Album Review: The New Basement Tapes, 'Lost On the River'
by Bill DeVille
December 01, 2014
Last summer, legendary producer and musician T-Bone Burnett barnstormed through the Twin Cities to talk about his latest project, and it was a real thrill to meet this behind-the-scenes legend. Burnett's old Rolling Thunder Revue boss, Bob Dylan, offered him song lyrics — out of the blue — from a recently discovered scrapbook that Dylan wrote forty-something years ago. One thing Burnett mentioned at the listening party at The Graves Hotel in Minneapolis caught my ear: "Random words don't look like anything till somebody sings them."
That's why Burnett opened his impressive Rolodex and made a few calls. The next thing you know, The New Basement Tapes were born. The group features a kind of rootsy cast of musicians, including Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I asked Burnett if anybody said "no" to the project, and he quickly responded, "No, they were all in!" So I think you can safely call this a supergroup!
The lyrics Burnett was handed were written by Dylan around 1967, during the same timeframe that generated the infamous Basement Tapes album, which is probably the biggest bootleg in the history of rock. This was a fruitful period of Dylan's career; due to a motorcycle accident, he was holed up in Woodstock, N.Y., writing songs and recording with The Band at the house affectionately know as "big pink." Dylan allegedly wrote more songs in 1967 than any other year of his career, and that excited T-Bone Burnett about the project. "The chance to work with a 27-year-old Bob Dylan, now with 50 years of hindsight, was interesting," he said.
To create what became Lost On the River, Burnett sent the lyrics to the selected artists and booked two weeks at Capitol Studios in Hollywood to turn 'em into songs. All the artists tried their hands at the same lyrics, and the best versions of each song made it onto the album. In a way, Lost On the River reminds me of Mermaid Avenue, the album by Billy Bragg and Wilco, where they were given a bunch a lyrics penned by Dylan's hero, Woody Guthrie, and turned those into songs. And like Mermaid Avenue, Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes largely succeeds.
The album starts with a vengeance with "Down on the Bottom," which features Jim James channeling Dylan's vocal style of the Nashville Skyline era, and some great fuzzed guitar from James and from Elvis Costello. Another standout is "Kansas City," which features Marcus Mumford on the vocal. This one soars like a good Mumford and Sons tune, but it's electrified! This might be the album's standout track.
A couple of lesser-known artists made key contributions to the project. Rhiannon Giddens of Carolina Chocolate Drops, who may be the star of the album, adds her gorgeous vocals to "Spanish Mary." I love this one's haunting, dark vibe. Taylor Goldsmith really shows his knack for personalizing lyrics on the track "Liberty Street," which sounds like a track he could have written himself. Goldsmith also chimes in with "Florida Key," where he sings, "My only darling is gone / took everything and put it out on the lawn". Listening to that made me wonder if Dylan was going through a breakup at the time he originally wrote those words.
Elvis Costello nails the title track, "Lost on the River"; this one really showcases Costello's vocal prowess. He is a fantastic interpreter of songs, and shows it on this lovely slow waltz. Giddens closes the album with her own spare and soulful rendition, named "Lost On the River #20."
It's unlikely that anything more will come of The New Basement Tapes. All these artists have careers of their own to tend to. But it's interesting to hear these Dylan lyrics come to life — even his castoffs made some really good songs!
On a related note, I might also recommend the TV documentary Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued, which is playing on Showtime this month.