A while back Classicalite reported on an upcoming release from Dylan aficionado and performer Barb Jungr entitled Hard Rain.
The songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, encompassing the greater measure of their standards and ballads, come to you via Kristalyn Records as of May 27 and the reception has been remarkable.
With all the news circulating the Tambourine Man and his latest Chronicles, the release couldn't have been better calculated.
Of course, Jungr croons on the vocals but the album features Neville Malcolm on bass, Steve Watts on percussion, Gary Hammond on the Shakuhachi, Clive Bell on the talking drum and other percussion, Richard Oletunde Baker on piano, hammon organ and synthesizers and Simon Wallace to clean up.
All arrangements on the album are by Jungr and her long-standing collaborator and accompanist, Simon Wallace, who also produced the album.
Per a release:
The UK's finest interpreter of song, Barb Jungr returns to the songs of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen with the release of Hard Rain. Oft referred to as "the politicized chansonnier" and cited as one of the world's best performers of Dylan's material, Barb turns to six of his most politically hard-hitting songs along with five of Leonard Cohen's most impassioned songs of conscience.
So don't squander your time with lesser Dylan cover albums and pick up Barb Jungr's Hard Rain immediately. As The Independent calls it, "a masterclass in the value of interpretive liberty."
