Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman

Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman

Track Listings

1. Like a Rolling Stone

2. It's All over Now, Baby Blue

3. Simple Twist of Fate

4. Sweetheart Like You

5. Gotta Serve Somebody

6. Dark Eyes

7. Love Minus Zero/No Limit

8. Just Like a Woman

9. I Believe in You

10. With God on Our Side

11. Bob Dylan's Dream

Tracks:

Like A Rolling Stone
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Simple Twist Of Fate
Sweetheart Like You
Gotta Serve Somebody
Dark Eyes
Love Minus Zero / No Limit
Just Like A Woman
I Believe In You
With God On Our Side
Bob Dylan's Dream

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful ... And True.......2007-07-30

I expected -given Judy Collins' voice- that this CD would be beautiful, but what kept me sitting in the parked car, still listening, when I got home was her interpretations: so knowing. The arrangements are excellent (they don't overwhelm her voice at all, despite what an earlier reviewer wrote). Her "Like A Rolling Stone" doesn't match Dylan's original but it grows on me (the quiet beginning has a sadness that I've never before associated with this song ... the harmonica here refers, of course, back to Dylan's original, but here it evokes a wistfulness). Collins doesn't just sing songs like "Dark Eyes" and "Simple Twist Of Fate," she inhabits them. Her spoken/sung delivery of "Sweetheart Like You" is enjoyably surprising ... it's like nothing else I've heard by Judy Collins. It appears that this CD is going out of print. Who knows why. I'm very glad I finally got a copy of it. Maybe it only rates 4 1/2 stars but I won't quibble:-)
Btw, the liner notes/letter to Dylan by Judy Collins I didn't at all find to be written by "a self-indulgent overly-romantic middle aged woman" (an earlier reviewer). Judy Collin's only child had just died tragically and I doubt she was feeling "self-indulgent" at all. her "letter" to Dylan is poetic, nostalgic, honest and has some brief passages written so opaquely that Dylan is probably the only one who knows to what she refers.

Just like a masterpiece..........2005-10-10

I am of like minds with one previous reviewer who said that the true beauty and power of Dylan's brilliant lyrics and melodies aren't always best experienced when Dylan performs them himself. Never the best with diction and even on good days sounding a bit like a power drill when he sings, his music, for me, only comes alive when others take it on. And in that regard, surely neither Dylan or anyone else could ever ask for a better, more respectful, enthused or talented interpreter than Judy Collins.

While I'll admit that I have yet to cotton to "You've Gotta Serve Somebody" with its rather heavy-handed attempt to be a rollicking religious revival, much of this album is wonderful with "I Believe in You" being a particular highlight.

But the album's raise d'art arrives in the its penultimate track, Collins' stunningly powerful a cappella rendition of Dylan's thought-provoking, anti-war song "With God On Our Side."

In the current musical scene where so many wildly successful artists are hopeless without in-studio sweetening, techno tricks and vocal over dubs (yeah, I'm talking to you Lopez), Collin's brave and flawless accompaniment-free performance of this song reminds us of what singing is suppose to be. But her choice to go accompaniment-free isn't about showboating; it's symbolic. Stripping the song to its barest bones serves to drive home the message of it, which, in turn, transforms it into a stunning, unforgettably powerful aural experience.

And if that's not worth the $7.98 that Amazon is currently charging for this CD, I don't know what is.

A terrific album .......2005-04-10

I too am amazed by some of the negative reviews - this album is a gem...from someone who has known Dylan her entire adult life. The liner notes recount her first meeting with Bob Dylan when she was 19 years old (and he was even younger) while both were singing in a Colorado skiing resort - before each had migrated to New York City to make their careers. She was visiting Dylan when he wrote "Mister Tambourine Man" - and was the first person to hear him sing it! She was at the Newport Folk Festival when he debuted his "electric" band (and was roundly booed by the "folk purists").
I think she has a unique vantage point from which to render interpretations of his songs - and she does an inspired job on this recording, offering Dylan's incomparable lyrics with an ability to convey his melodies with a beautiful voice.
I recommend this album wholeheartedly.

Undiscovered gem.......2005-02-27

I am baffled by the negativity of some of the reviews here. This album is fantastic, some of the best Dylan covers around. There is just one weakness, the at-times off-key vocal on Like a Rolling Stone. Other than that, it presents one of the most sensitive and well-produced collections of Dylan songs heard in many years. If Judy's "fan letter" to Dylan seems overly emotional and odd, keep in mind it was written just after an extraordinarily tragic and difficult occurence in her life. Most importantly, the music speaks for itself and it speaks beautifully.

a bad idea thirty years too late and gone horribly wrong.......2004-06-17

First, Judy still has a beautiful voice.

So, if you are a hard-core Judy Collins fan AND you have never heard the original version of these songs OR covers by others like the Byrds, the Band, Jimi Hendrix, Sting, Aaron Neville, etc, etc, AND you enjoy pretentious sacchrine synthetic syrupy sentimental arrangements of great songs, ....maybe, just maybe give it a try.

If you are a Dylan fan in any of his incarnations, forget it.

I realize Collins is a friend and sincere admirer of Dylan. And my friend who lent it to me likes it. But each time I played it for other colleagues in my office, it had them doubled over in guffaws and fits of horse laughs before she got out the second line of the first track (Like a Rolling Stone). The fits got progressively worse as the song progressed.

I give it one star for humor. Its other redeeming quality is that it could have been worse.

She could have recorded a CD titled - JUDY COLLINS SINGS ROBERT JOHNSON Hellhound On My Trail.

If she ever does, I'd most assuredly have to give it a bullet.

Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman
Average customer rating:
Judy Sings Dylan...Just Like a Woman

Manufacturer: Geffen
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000C70C