Empire Burlesque
Occupation
- Bob Dylan - git, key, pia, voc
- Mick Taylor - git ( 1)
- Ted Perlman - git ( 1)
- Mike Campbell - git (2, 3, 6 and 7)
- Ronnie Wood - git ( 4)
- Sid McGinnis - git ( 5)
- Stuart Kimball - e- git ( 8)
- Al Kooper - git rhythm ( 8)
- Robbie Shakespeare - b ( 1, 5, 6, 8 and 9)
- Bob Believe - b ( 2)
- Howie Epstein - B ( 3 and 7)
- John Paris - b ( 4)
- Sly Dunbar - DR (1, 5 and 8)
- Anton Fig - dr ( 4)
- Don Heffington - dr (2 and 9)
- Jim Keltner - Dr (3, 6 and 7)
- Bashiri Johnson - perc (2, 6 and 8)
- Benmont Tench - key ( 2 and 6), pia ( 4), org ( 7)
- Richard shear - synth ( 1, 5, 8 and 9), Synth horn ( 7)
- Alan Clark - synth ( 5)
- Vince Melamed - synth (9 )
- Chops - horns ( 2)
- Urban Blight Horns - horns ( 8)
- David Watson - sax ( 2)
- Madelyn Quebec - Voc ( 3, 6, 8 and 9)
- Carolyn Dennis - back voc (1, 4, 5 and 6)
- Peggie Blu - back voc (1, 4 and 5)
- Debra Byrd - back voc ( 5 and 6)
- Queen Esther Marrow - back voc ( 1, 4, 5 and 6)
Empire Burlesque is the 23rd studio album by American songwriter Bob Dylan. Published in 1985, it stands chronologically between the predecessor Infidels from the year 1983 and published in 1986 following album Knocked Out Loaded. From the criticism Empire Burlesque was mainly judged negatively. Commercially it was to the success of better-known Dylan albums also fell. Even taking into account the total rated as below average albums Dylan in the 1980 Empire Burlesque is a particularly negative outliers.
Contents and Background
Empire Burlesque is set against the backdrop of rising expectations of a new album. After the release of Infidels in October 1983, Bob Dylan had withdrawn temporarily. In May and June 1984, he conducted a large-scale European tour. With multiple Stadium concerts (including at Wembley Stadium in London) took the tour at some gigantic proportions. The backing band consisted largely of well-known musicians of the two rock formations Rolling Stones and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. There were also guest appearances by well-known artists such as Joan Baez and Carlos Santana. Immediately after the tour created the first recordings for Empire Burlesque. In the fall of 1984 Dylan put the material together for Westwood One: Dylan on Dylan - a representative, given exclusively for the media promo album. A second recording session for Empire Burlesque took place in December. With a break in January, the recordings subjected to March of the following year. Recording sites were three different studios in New York.
In addition to the unusually long recording time Empire Burlesque waited on with other special features. So were the recording sessions, compared with other Dylan productions poorly and fragmentarily documented. As a producer, Bob Dylan functioned itself The final mix got Arthur Baker - a producer and remixer, who had worked among others for artists like New Order and Afrika Bambaataa. Another unusual at Empire Burlesque was the above-average number of involved musicians - a total of 30 in all. During the recordings of the individual pieces Dylan worked with various accompanying musicians who came titel relative to the train. The musician pool of Empire Burlesque recordings consisted partly of rock business veterans of the Rolling Stones ( Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood), the U.S. stadium rock band Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein ) and the Jamaican reggae and Dancehall duo Sly & Robbie ( Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare). There were also a studio musician and an even oppulenter as otherwise failing background choir - including Dylan's later life partner Carolyn Dennis and their mother Madelyn Quebec.
The pieces for Empire Burlesque originated exclusively from Bob Dylan himself was determined in the album of 1980s rock sound typical - reinforced by radio - elements and extensively used background vocals. The contrast made in some crooner pop style ballads held. Tight Connection to My Heart ( Has Anybody Seen My Love ), the opening track of the disc was almost like a showpiece for the rock sound that marked the publication. The song structure was based on Dylan success songs like Like a Rolling Stone and Hurricane. Lyrically, the song of the Dylan - typical image and metaphor tongue was determined. Also held in the rock style was the farewell song Seeing the Real You at Last. Third song of the plate was I'll Remember You, a country song in the Kris Kristofferson - style of the 1970s. Clean Cut Kid, another rock song that was the only transfer from the flow recording session in the summer of 1984. Thematically he treated the situation of Vietnam veterans who are blunted in the war and can not integrate into society. Never Gonna Be the Same Again, a ballad, described the morning after a night of love. Trust yourself, opening track, the B-side and also determined by the characteristic of the plate rock sound, lyrically waited on with the message, to trust yourself. Next song was Emotionally Yours - another ballad and according to Dylan pays tribute to Elizabeth Taylor. The subsequent rock song When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky addressed the trials and tribulations of two lovers. Something 's Burning, Baby also devoted himself to the subject of relationships. Special feature of this organ borne ballad was the duet vocal performance with Madelyne Quebec. A sharp contrast to the rest of the plate was the final song Dark Eyes - ked by guitar and harmonica consolation ballad in a slimmed-down folk style. Inspired about this piece Dylan says that it was by a nightly chance Impression: a made-up with black eyeliner call girl in the lobby of a hotel.
Date of publication of Empire Burlesque was June 1985. Were produced addition, two video clips. Director of the clip to Tight Connection to My Heart ( Has Anybody Seen My Love ), Paul Schrader. Visually in the center city impressions are from the filming Tokyo, and Dylan, who plays to the gallery on the clip act as disoriented musician or town visitors. The second piece that was filmed as a clip, When the Night Comes Falling was from the Sky. Cinematic center is filmed in black and white live performance in a small, apparently located in a barrio club.
Reception and criticism
Commercially Empire Burlesque was one of Dylan's less successful albums. The panel found little favor with both critics and fans. The strongest point of criticism was the accusation that Dylan run current trends in pop and rock music afterwards. The arrangements were partly seen as cluttered and lifeless acting. Michael Gray, author of The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia published in 2006, underwent both texts and music caustic criticism. Empire Burlesque is determined by " fashionable Popspielereien ", the pieces contained in part "completely unacceptable hit". Nigel Williamson, author of The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan, the record in light of Dylan's oeuvre also judged as weak. However, he held her credit, she was still better than average bulk rock productions. A rather streaky judgment precipitated and Rolling Stone writer Kurt Loder. Musically, Empire Burlesque is a real rock and roll explosion. However, he predicted that fans would miss the emotional density of other Dylan albums.
A bad grade ("C ") also awarded the U.S. magazine Entertainment Weekly. Reason: The disk is too overproduced. Explicitly as an exception song out positively lifted the magazine, however, Dark Eyes. Even the German Dylan biographer Olaf Benzinger joined essentially this rating. With blame for the failure of the plate were in his view, however, external circumstances. For example, Dylan's participation in the first big Live Aid event because of the famine in Ethiopia in 1985 - a media spectacle that attention was withdrawn from the just released album. Looking back, regarded by critics and fans Empire Burlesque mostly as the case study par excellence for Dylan's artistic weakening phase in 1980 - exceeded possibly even from the cover versions compilation Down in the Groove ( 1988), regarded by many as the absolute low point of Dylan's oeuvre. The show website Warehouse Eyes characterized Empire Burlesque as a pop album with a few above-average songs. Similarly, the music website Stereogum, whose reviewers Empire Burlesque among "The 10 Best More- Obscure Bob Dylan album" classify and also be stated a mismatch at the time trend of the 1980s.
Outtakes and cover versions
The remarkable thing about Empire Burlesque is the unusually high number of outtakes. From the first two recording sessions, only three songs were taken final. One ( Driftin ' Too Far From The Shore) appeared on the following album Knocked Out Loaded; six are as yet unpublished. From the recording material of the main receiving phase Februar and March 1995 five songs are previously unreleased. An alternative version of When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol 3
Typical Dylan highlights that have remained known over the years, Empire Burlesque does not contain. The number of cover recordings of individual songs is relatively manageable. Almost all the songs on the record coverte only Austrian Dylan Artist Michel Montecrossa. In addition, there are the following foreign interpretations: Tight Connection to My Heart ( Has Anybody Seen My Love ) from the country singer Marty Stuart, Seeing the Real You at Last by the punk band The Zimmermen, I'll Remember You by the singer- songwriters Thea Gilmore and Grayson Hugh, Clean Cut Kid of the rock musician Carla Olson and Trust Yourself by Blue singer Etta James and ( in the 1990s with Empire Burlesque recording musician Howie Epstein liierten ) Country musician Carlene Carter. Emotionally Yours who covered, among others, Robyn Hitchcock, the soul band O'Jays and the Danish singer Hanne Boel. Jeff Healey contributed a version of When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky in for the soundtrack to the movie Roadhouse. From Dark Eyes finally there is a cover version of Calexico - I'm as part of the soundtrack fictional Dylan - life filming Not There.