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There’s more blues on ‘Watching The River Flow’, which was released as a digital single ahead of the album, and is one of the record’s more up-tempo offerings, with some tasty electric guitar. There’s a poignant ‘Forever Young’ and ‘What Was It You Wanted’ sounds moodier and sultrier than the original – in its new incarnation, it’s even more powerful.
Are they miming? Is Dylan miming, hiding behind his vintage microphone? Are the cigarettes real or are they stage props? Would it matter if they were? After all, Dylan did warn us this was his “shadow kingdom”, where things might not be as they appear, where a simulacrum of the best gig ever can beat a real gig, and where the play of chiaroscuro is all. Certainly, these scenarios recreate the vibe of the sleeve art of last year’s Rough and Rowdy Ways. But in a blog post, the journalist Richard Williams suggests that the live stream’s aesthetic might be inspired by the 2017 stage musical Girl from the North Country, based on the songs of Dylan, which met with the musician’s approval. Over the long arc of Bob Dylan’s career, it becomes easier to discern underlying trends. The relatively recent experience of recording 50-odd standards between 2015 and 2017 — on Shadows in the Night, Fallen Angels and Triplicate – clearly provoked a wholesale reappraisal of his approach to singing, while the influence of the loose, fluid instrumental mesh developed on Rough and Rowdy Ways in 2020 could be heard in Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan, the 50-minute show streamed by Veeps.com in July 2021. Billboard Japan Hot Albums: Week of June 7, 2023". Billboard Japan (in Japanese) . Retrieved June 7, 2023.
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Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 1): 19658767481-B MRP4265/19658767481-B #21 RKS STERLING 254435E2 1520126 johnnyborganblogg (May 25, 2023). "What You See Is Not What You Get. About "Shadow Kingdom", Bob Dylan, 2023". Johnny B . Retrieved May 26, 2023. Writing in Uncut, Richard Williams rated the album four out of five stars, arguing that its sound seemingly grew out of Dylan's previous album Rough and Rowdy Ways. Williams called the music a "loose, fluid instrumental mesh" and described how "slow swells of accordion, acoustic guitars and bowed string bass" underline "the carefully articulated front-and-centre vocal". [9] a b c Williams, Richard (May 18, 2023). "Bob Dylan – Shadow Kingdom". Uncut . Retrieved May 26, 2023. The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 12 June 2023". The ARIA Report. No.1736. Australian Recording Industry Association. June 12, 2023. p.6.
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, variant 3): 19658767481-B MRP4265/19658767481-B #21 RKS STERLING 254435E2 1520126 Matrix / Runout (Runout side C, variant 1): 19658767481-C #2 MRP4265/19658767481-C RKS STERLING 254435E3 1428640 Music Review: Bob Dylan's 'Shadow Kingdom' reimagines well-known, obscure songs". AP News. May 31, 2023 . Retrieved May 31, 2023.Offiziellecharts.de – Bob Dylan – Shadow Kingdom" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 9, 2023. A Rolling Stone review by Michaelangelo Matos named Shadow Kingdom one of the "Hear This" recommended albums for the month of June 2023, claiming that Dylan makes his classic songs "seem stunningly brand new". [23] Who knows what he’ll be getting up to next. Dylan’s career has lasted more than 60 years and, now in his early eighties, he still surprises, confuses and delights us. Long may it continue. A real-life noir thriller from the dawn of Dylan’s career. A location shrouded in enigma and subterfuge (a Santa Monica soundstage being somewhat less romantic). A livestream designed to be ephemeral, to disappear like the smoke from all those cigarettes after a couple of days. And what the subtitle described as ‘The Early Songs Of Bob Dylan’, reconfigured without drums to complement the liminal atmosphere of director Alma Har’el’s visuals. The Shadow Kingdom, it seemed, was not built to last.
Oinen, Janne (June 2, 2023). "Bob Dylan Shadow Kingdom". The Line of Best Fit . Retrieved June 2, 2023. Mojo 's John Mulvey likewise gave the album four out of five stars, calling it "an extremely useful addition to the Dylan catalogue" and highlighted the performance of " What Was It You Wanted" as "particularly impressive" for its "gravitas". [10] Khanna, Vish (June 1, 2023). "Bob Dylan Illuminates New Corners of His Music on Shadow Kingdom". Exclaim! . Retrieved June 1, 2023. Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, variant 1): 19658767481-A 254435E1 1518598 RKS STERLING MRP4265/19658767481-A #21
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The mystery surrounding Shadow Kingdom continues, as the musicians who performed on the album aren’t credited in the sleeve notes, but there’s speculation that Dylan’s band included Jeff Taylor (accordion), Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar, mandolin), Tim Pierce, T-Bone Burnett, Ira Ingber (guitars) and Don Was (upright bass). Fewer disputed the quality of the music. Dylan’s definition of his own “early songs” turned out to be more elastic than one might have expected, with nothing from his first four albums. But since even the most recent of the 13 selections was already more than 30 years old, their creator might well have been viewing them from a different perspective, while inventing new ways to present them. Wise, Brian (May 22, 2023). "Dylan's Shadow Kingdom Out In All Formats On June 2". Rhythms Music Magazine . Retrieved May 26, 2023. Taylor, Tom (June 1, 2023). "Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom album review". The Line of Best Fit . Retrieved June 11, 2023.
It’s a great time to be a Bob Dylan fan. Over the past few years, we’ve been treated to a masterful studio album, 2020’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, some essential official Bootleg Series releases, like Springtime In New York and January 2023’s Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions, superb live performances and a mysterious, stylised, and brilliant ‘concert’ film, Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan. What we can be certain of is the quality of the music and the performances, which lean heavily on acoustic guitar, upright bass and accordion – there are no drums or piano, but Dylan adds a touch of harmonica here and there. Dylan plays fast and loose with his own work, too. New arrangements are no novelty in this artist’s vast body of work, but tonight’s tunes bear little resemblance to their recorded forebears. Everything here is rejigged magnificently, more or less in keeping with the style of the engrossing Rough and Rowdy Ways – minus the album’s proliferation of piano. All is loose, jazzy, often acoustic; there is no drummer to keep time – because that would be too definite, and we are in a realm where it could be the 20s or the 40s, night or day. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.The thing is, of course, that Bob Dylan songs aren’t quite so transient. At the end of The Philosophy Of Modern Song, Dylan writes, “Music transcends time by living within it, just as reincarnation allows us to transcend life by living it again and again.” This, perhaps, is the key to Shadow Kingdom, and a decent artistic reason – the commercial expediencies being self-evident – why Dylan has chosen to release the show as an album now. The old songs and vintage effect might invoke a certain nostalgia, but the juke joint ambience is more Lynchian than neat historic reconstruction, and the songs sound little like they used to do. It’s a dream Dylan destination, but it’s one which is, as per his Philosophy, “of a time but also timeless”.