skilful ability and obvious desire to blend in with the crowd. But Bob Dylan cannot do that as easily as he used to. There is demand for him, now. Masked and Anonymous may hear the legendary songwriter slip between the cracks as he hands off his works to the likes of Shirley Caesar and the late Jerry Garcia, but his touch and flourish is an inevitability. A necessity of his sound and there is no clearer moment for it on Masked and Anonymous than his first track, Down in the Flood. Adept covers of Dylan are found wherever you listen to music, be it in the street or on a streaming platform. He is universal. Masked and Anonymous does not forget that. Any cover worth its weight relies on conviction. It happens here.
For Magokoro Brothers and Caesar, My Back Pages and Gotta Serve Somebody are ample material. Suitable to their voices and style. It makes for a neat break and, especially Caesar, gets a grasp of the emotional confidence needed in carrying material from Slow Train Coming. A bit of pa reamble before the song feels like an introduction, there is a definite necessity to this. There is a build to what is to come, and the soulful voice Caesar has makes all the difference. A slight throatiness to it, but a rich and constant force to be reckoned with. Masked and Anonymous is filled with artists doing the Dylan lyrics justice. They also pull at the instrumental threads of his best works, with Grateful Dead organising a hearty and justifiable cover of It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. Do not forget the swagger and instrumental grace of Down in the Flood slotted in there, though. Dylan appears occasionally on this compilation of covers used during Masked and Anonymous, mostly to slip a cover in, too.
Diamond Joe is a neat addition. A roaring continuation of Masked and Anonymous’ purpose as a soundtrack piece. Perfect words remain as much in the hands of those who care. It is why Dylan manages to maintain an effective and warm form on Dixie and Cold Iron Bounds, and how Sertab Erener makes One More Cup of Coffee such an engaged piece of work. Masked and Anonymous is filled with those moments – occasions where a celebration not just of Dylan but of strong writing, be it from the banjo plucking or the intensity of translation from Articolo 31 with Like a Rolling Stone, can be found. These are the questionable covers that, to their credit, are trying to find a route through, some new passion or interest in a career filled with those very same moments.
Masked and Anonymous hopes to keep the shroud around Dylan going, the beating heart of his music still based on the intrigue of who he is and what he does. Jerry Garcia and Francesco De Gregori are neat additions to this compilation, but ultimately it is for the hardened Dylan fan. What you can get from this is what you cannot get from the originals. Bold, left-field turns from those who are moved by words Dylan wrote decades before Masked and Anonymous released. It marks an interesting listen for those who are so well-versed with the prior sounds from Dylan, that they find themselves desperate for a new route to the core of the song. Nothing wrong with that, and Masked and Anonymous is certainly a strong place to continue that trip.
