Columbia

When Bob Dylan first arrived on the scene, his topical songs of social injustice were the direct antithesis of the Great American Songbook so cherished by the prior generation of pop icons.

In fact, if you were to have asked Bob in, say, 1965 whether or not he could see himself cutting a record of songs Frank Sinatra sang sometime in the next 50 years, chances are he would have cut your damn head off.

But the man born Robert Zimmerman has proven in this last half-century and change he indeed wears a coat of many colors. And in a simple twist of fate, here we are in 2015 talking about Bob Dylan’s newest album, a collection of songs originally recorded by Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.

And, in classic Bob fashion, he tackles these treasured tunes penned by such acclaimed songwriters as Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cy Coleman and even Sinatra himself in a way entirely unique unto him.

David Fricke was right on the money when he wrote in his review in Rolling Stone that Shadows is a companion of sorts to Dylan’s pair of early 90s ace sets of old blues and folk covers, 1992’s Good As I Been To You and 1993’s World Gone Wrong. Only on this Jack Frost production, he is working with songs that are usually accompanied by lush orchestrations ad other sonic ballyhoo. Here, Dylan strips away any sentimental fanfare associated with such songs as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms” as he and his longtime touring band consisting of bassist Tony Garnier, guitarist Charlie Sexton, percussionist George Receli and the LP’s other star player, pedal steel master Donnie Herron, deconstruct these tunes down to their primal roots in country and blues. And while there is an atmospheric wash of horns on the version of “The Night We Called It A Day”, the rest of this ten track set is a mellow and airy affair that fans of Time Out of Mind will surely fall in love with the versions of “Stay With Me” and “That Lucky Old Sun” or any of the tunes presented here for that matter.

Its hard to imagine guys like Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert and Johnny Mercer working out “Autumn Leaves” as an old Charley Patton 78 plays in the background. But Shadows in the Night makes you wonder…