Your Weekly Dylan Cover [#24]

"Spanish Harlem Incident"
Yonder Mountain String Band
Original Dylan version found on Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

This week's selection is relatively new and certainly obscure. But that doesn't mean it's not good.

The four-piece bluegrass group Yonder Mountain String Band is based out of Colorado. Their sound is a little more agressive than the original American traditional mountain sounds that originated in Appalachia. But YMSB certainly knows their roots, and it shows on this cover of Dylan's "Spanish Harlem Incident."

Bob Dylan's original recording is basically an urban blues about an immediate attraction to a woman that the narrator glimpses on a (presumably Manhattan, given the title) street. The lyric is beautifully layered and poetic in its transference to the reader of the hard to describe feeling that occurs when a total stranger can strike one's fancy in a strong, almost obsessive way.

This particular YMSB live performance is taken from an appearance this past summer at the 2010 9th Annual Northwest String Summit in North Plains, Oregon. No doubt Dylan would be pleased, given his open admiration of American music legend Bill Monroe: the band here uses Monroe's familiar rhythmic cadence while guitarist Adam Aijala takes the lead vocal and matches the melody with the feverish words provided by Dylan.

Original Listening: Bob Dylan, "Spanish Harlem Incident" (Another Side of Bob Dylan, 1964)

Another Cover: The Byrds, "Spanish Harlem Incident" (Mr. Tambourine Man, 1965)

Still Another Cover: Dion, "Spanish Harlem Incident" (The Return of The Wanderer, 1978)

In Search of News

The talented but troubled music critic Robert Palmer was recently profiled in the New York Times. His estranged daughter has produced a documentary of her late father's travels in search of the muse and writer Anthony DeCurtis has edited a compilation of Palmer's essays.

The Guardian reviews the London Jazz Festival, headlined by the saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins. Even if you are not a jazz fan, treat yourself to Rollins' virtuosity by listening to the Rolling Stones' "Waiting On A Friend."

Paste picks the ten best movie soundtracks of the decade.

Speaking of the cinema, the end of the year means the push for the Oscars is about to begin. Potential soundtrack entries are no exception. Stereogum provides streaming audio of U2's "Winter" from Jim Sheridan's upcoming film Brothers as well as a couple of tunes by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis featured in the adaption of the Cormac McCarthy novel The Road.

The so-called "Never Ending Tour" of Bob Dylan wrapped up its latest chapter with multiple nights in, fittingly enough, New York City. TNOP thought the review from Roger Catlin at the Hartford Courant was interesting, particularly his discussion of the atmosphere created during Dylan's set and the words devoted to his under appreciated opening act, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dion DiMucci.

And happy birthday to Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Tom-Tom Club fame. Celebrate by dancing without inhibition to "Genius of Love."