Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan

Pointed to it by a Pete Seeger video on YouTube, I picked up Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, which is a four-disc set of covers of Dylan songs as a benefit for Amnesty International. It comes close to following Sturgeon's Law: not everything here is good. Part of that is that while Dylan has been prolific, not all his songs have been great. It's made worse by some performances attempting to mimic Dylan rather than having the artist put their own spin on a Dylan song. That said, it's worth it for Diana Krall's rendition of "Simple Twist of Fate," Ziggy Marley's "Blowin' in the Wind," Flogging Molly's "The Times They Are A-Changin'," and the Kronos Quartet's instrumental-only version of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and a few others. Kris Kristofferson's "Quinn the Eskimo" is a nice try, and as much as I love Pete Seeger --- who, after all, was one of Dylan's early supporters --- he invests his rendition of "Forever Young" with more feeling than melody. The real reason for the album to exist though is for the beneficiary: Amnesty International has been on the side of the angels for as long as I've been around. May they continue as long as necessary.