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Blood On The Tracks [live]

  • Blood On The Tracks [live]
    Blood On The Tracks [live]
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    Your eyes do not deceive you. And your doubts won't last. This is a complete re-creation of Bob Dylan's untouchable 1975 divorce album. Executed with a quaintly direct magnificence enhanced by the modesty of its origins (a one-time 2001 New York club show rescued from a soundboard cassette and eclipsed only by Dylan's definitive recording. There is a savory Blonde on Blonde air to the organ and piano coursing through the band's faithful acoustic picking, while the bright bite in Mary Lee Kortes' voice-the high-mountain sunshine of Dolly Parton, with a sweet iron undercoat of Chrissie Hynde- turns up the female hurt and fight in Tangled Up In Blue and You're A Big Girl Now. The ultimate compliment; Dylan likes this album so much he has featured one of the tracks on his website.-David Fricke, Rolling Stone Oct 3, 2002 (4 Stars)When Mary Lee Kortes cut live-to-two-track debut disc, Mary Lee's Corvette, in 1997, she had only planned to create something homegrown to sell at gigs. But some key taste-makers thought otherwise. Timothy White, editor-in-chief of Billboard, declared it one of the Top Ten albums of the year. WFMU deejay The Hound called Mary Lee the 21st Century version of Hal David, Burt Bacharach, and Dionne Warwick wrapped up in one svelte package. When music director Bruce Warren of influential National Public Radio station WXPN in Philadelphia decided to play a few cuts, the response from listeners was instantaneous, as they called in to demand, Where can we find this record?That's the same question internet-savvy fans put to Mary Lee after she and her band, Mary Lee's Corvette, put on a one-evening-only rendition of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in its entirety last fall. This was going to be her contribution to a series of classic album nights that various local bands had participated in at Arlene's Grocery on Manhattan's Lower East Side, events that were more than just sets of casual covers, but carefully constructed performances of cover albums. She admits that she readily agreed to the gig - and then the magnitude of the enterprise hit her.Mary Lee never intended to put out the results of that sometimes scary, ultimately exhilarating undertaking on a CD. In fact, as she explains in the liner notes she wrote, Mary Lee wasn't even sure she really wanted to go through with the gig once she started rehearsing for it. But she couldn't really back down from such a challenge. Mary Lee rose to the occasion so memorably that fans who weren't there clamored for a chance to hear what she'd done. Those who were wanted to hear it again. Luckily, there was a tape rolling during the entire gig.As Mary Lee puts it in her liner notes, I burned some CDs at home and sent one to Vin Scelsa, one to Billboard magazine, and one to Dylancoveralbums.com. Then one morning I turned on my computer, went online, and had requests from Sweden, Germany, and California for copies of this 'record.' And they kept coming.The Mary Lee's Corvette version of Blood on the Tracks is more an exploration than a mere tribute to what was arguably the best of Bob Dylan's recordings from the seventies. Dylan had written riveting, action-packed, story songs, bittersweet romantic travelogues that took his weather-beaten but still yearning characters from New Orleans to Tangiers, from memory to reality, from uncertainty to epiphany. The songs are full of dramatic twists and turns, and stuffed with words, all of them evocative. Faced with the daunting task of recreating this remarkable album track by track on stage, Mary Lee explains, These questions immediately presented themselves: How do you sing a Bob Dylan song in a way that anyone should ever bother listening to? How do you sing it right without imitating him? How do you make it your own? And, of course, why should you?During that late, rainy night on Stanton Street, Mary Lee found her answers - and a way to honor Dylan's artistry while injecting a significant part of herself into the mix. As she writes, It's a gift to sing these songs, pure and simple. Accompanying her were Andy York on guitar, harmonica, and occasional background vocals; Rod Hohl on acoustic guitar; Brad Albetta on bass; Andy Burton on piano and organ; and Diego Voglino on drums. Midway through the set, she asked if any audience member wanted to have a go at a few of the many verses of Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts. The guy who was brave enough to join her --- whose name Mary Lee never quite caught -- was game, but all he could really bring to the epic song, besides a remarkable retention of the words, was a kind of comic relief midway through the show. It becomes clear at that point how much focus, intensity, and, most importantly, soulfulness Mary Lee brought to her performance.Bob Dylan first made his mark in the Greenwich Village folk clubs along Bleecker Street that thrived there during the mid-sixties. Mary Lee found her own niche a little farther east on the Lower East Side. Her real-life roots, however, remain way west, in Whitefish, Montana, where she was raised, the daughter of a drive-in movie theater operator. It was there that she first discovered how well her voice and a guitar went together: I met this guy playing guitar behind the high school and this voice popped out of me like a disembodied spirit. And it just won't stop.Although she sang with a variety of bands in the west and the Midwest, she wasn't convinced she'd remain a musician when she finally hit the big city. She figured she'd become a book editor. But her fellow musicians, along with other fans, weren't about to let that happen. Early on, Amy Grant cut a version of Mary Lee's Everywhere I Go and it went Top 40 on the Adult Contemporary charts. Freedy Johnston invited Mary Lee to sing back-up with him in the studio. And she began to build a fan base of her own as a singer-songwriter.When she released her second album, True Lovers of Adventure, in 1999, USA Today declared, The songs reveal a wide-ranging musical intelligence matched by smart lyrics. Dan Aquilante of the New York Post asserted, Newcomer Mary Lee Kortes, front woman for Mary Lee's Corvette, has one of the most compelling voices in modern rock. Entertainment Weekly praised her lovely, nuanced voice and deft storytelling.Fans can rest assured that there's more of Mary Lee's own material to look forward to: this summer she'll start to record a new batch of already stellar songs she's been road-testing over the last year. And the many who regret missing the original Blood on the Tracks event will have the chance to hear those songs live once again. Mary Lee has already made plans to reprise the entire set on tour this summer. But there's no need to wait for her to come to your town - though you can almost be guaranteed she will -- because all the emotion, excitement, and inventiveness of that one-night stand are available right now on this CD.
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