Triplicate

I think you get what you should expect here. Dylan's voice has always been interesting and not beautiful--beautiful is Sinatra and Striesand. I really didn't understand Dylan until I was over 40 and finally figured out that he is mostly a bard, a story teller. Maybe the guts of his music if you are interested is Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks and Highway 61 Revisited--there is other good music but I would argue that these three are the very best of his work of all time.The music on Trip[licate is good and I hope you have the opportunity to be listening on viny. Dylan once told Rolling Stone that digital was he worst possible way to present music and if the did not say that then that is the urban legend. If you want to hear a beautiful voice do music from the 30s and 40s then buy Harry Nilsson's 1973 album. If you want a gratifying experience then take this album and Niel Young's album Earth, get a tray of different kinds of cheese, crackers cold shrimp or salmon and a bottle of single malt with ice and soda and just sit back. I like to listen and watch college football games with the sound off at the same time. I just listened to this work and watched GA beat TCU (again) in the Liberty Bowl from three months ago. Anyway, if you are a Dylan fan then this is well worth yur time and money to collect.

By returning to Sinatra and Tin Pan Alley Dylan "goes electric" again in a fascinating career of twists and turns, easily trumping the Judas-days this time around since he looms so much larger now. He has embraced with sincerity and passion that which he rejected for most of his life, and has done so with as much art and integrity as he has ever shown us. Don't look back indeed. This is a form of rebelliousness that just oozes with irony: Among his contemporaries only Dylan could pull off the Great American Songbook.Equally as interesting, Dylan revisits his Theme Time Radio era as educator on American music, this time through a supreme act of doing instead of talking and taking those of us who grew up with him on a tour of a chapter in musical history we consciously avoided. And guess what? When these "old chestnuts" are reinterpreted with a more intimate musical ensemble and grittier, more honest vocals they shine bright and clear, fully ready to be considered anew.Croon on you old song and dance man... 5-Stars and 2-Thumbs, WAY UP!

I am a person who grew up with these songs, and as far as vocal versions go, I am a pretty hard critic, and, full disclosure, have had, and still have, aspirations in that area as well. by my standards, and I mean taking what has been done on its own terms, Dylan has neither the vocal command nor the nuance I think he may feel, to sing these songs well. one could say it's the deterioration of his vocal cords due to aging and/or abuse. I, unfortunately, know something about that, but it isn't an issue when he sings Not Dark Yet with the same voice. the band is solid and minimal...giving these urban standards a country treatment works to some extent....but sounds too repetitive. then why do I give it four stars. the packaging and intent are great. it exists as an object of it's own. and I love the fact that Bob did it and did his previous standard songbook ones. it's something intangible which moves me.

I was a bit sceptical at first..Dylan singing old standards? I couldnt imagine how that voice of his would work in that scenario. However, since I've liked all Dylans stuff since 1962 I bought Triplicate.I am pleasantly suprised..he sings the songs with such tenderness and that voice,now it has matured, works beautifully.These are the songs my parents listened to when I was a kid so I'm familiar with them sung by Frank Sinatra etc but they weren't the music I liked. When Dylan sings them they take on a new life and I have listened to these 3 CD's 4 times already. Back to back.For me now it's just another great addition to the ever evolving body of work that Dylan has produced over his lifetime, and that I have been lucky enough to experience since I was 13 years old.

I have had a ambivalent feeling for both of Bob Dylan's two previous standards albums, Shadows in the Night and Fallen Angels. I admired the daring in the musical choices Dylan made, his desire to inject new feeling into old, pre-rock songs, and the fact that he takes the opposite path in doing standards, unlike Rod Stewart's more cash-in purposes. But I can't quite get the voice! Dylan is fine in singing more bluesy material, like he has done for the past 20 years or so, with his raspy, gravely, ripped-to-shreds voice. But it sounds so off-key on standards that it takes a lot of work to get into these albums, perhaps more work than on any other Dylan albums. And the best praise I can give to Triplicate, his new 3 disc offering, is that it's pretty much indistinguishable from the previous two albums. You could take the 52 songs on those combined albums, and mix and match them in a way so that no change would be seen. You couldn't tell what was on what!I know that Dylan albums may not always be able to click with you on first, second, or even tenth listen. The first Dylan album I ever owned, Good As I Been to You, was not one I liked at first. It took me almost 20 years to be able to realize that it was a really great album! Familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. I guess I'll keep listening to this opus and wondering when, on again hearing Tradewinds, As Time Goes By, Why Was I Born, I Could Have Told You, The Best is Yet to Come, and so on, I will have that "epiphany" moment. You know, the moment when you finally realize why something is the way it is supposed to be. When you finally "get" something. I haven't yet "gotten" why Dylan has immersed himself in standards so much, but I'll keep trying to find out. Because making the effort is often what it's all about. And Dylan, as usual, makes an effort that's beyond our level for the present time.--------------PEACE