Track Listing

1. My Back Pages - Magokoro Brothers
2. Gotta Serve Somebody - Shirley Caesar
3. Down In The Flood - Bob Dylan
4. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Grateful Dead
5. Most Of The Time - Sophie Zelmani
6. On A Night Like This - Los Lobos
7. Diamond Joe - Bob Dylan
8. Come Una Pietra Scalciata (Like A Rolling Stone) - Articolo 31
9. One More Cup Of Coffee - Sertab
10. Non Dirle Che Non E' Cosi' (If You See Her, Say Hello) - Francesco De Gregori
11. Dixie - Bob Dylan
12. Seqor (Tales Of Yankee Power) - Jerry Garcia
13. Cold Irons Bound - Bob Dylan
14. City Of Gold - The Dixie Hummingbirds

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127441 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2003-07-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Original language: English

Amazon.com
OK, so the movie to which it’s attached has been denigrated by most of the critics who’ve reviewed it. The soundtrack itself is a marvel that stands just fine on its own. Start with the four tracks by Dylan himself, including bristling new versions of "Cold Irons Bound" and "Down in the Flood" recorded with his remarkable touring band. Add gospel heavyweights Shirley Caesar shouting "Gotta Serve Somebody" and the Dixie Hummingbirds offering country-soul salvation in "City of Gold." But these and performances by Los Lobos and the Grateful Dead are just a warm-up for the CD’s more inspired third: Dylan covers by a variety of obscure international artists. There’s a Japanese language version of "My Back Pages" courtesy of the Magokoro Brothers , an Italian hip-hop take on "Like a Rolling Stone" ("Come Una Pietra Scalciata!") by Articolo 31), a beguiling, string-driven "One More Cup of Coffee" from Turkish pop star Sertab Erener, and a gentle, spoken-word "Most of the Time" by Swedish singer Sophie Zelmani. Oddly, this loopy, polyglot approach stands as a truer testament to Dylan’s genius than the atrocious dialogue (two snippets of which mar an otherwise fine album) or self-conscious artiness of the movie. --Keith Moerer

Customer Reviews

Incomplete
Like a lot of soundtracks, "Masked and Anonymous" plays it a little cheap by not including all of the performances to be heard in the film. This is probably a way to encourage those who like the music but are less enthralled with the film to shell out money for the DVD. This disc contains four Dylan performances, the standout being his version of the traditional "Dixie," but the movie gave us a few more, including the studio rendition of "Blind Willie McTell." I know it's already available on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3," but having been more appropriate to the theme of the movie than any of the other selections, it should have been included here, too. The rest of the disc, devoted to covers of Dylan classics by everyone from Shirley Ceasar to Francesco De Gregori, is certainly interesting, but may not warrant too many repeat listenings for Dylan fans who would prefer to hear the man himself sing "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "If You See Her, Say Hello."

Hits and waaaay long shots
Bob Dylan's songs are truly world music. They speak to all cultures, but for the most part, I like Dylan doing Dylan best. I loved all four of the new Bob Dylan songs. "Down in the Flood" and "Cold Irons Blue" are my two favorite of the four.

For me, the standout was Shirley Caesar doing the cover of "You Gotta Serve Somebody." It's outstanding and the one song that's gotten a lot of play in this house.

Los Lobos does a great job of "On a Night Like This," giving the song a romantic Latino flair singing part of the lyrics in Spanish. I probably would have liked the Jerry Garcia cover of "Senor" better, if it weren't live.

The Italian (rap) version of "Like a Rolling Stone" is a big miss for me. So's the opening "My Back Pages" in Japanese. This is somewhat anomalous since I love world music and different language covers.

Give the songs a listen before you buy this. If you're a strong Dylan collector, the CD is a must.

Rebecca Kyle, June 2008

Periodic Pyrotechnics: Part 1
[Note: this review is part 1 of 2. Since my final score for the album is 3 stars, I'm giving it 4 stars here and 2 stars in the second installment, to average out to 3 stars.]

I don't know if it's hip anymore (or again, or whatever) to like Bob Dylan, but I've been an unapologetic fan for ages. I even considered taking in his latest movie after seeing his embarrassing performance in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Though the universally negative reviews kept me from seeing Masked & Anonymous in the theater, I had heard that at least the soundtrack was good (as was the soundtrack to PG&BTK), so I decided to give it a listen. Here's my review, track by track.

1. My Back Pages (performed by the Magokoro Brothers): An interesting Japanese take on a Dylan staple. At first listen, this seems like a throwaway novelty from a variety act, but after listening to it a few times I really appreciated it. It sounds great and works well. The only negative thing about this track (but it's a big negative) is the annoying and embarrassingly stilted preaching (imploring the listener to ask himself, "ARE YOU HUMBLE BEFORE GOD?") that begins the track. Every time I begin this album, I have to mute my CD player for about 20 seconds. I'll never be able to use this track on a mix disc. (Aside: it's amazing how many syllables it takes, in Japanese, to get out the words "But I was so much older then; I'm younger than that now." The syncopation adds to this version's charm.)

2. Gotta Serve Somebody (performed by Shirley Caesar): A compelling gospel version, performed with passion and flourish. This is one of Dylan's few religious songs that I actually like (another is "Every Grain of Sand"), and this interpretation smoothes out some of the edges. While Dylan's rasp sounds more like a warning against serving the devil, the beautiful voice on this version feels like a more positive opportunity to serve the Lord, if that sort of thing interests you. (Aside: whenever someone covers this song, I always wonder how they'll handle the line: "You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy." This version handles it well and actually improves upon the original verse, I think.)

3. Down In The Flood (performed by Bob Dylan): A good example of how Dylan can reinvent himself and reinterpret his own songs. He takes this old chestnut and polishes it up with his current sound. This track would fit comfortably on either Time Out of Mind or "Love and Theft". In my humble opinion, this version improves on the version released on Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, but it's not as good as the version on The Basement Tapes (where it's titled "Crash on the Levee").

4. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (performed by The Grateful Dead): Such a pretty song, it's hard to ruin. But The Grateful Dead give it a shot anyway. This isn't meant as a criticism of the Dead in general. It's just that the vocals fall flat throughout most of this track. That said, it still sounds okay. It might cause you to cringe a couple times, but I don't think you'll feel the need to skip ahead.

5. Most Of The Time (performed by Sophie Zelmani): An interesting take. It's quiet and slow, and the spoken-word feeling of most of it gets a little old (though the same might be said for Dylan's own version), but when she starts singing she adds some emotional weight to it. This song grew on me, I must admit.

6. On A Night Like This (performed by Los Lobos): A fun, dual-language version of a fun song. Alternating verses between English and Spanish works well on an album with so many non-English tracks.

7. Diamond Joe (performed by Bob Dylan): A fun, up-tempo rendition of a traditional bluegrassy number. This song will quickly have you singing along. (Note: this is a completely different song than the traditional "Diamond Joe" on Good As I Been to You).