Image Source: Times of Israel
On Thursday, Christie’s will hold an auction for a unique Bob Dylan record that might bring in up to £1 million.
In March 2021, the musician and his longtime collaborator T Bone Burnett created a new rendition of the iconic song Blowin’ In The Wind, which is featured on the album.
Since Bob Dylan wrote the song in 1962, this is the first updated studio version. The one-off release also features a brand-new kind of record that mixes some of the components of CDs and vinyl and claims higher sound quality and longer endurance than vinyl.
Burnett, who worked on creating the new format and can play it on any standard turntable, calls it “the pinnacle of sound.”
Blowin’ In The Wind’s new recording will ultimately only be available to one wealthy Dylan fan. But before it’s sold, fans can listen to the album at Christie’s in London.
The 10-inch disc is handled with silk gloves before being set up on a £30,000 hi-fi system, where they will be brought into a quiet side room of the auction house.
The warmth and clarity of the sound are instantly audible while listening through headphones, with the exception of a few pops and crackles (perhaps four in all) caused by dust or static on the record’s surface.
Having benefited from a prolonged hiatus from touring during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dylan’s voice is consistently silky and supple.
The words, which are intrinsically linked to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, are made all the more powerful by the appearance of his signature rasp.
lines like “How many times can a man turn his head / and pretend that he just doesn’t see?” Sung by an 81-year-old who has seen history repeat itself a decade after decade after decade, the lyrics have more resonance than ever.
The song consequently becomes more reflective and reflects on our shortcomings. It takes almost a minute longer for Bob Dylan to finish the song because he prolongs his syllables as though he is thinking about each lyric again.
In contrast to the original, Dylan’s 2021 re-recording includes a full band that was captured live in the studio. Without detracting from the song’s meaning, their sympathetic and subdued arrangement, featuring bassist Don Was and mandolinist Greg Leisz, gives the song a new dimension.
As stated in the Christie’s catalog, it almost seems like a tragedy that “Bob Dylan’s recording from 2021 has only ever been produced in this single copy. There won’t be any more sales or releases of this recording “. Burnett, who won a Grammy for his compositions on Alison Kraus and Robert Plant’s Raising Sand and the soundtracks to The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, claims that his music is best known for its upbeat and catchy nature.
