Album Notes

"Alias: Zimmerman!" is a two-disc set of 26 songs written by Bob Dylan early in his career. Anyone familiar with Bob Dylan's early career knows that during the early to mid-sixties, he changed the course of music forever with a distinctive style of writing and recording and a prolific output of original compositions that have never been equaled.

Songs like "Blowing in the Wind" and "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" were rallying cries during the Civil Rights movement. The lyrical structure of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" qualifies it as the grand-daddy of rap and hip/hop. "Masters of War," "With God On Our Side" and "The Times They Are A Changin'" were among the Dylan classics that brought the political/protest elements of folk music into the pop-rock mainstream.

Bob Dylan's own versions of many of the songs on this album were recorded with only acoustic guitar and harmonica accompaniment. Winston Apple gives these songs the full rock-band treatment. The imaginative re-arrangements of these songs gives offers the listener a unique experience. The reggae treatment given "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "I Shall Be Released" is particularly effective. Another distinctive track is "All Along the Watchtower/Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," with four stanzas of "Sad-Eyed Lady" blended into a piano-based rhythm section and outstanding solo guitar work.

With a great deal of genre diversity among the twenty-six tracks that make up this two-disc set, there is sure to be more than a few songs that will tickle the ears and the fancy of listeners.