Blues on Blonde on Blonde

When Bob Dylan's pop masterpiece Blonde on Blonde was originally released in 1966, young white musicians, including Dylan, had spent the earlier part of the decade paying tribute to blues artists who influenced them. It seems rather odd that in 2003 the tables have turned somewhat. Fully 37 years after the debut of Blonde on Blonde, Telarc gathers an assembly of contemporary blues artists to pay tribute to Dylan's masterpiece from his controversial electric period. On these 12 tracks, the Double Trouble rhythm section of Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums backs up such luminaries as C.J. Chenier, Deborah Coleman, Duke Robillard, Cyril Neville, and Joe Louis Walker. The best way to approach a project like this is to simply enjoy it on its own terms and not compare it to the original. With that in mind, this is an extremely enjoyable set, although it is hard to ignore the exclusion of "4th Time Around" and the 11-minute opus "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands."