Great package, greater music

Volume 3 of the May Your Song Always Be Sung series offers great packaging and even greater music. Most of the tracks are in the acoustic singer/songwriter mold, with artists ranging from the well known to the unknown. Most are independent or unsigned, fom all corners of the world, including Germany, Italy, England, Japan, Sweden, plus translated versions from Spain, Romania and Norway.

The packaging is well done. The booklet has extensive notes for each track, some written by the artists, along with photos of the artists and some vintage Dylan memorabilia. This is housed in a tri-fold digipack in a slip-case cover.

A must-have.

Some Real Gems

There are some real gems on this eclectic collection. I'm not big on tribute cover collections but I was blown away by a few of the selections here.

I have no idea who Hederos and Hellberg are, but they have created a heartbreakingly beautiful rendition of It Ain't Me Babe. Hear a snipet of it on fye dot com. It's just mesmerizing. And It Ain't Me is not even one of my favorite Dylan songs. Neither is Spanish Harlem Incident, but there's an amazing take on it here. And that's the joy of these 2 CDs. Shot of Love is another example -- with a hoe-down flavor treatment that's a lot fun. Another stand out is the hymn-like Dark Eyes. Eight of the tracks here were recorded excusively for this compilation.

Well worth checking out if only for a few amazing cuts and a bunch of fun ones.