“All I Really Want to Do,” the opening number of Janet Planet’s variable meditation on the songs of Bob Dylan, shows off the singer’s strengths right off the bat. Her style is relaxed, easy and pitch-perfect, though her higher voice is stronger than her lower. She gets the faux casualness of the tune’s lyric and gives it the right touch. In “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” her voice suggests a brighter version of Bonnie Raitt’s, with some skillful and tasteful turns of melisma, once again finding an agreeable feel for Dylan’s work.

When she ventures to the more jazz-like interpretations, the CD becomes less accessible as exampled by “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.” The arrangements become distracting and anti-intuitive. The band’s repetitive chord progressions and slight dissonance do not line up to the spirit of the composer’s intention. “Hard Rain” is a mishmash of styles that starts off promisingly bluesy, but takes off in many different directions that defy the straight-on drive that the lyric demands.

Giving Dylan the songbook treatment is not really unreasonable, as his tunes resonate with melody and lyrical brilliance. Women like Judy Collins and Joan Baez do well by songwriters such as Dylan and Leonard Cohen, making an idea like Planet’s seem reasonable. That said, care must be taken to keep the integrity of a song’s message intact, rather than attempting interesting riffs. Intellectual ideas do not make for emotional realities in music. Even in jazz.

Things get back on track with “Boots of Spanish Leather,” with its spare folksy rendering, as does “I Shall Be Released.” Her high energy “Like a Rolling Stone” is most impressive when she lets loose on the bridge. “How does it feel?”: Really good when she goes all out for a few seconds nearing the finale.

The smooth jazz version of “Just Like a Woman” did not hit the mark, however well sung, with its disconnect from the lyric palpable. The collection closes pleasantly with a gently swung “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.”

A mixed bag with its skillful, yet sometimes wrong-headed band arrangements is worth a listen—but not an essential part of any “covers” collection. Now that music is essentially downloadable, the customer can pick and choose, though this luxury could damage the idea of “concept recordings” in the future.

Melody Breyer-Grell
Cabaret Scenes
March 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org