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The New Basement Tapes - Lost On The River (2014) [Deluxe Edition]
 FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time - 73:43 minutes | 1,71 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover

 Produced by T Bone Burnett, Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes was written and performed in creative collaboration by Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford. The artists and Burnett gathered in Capitol Studios in March to write and create music for a treasure trove of recently discovered lyrics handwritten by Bob Dylan in 1967 during the period that generated the recording of the legendary Basement Tapes.

 Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes celebrates the discovery of new Bob Dylan lyrics from that noted 1967 period and marks a unique creative opportunity for Burnett, Costello, Giddens, Goldsmith, James and Mumford, who are bringing them to life nearly 50 years later. For Burnett, whom Dylan has entrusted with this endeavor, it was imperative to provide an environment in which these artists could thrive. “Great music is best created when a community of artists gets together for the common good. There is a deep well of generosity and support in the room at all times, and that reflects the tremendous generosity shown by Bob in sharing these lyrics with us”.


 When a clutch of unfinished lyrics written during Bob Dylan's 1967 sojourn at Big Pink in Woodstock, New York was discovered in 2013, there were really only two choices left for his publisher: either they could be collected as text or set to music. Once the decision to turn these words into songs was made, there was really only one logical choice to direct the project: T-Bone Burnett, the master of impressionistic Americana. He had played with Dylan during the Rolling Thunder Revue of 1975 and 1976 -- a tour that happened to occur in the wake of the first official release of The Basement Tapes -- but more importantly, his 2002 work on the Grammy-winning O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack established him as deft modernizer of classic American folk and country, skills that were needed for an album that wound up called Lost on the River. Burnett decided to assemble a loose-knit band of Americana superstars to write the music and play as a band. That's how Burnett's old pal Elvis Costello, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops became a band called the New Basement Tapes (the name seems more of a formality than an actual moniker), and if Burnett's intent was to approximate the communal spirit Dylan had with the Band at Big Pink, the execution was much different. The New Basement Tapes recorded Lost on the River in a real studio fully aware there was an audience awaiting their output, an attitude that's the polar opposite of the ramshackle joshing around of the original Basement Tapes. Thankfully, nobody involved with Lost on the River contrives to replicate either the sound or feel of the 1967 sessions, even if the artists consciously pick up the strands of country, folk, and soul dangling on the originals. Wisely, the songwriters steer their given lyrics toward their own wheelhouses, which means this contains a little of the woolliness of a collective but Burnett sands off the rough edges, tying this all together. Certainly, some musicians make their presence known more than others -- there's a slow, soulful ease to James' four contributions that stand in nice contrast to Costello's canny bluster ("Married to My Hack" would've fit onto any EC album featuring Marc Ribot) -- but the best work might come from Goldsmith, who strikes a delicate, beguiling balance between his own idiosyncrasies and the Americana currents that flow out of The Basement Tapes. Then again, the whole project is rather impressive: Burnett and the New Basement Tapes remain faithful to the spirit of The Basement Tapes yet take enough liberties to achieve their own identity, which is a difficult trick to achieve.  


Tracklist:

 01 - Down on the Bottom
 02 - Married to My Hack
 03 - Kansas City
 04 - Spanish Mary
 05 - Liberty Street
 06 - Nothing to It
 07 - Golden Tom - Silver Judas
 08 - When I Get My Hands on You
 09 - Duncan and Jimmy
 10 - Florida Key
 11 - Hidee Hidee Ho #11
 12 - Lost on the River #12
 13 - Stranger
 14 - Card Shark
 15 - Quick Like a Flash
 16 - Hidee Hidee Ho #16
 17 - Diamond Ring
 18 - The Whistle Is Blowing
 19 - Six Months in Kansas City (Liberty Street)
 20 - Lost on the River #20

Enjoy