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Shadows in the Night

Shadows in the Night is the 36th studio album by Bob Dylan, released by Columbia Records on February 3, 2015.[1] The album consists of covers of traditional pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra, chosen by Dylan.[2] Like most of his 21st century output, Dylan produced the album himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

Shadows in the Night
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 3, 2015 (2015-02-03)
Recorded2014
StudioCapitol (Hollywood)
GenreTraditional pop, vocal jazz
Length35:17
LanguageEnglish
LabelColumbia
ProducerJack Frost
Bob Dylan chronology
Singles from Shadows in the Night
  1. "Full Moon and Empty Arms"
    Released: January 9, 2015
  2. "Stay with Me"
    Released: January 19, 2015

Speaking of his intention behind the album, Dylan stated:

I don't see myself as covering these songs in any way. They've been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.[3]

The album garnered acclaim from critics, who praised its song selections as well as Dylan and his band's performance and arrangements.[4] The album debuted at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, making Dylan the oldest male solo artist to chart at No. 1 in the UK. At the 2016 Grammys, it was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.[5]

Background and recording Edit

Shadows in the Night consists of ten ballads that were recorded by Frank Sinatra in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[6] The songs were selected from that period of Sinatra's career when he was recording thematic albums that explored emotions of separation and heartache—albums such as Where Are You? (1957), which includes four of the songs on Shadows, No One Cares (1959), and All Alone (1962).[6] Most of the songs are Tin Pan Alley standards, delivered in a slow to mid-tempo pace, that "often luxuriate in melancholy" and communicate a sense of loneliness.[6] The arrangements center on Dylan's vocals supported throughout by Donny Herron's gliding pedal-steel guitar and Tony Garnier's bass.[6]

Shadows in the Night was recorded in 2014 at Capitol Studios in studio B, where Frank Sinatra often recorded his albums.[6] According to the album's recording engineer, Al Schmitt, the songs on Shadows were recorded live with Dylan singing and his five-man touring band performing the songs in the same room at the same time without headphones.[6][7] Dylan did not want to see any microphones other than the one he was using for his vocals, so Schmitt had to set up the rest of the microphones away from the instruments.[7] The acoustic bass microphone was eight feet from the bass, and set down and away so it could not be seen; the same approach was taken for the acoustic guitar.[7] For the electric guitar and pedal steel, Schmitt placed the microphones close to the amplifiers, which were set off to the side.[7]

According to Schmitt, recording sessions typically were held from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, and then after a two-hour break, an evening session was held from 8:00 pm to around 10:30 pm.[7] They worked Monday through Friday with weekends off.[7] Dylan prepared each session by listening to the Sinatra recordings, according to Schmitt, who noted:

He would listen to the songs over and over and get Sinatra's intention on what he was doing with the song. Then he would only do two or three takes on each tune, but he would make it his own. It had nothing to do with Sinatra. He'd just learn what the song was about and whatever. It was an interesting way to work.[7]

A total of 23 songs were recorded, from which ten were chosen for the album.[7]

Artwork Edit

The cover art for Shadows in the Night presents images and a design that evoke the early 1960s. The front cover incorporates a photo of Dylan in a thoughtful pose in formal attire, presented in shadow behind a vertical-bar design that emulates the cover of jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's 1962 Blue Note album Hub-Tones.[6] The back cover photo shows Dylan and a masked woman, both in formal wear, sitting at a small nightclub table looking at a seven-inch Sun Records single.[6] Their appearance may allude to the 1966 Black and White Ball, a masked ball attended by Frank Sinatra and his wife Mia Farrow, both of whom wore masks at the event.[6] As with many of Dylan's albums in the 21st century, the packaging features minimal credits and no printed lyrics.

Release and promotion Edit

 
Bob Dylan in the film noir-inspired music video for "The Night We Called It a Day"

Shadows in the Night was released by Columbia Records on February 3, 2015.[1] Dylan had teased the album's release by making his version of "Full Moon and Empty Arms" available to stream on his official website beginning on May 13, 2014[8] and by performing "Stay with Me (Theme from The Cardinal)" in concert beginning on October 26, 2014.[9] The album was officially announced on December 9, 2014,[10] and two singles, "Full Moon and Empty Arms" and "Stay with Me", were released the following month.[11]

Just prior to the album's release, a Dylan publicist announced that 50,000 free copies of the CD would be given away to randomly selected readers of AARP The Magazine, a bi-monthly periodical that focuses on issues related to aging.[12] Dylan's representatives also reached out to Robert Love, editor in chief of the magazine, requesting an interview.[13] In the interview, Dylan said he wanted to make this album ever since hearing Willie Nelson's standards album Stardust in the 1970s.[13] Dylan also spoke about his admiration for Frank Sinatra:

When you start doing these songs, Frank's got to be on your mind. Because he is the mountain. That’s the mountain you have to climb, even if you only get part of the way there. And it’s hard to find a song he did not do ... People talk about Frank all the time. He had this ability to get inside of the song in a sort of a conversational way. Frank sang to you—not at you. I never wanted to be a singer that sings at somebody. I’ve always wanted to sing to somebody. ... Certainly nobody worshipped Sinatra in the '60s like they did in the '40s. But he never went away—all those other things that we thought were here to stay, they did go away. But he never did.[13]

Dylan's intention, however, was not to record a mere collection of cover songs or a Sinatra tribute. In a statement he explained, "I don't see myself as covering these songs in any way. They've been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day".[3]

Nash Edgerton, who had directed three music videos for Dylan previously, directed an official music video for "The Night We Called It a Day". The video, which starred Dylan and actor Robert Davi, was shot in high-contrast black and white and featured a crime plot meant to evoke classic Hollywood film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s.[14]

Dylan also promoted the album by performing "The Night We Called It a Day" on the Late Show with David Letterman on May 19, 2015. USA Today described the performance as "haunting and beautiful, sung in a world-weary voice of a man who’s finally given up the chase. His vocal abilities proved incorrect those terrible, 50-year-old jokes about Dylan not being able to carry a tune — Bob can sing when he wants to".[15] Some critics noted that the song selection seemed "fitting" given that it was Letterman's penultimate show as a late-night talk-show host.[16]

Reception Edit

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.9/10[17]
Metacritic82/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [18]
The A.V. ClubB+[19]
The Daily Telegraph     [20]
Entertainment WeeklyB[21]
The Guardian     [22]
The Independent     [23]
Mojo     [24]
Pitchfork6.2/10[25]
Rolling Stone     [26]
Spin7/10[27]

If Tempest was hellfire apocalypse romance, prophesied steampunk armageddon, then Shadows in the Night is the revelation of the true nature of the American songbook...Dylan is rearranging, channeling, reinterpreting American musics, a magus, like he has been for decades.

Ben Roylance in review of Shadows in the Night[28]

Shadows in the Night was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 31 reviews.[4] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "The fact that the feel is so richly idiosyncratic is a testament to just how well he knows these tunes, and these slow, winding arrangements are why Shadows in the Night feels unexpectedly resonant: it's a testament to how deeply Dylan sees himself in these old songs".[18]

Kenneth Partridge, in Billboard magazine, gave the album four out of five stars, noting that Dylan was "singing like a guy who has seen it all and found truth in timeless poetry that belongs to everyone".[29] Partridge also observed, "Dylan has always loved American mythology and all things archaic, and his best songs on recent albums have been rooted in pre-rock pop. When he gets wistful on "The Night We Called It a Day" or grabs hold of moonbeams on the South Pacific favorite "Some Enchanted Evening", he's natural and sincere".[29] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian praised the album, stating that "it may be the most straightforwardly enjoyable album Dylan's made since Time Out of Mind".[22] Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine thought that the album "deepens the innate sorrow of these old tunes by establishing them on a long, irregular continuum, possessing the same inherent mutability as the folk songs of Dylan's early days".[30]

Writing for The A.V. Club, Corbin Reiff summed up the unexpected album by writing, "You can chalk it up as another instance of one of the most capricious artists in pop music history doing what he felt like. Take it or leave it".[19] Paste magazine critic Douglas Heselgrave stated that "Every performance on Shadows in the Night expresses a level of vocal maturity and intuition that he's never quite reached before".[31] David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine described the album as "quietly provocative and compelling", observing that "Dylan transforms everything on Shadows in the Night into a barely-there noir of bowed bass and throaty shivers of electric guitar".[26] Jon Pareles of The New York Times gave the album a positive review, writing: "Mr. Dylan presents yet another changed voice: not the wrathful scrape of his recent albums, but a subdued, sustained tone." Pareles further stated: "Even when it falters, Shadows in the Night maintains its singular mood: lovesick, haunted, suspended between an inconsolable present and all the regrets of the past".[6]

In his review for The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick described the work as "quite gorgeous" and "spooky, bittersweet, mesmerisingly moving" with "the best singing from Dylan in 25 years".[20] McCormick also praised Dylan's "delicate, tender and precise" singing that somehow "focuses the songs, compelling listeners to address their interior world in a way glissando prettiness might disguise".[20]

Some critics were less impressed. Writing for Pitchfork, Stephen Deusner argued that the covers lack Sinatra's "sophisticated humor, feisty insight, or infectious rhythm", instead sounding "emotionally muted" and monotonously played, "sacrificing any sense of rhythm for stately ambience".[25] More critical was Robert Christgau, who played the album several times before finding it "painful". He later complained that the singer's voice sounds "permanently shot" and that "the Sinatra-style pop canon Dylan has devoted himself to lately does generally require some show of mellifluousness and pitch control".[32]

NJArts critic Jay Lustig admitted that while he didn't understand why Dylan recorded Shadows in the Night, he did "like his tender, sensitively phrased version of Cy Coleman and Joseph McCarthy’s “Why Try to Change Me Now”, which he cited as his favorite track on the album.[33]

Two songs from the album made Rolling Stone's 2020 list of Dylan's 25 best songs of the 21st century: "Stay with Me" placed 25th and "Autumn Leaves" placed 22nd. Writing about the latter song, critic Angie Martoccio noted that it "fits in with his originals better than nearly anything else from this period",[34] an opinion underscored by the fact that "Autumn Leaves" is Dylan's most frequently played cover song of all time (with 237 total live performances).[35] Spectrum Culture also included "Autumn Leaves" on a 2020 list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the '10s and Beyond". It was the only song from Dylan's three albums of traditional pop standards, out of 52 from which to choose, that made the list.[36]

In a 2021 essay, Larry Starr compared Dylan's performance on the album's final track, "That Lucky Old Sun", not to Sinatra's version (which was recorded in 1949 when Sinatra was "a full-throated singer in his early prime") but rather to Sinatra's 1979 recording of the "Theme from New York, New York", which became his last top 40 hit in 1980. Starr claims that the 73-year-old Dylan's vocal performance on "That Lucky Old Sun" is "analogous" to the way that the 64-year-old Sinatra "becomes audibly more energized and 'younger'" as the "Theme from New York, New York" progresses: "Dylan smooths out his voice, relishing and prolonging all the long, open vowels every time he sings 'roll around heaven all day', as if he is transfigured by the vision. It is a striking performance, and wonderful conclusion for an album that is characterized throughout by a deep respect for the chosen repertoire".[37]

A 2015 USA Today article ranking "every Bob Dylan song" placed "That Lucky Old Sun" 56th (out of 359), calling it "[t]he highlight of Dylan’s surprisingly great album of classics from the American songbook".[38] Critic Ray Padgett also considers "That Lucky Old Sun" to be the highlight of Shadows in the Night (as well as the best of all 52 of the songs that appear on Dylan's American Songbook albums).[39]

Commercial performance Edit

The album debuted at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 22,031 in its first week. At the age of 73, Bob Dylan was the oldest male solo artist to chart at No. 1 in the UK, until the record was beaten by Paul Simon in 2016 for Stranger to Stranger.[40] Dylan also holds the record for the longest span between No. 1 albums with 51 years, having first topped the chart with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963.[41]

In the US, the album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, and No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums chart, selling 50,000 copies in its first week.[42] As of April 2016, the album has sold 151,000 copies in the U.S.[43]

Track listing Edit

Personnel Edit

Additional musicians
Technical personnel

Chart performance Edit

References Edit

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External links Edit

  • Official website  
  • Al Schmitt Interview on YouTube

shadows, night, other, uses, disambiguation, 36th, studio, album, dylan, released, columbia, records, february, 2015, album, consists, covers, traditional, standards, made, famous, frank, sinatra, chosen, dylan, like, most, 21st, century, output, dylan, produc. For other uses see Shadows in the Night disambiguation Shadows in the Night is the 36th studio album by Bob Dylan released by Columbia Records on February 3 2015 1 The album consists of covers of traditional pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra chosen by Dylan 2 Like most of his 21st century output Dylan produced the album himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost Shadows in the NightStudio album by Bob DylanReleasedFebruary 3 2015 2015 02 03 Recorded2014StudioCapitol Hollywood GenreTraditional pop vocal jazzLength35 17LanguageEnglishLabelColumbiaProducerJack FrostBob Dylan chronologyThe 50th Anniversary Collection 1964 2014 Shadows in the Night 2015 The Bootleg Series Vol 12 The Cutting Edge 1965 1966 2015 Singles from Shadows in the Night Full Moon and Empty Arms Released January 9 2015 Stay with Me Released January 19 2015Speaking of his intention behind the album Dylan stated I don t see myself as covering these songs in any way They ve been covered enough Buried as a matter a fact What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day 3 The album garnered acclaim from critics who praised its song selections as well as Dylan and his band s performance and arrangements 4 The album debuted at No 1 on the UK Albums Chart making Dylan the oldest male solo artist to chart at No 1 in the UK At the 2016 Grammys it was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album 5 Contents 1 Background and recording 2 Artwork 3 Release and promotion 4 Reception 4 1 Commercial performance 5 Track listing 6 Personnel 7 Chart performance 7 1 Weekly charts 7 2 Year end charts 8 References 9 External linksBackground and recording EditShadows in the Night consists of ten ballads that were recorded by Frank Sinatra in the late 1950s and early 1960s 6 The songs were selected from that period of Sinatra s career when he was recording thematic albums that explored emotions of separation and heartache albums such as Where Are You 1957 which includes four of the songs on Shadows No One Cares 1959 and All Alone 1962 6 Most of the songs are Tin Pan Alley standards delivered in a slow to mid tempo pace that often luxuriate in melancholy and communicate a sense of loneliness 6 The arrangements center on Dylan s vocals supported throughout by Donny Herron s gliding pedal steel guitar and Tony Garnier s bass 6 Shadows in the Night was recorded in 2014 at Capitol Studios in studio B where Frank Sinatra often recorded his albums 6 According to the album s recording engineer Al Schmitt the songs on Shadows were recorded live with Dylan singing and his five man touring band performing the songs in the same room at the same time without headphones 6 7 Dylan did not want to see any microphones other than the one he was using for his vocals so Schmitt had to set up the rest of the microphones away from the instruments 7 The acoustic bass microphone was eight feet from the bass and set down and away so it could not be seen the same approach was taken for the acoustic guitar 7 For the electric guitar and pedal steel Schmitt placed the microphones close to the amplifiers which were set off to the side 7 According to Schmitt recording sessions typically were held from 3 00 pm to 6 00 pm and then after a two hour break an evening session was held from 8 00 pm to around 10 30 pm 7 They worked Monday through Friday with weekends off 7 Dylan prepared each session by listening to the Sinatra recordings according to Schmitt who noted He would listen to the songs over and over and get Sinatra s intention on what he was doing with the song Then he would only do two or three takes on each tune but he would make it his own It had nothing to do with Sinatra He d just learn what the song was about and whatever It was an interesting way to work 7 A total of 23 songs were recorded from which ten were chosen for the album 7 Artwork EditThe cover art for Shadows in the Night presents images and a design that evoke the early 1960s The front cover incorporates a photo of Dylan in a thoughtful pose in formal attire presented in shadow behind a vertical bar design that emulates the cover of jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard s 1962 Blue Note album Hub Tones 6 The back cover photo shows Dylan and a masked woman both in formal wear sitting at a small nightclub table looking at a seven inch Sun Records single 6 Their appearance may allude to the 1966 Black and White Ball a masked ball attended by Frank Sinatra and his wife Mia Farrow both of whom wore masks at the event 6 As with many of Dylan s albums in the 21st century the packaging features minimal credits and no printed lyrics Release and promotion Edit nbsp Bob Dylan in the film noir inspired music video for The Night We Called It a Day Shadows in the Night was released by Columbia Records on February 3 2015 1 Dylan had teased the album s release by making his version of Full Moon and Empty Arms available to stream on his official website beginning on May 13 2014 8 and by performing Stay with Me Theme from The Cardinal in concert beginning on October 26 2014 9 The album was officially announced on December 9 2014 10 and two singles Full Moon and Empty Arms and Stay with Me were released the following month 11 Just prior to the album s release a Dylan publicist announced that 50 000 free copies of the CD would be given away to randomly selected readers of AARP The Magazine a bi monthly periodical that focuses on issues related to aging 12 Dylan s representatives also reached out to Robert Love editor in chief of the magazine requesting an interview 13 In the interview Dylan said he wanted to make this album ever since hearing Willie Nelson s standards album Stardust in the 1970s 13 Dylan also spoke about his admiration for Frank Sinatra When you start doing these songs Frank s got to be on your mind Because he is the mountain That s the mountain you have to climb even if you only get part of the way there And it s hard to find a song he did not do People talk about Frank all the time He had this ability to get inside of the song in a sort of a conversational way Frank sang to you not at you I never wanted to be a singer that sings at somebody I ve always wanted to sing to somebody Certainly nobody worshipped Sinatra in the 60s like they did in the 40s But he never went away all those other things that we thought were here to stay they did go away But he never did 13 Dylan s intention however was not to record a mere collection of cover songs or a Sinatra tribute In a statement he explained I don t see myself as covering these songs in any way They ve been covered enough Buried as a matter a fact What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day 3 Nash Edgerton who had directed three music videos for Dylan previously directed an official music video for The Night We Called It a Day The video which starred Dylan and actor Robert Davi was shot in high contrast black and white and featured a crime plot meant to evoke classic Hollywood film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s 14 Dylan also promoted the album by performing The Night We Called It a Day on the Late Show with David Letterman on May 19 2015 USA Today described the performance as haunting and beautiful sung in a world weary voice of a man who s finally given up the chase His vocal abilities proved incorrect those terrible 50 year old jokes about Dylan not being able to carry a tune Bob can sing when he wants to 15 Some critics noted that the song selection seemed fitting given that it was Letterman s penultimate show as a late night talk show host 16 Reception EditProfessional ratingsAggregate scoresSourceRatingAnyDecentMusic 7 9 10 17 Metacritic82 100 4 Review scoresSourceRatingAllMusic nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 18 The A V ClubB 19 The Daily Telegraph nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 20 Entertainment WeeklyB 21 The Guardian nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 22 The Independent nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 23 Mojo nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 24 Pitchfork6 2 10 25 Rolling Stone nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 26 Spin7 10 27 If Tempest was hellfire apocalypse romance prophesied steampunk armageddon then Shadows in the Night is the revelation of the true nature of the American songbook Dylan is rearranging channeling reinterpreting American musics a magus like he has been for decades Ben Roylance in review of Shadows in the Night 28 Shadows in the Night was met with widespread critical acclaim At Metacritic which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics the album received an average score of 82 based on 31 reviews 4 AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote The fact that the feel is so richly idiosyncratic is a testament to just how well he knows these tunes and these slow winding arrangements are why Shadows in the Night feels unexpectedly resonant it s a testament to how deeply Dylan sees himself in these old songs 18 Kenneth Partridge in Billboard magazine gave the album four out of five stars noting that Dylan was singing like a guy who has seen it all and found truth in timeless poetry that belongs to everyone 29 Partridge also observed Dylan has always loved American mythology and all things archaic and his best songs on recent albums have been rooted in pre rock pop When he gets wistful on The Night We Called It a Day or grabs hold of moonbeams on the South Pacific favorite Some Enchanted Evening he s natural and sincere 29 Alexis Petridis of The Guardian praised the album stating that it may be the most straightforwardly enjoyable album Dylan s made since Time Out of Mind 22 Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine thought that the album deepens the innate sorrow of these old tunes by establishing them on a long irregular continuum possessing the same inherent mutability as the folk songs of Dylan s early days 30 Writing for The A V Club Corbin Reiff summed up the unexpected album by writing You can chalk it up as another instance of one of the most capricious artists in pop music history doing what he felt like Take it or leave it 19 Paste magazine critic Douglas Heselgrave stated that Every performance on Shadows in the Night expresses a level of vocal maturity and intuition that he s never quite reached before 31 David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine described the album as quietly provocative and compelling observing that Dylan transforms everything on Shadows in the Night into a barely there noir of bowed bass and throaty shivers of electric guitar 26 Jon Pareles of The New York Times gave the album a positive review writing Mr Dylan presents yet another changed voice not the wrathful scrape of his recent albums but a subdued sustained tone Pareles further stated Even when it falters Shadows in the Night maintains its singular mood lovesick haunted suspended between an inconsolable present and all the regrets of the past 6 In his review for The Daily Telegraph Neil McCormick described the work as quite gorgeous and spooky bittersweet mesmerisingly moving with the best singing from Dylan in 25 years 20 McCormick also praised Dylan s delicate tender and precise singing that somehow focuses the songs compelling listeners to address their interior world in a way glissando prettiness might disguise 20 Some critics were less impressed Writing for Pitchfork Stephen Deusner argued that the covers lack Sinatra s sophisticated humor feisty insight or infectious rhythm instead sounding emotionally muted and monotonously played sacrificing any sense of rhythm for stately ambience 25 More critical was Robert Christgau who played the album several times before finding it painful He later complained that the singer s voice sounds permanently shot and that the Sinatra style pop canon Dylan has devoted himself to lately does generally require some show of mellifluousness and pitch control 32 NJArts critic Jay Lustig admitted that while he didn t understand why Dylan recorded Shadows in the Night he did like his tender sensitively phrased version of Cy Coleman and Joseph McCarthy s Why Try to Change Me Now which he cited as his favorite track on the album 33 Two songs from the album made Rolling Stone s 2020 list of Dylan s 25 best songs of the 21st century Stay with Me placed 25th and Autumn Leaves placed 22nd Writing about the latter song critic Angie Martoccio noted that it fits in with his originals better than nearly anything else from this period 34 an opinion underscored by the fact that Autumn Leaves is Dylan s most frequently played cover song of all time with 237 total live performances 35 Spectrum Culture also included Autumn Leaves on a 2020 list of Bob Dylan s 20 Best Songs of the 10s and Beyond It was the only song from Dylan s three albums of traditional pop standards out of 52 from which to choose that made the list 36 In a 2021 essay Larry Starr compared Dylan s performance on the album s final track That Lucky Old Sun not to Sinatra s version which was recorded in 1949 when Sinatra was a full throated singer in his early prime but rather to Sinatra s 1979 recording of the Theme from New York New York which became his last top 40 hit in 1980 Starr claims that the 73 year old Dylan s vocal performance on That Lucky Old Sun is analogous to the way that the 64 year old Sinatra becomes audibly more energized and younger as the Theme from New York New York progresses Dylan smooths out his voice relishing and prolonging all the long open vowels every time he sings roll around heaven all day as if he is transfigured by the vision It is a striking performance and wonderful conclusion for an album that is characterized throughout by a deep respect for the chosen repertoire 37 A 2015 USA Today article ranking every Bob Dylan song placed That Lucky Old Sun 56th out of 359 calling it t he highlight of Dylan s surprisingly great album of classics from the American songbook 38 Critic Ray Padgett also considers That Lucky Old Sun to be the highlight of Shadows in the Night as well as the best of all 52 of the songs that appear on Dylan s American Songbook albums 39 Commercial performance Edit The album debuted at No 1 on the UK Albums Chart selling 22 031 in its first week At the age of 73 Bob Dylan was the oldest male solo artist to chart at No 1 in the UK until the record was beaten by Paul Simon in 2016 for Stranger to Stranger 40 Dylan also holds the record for the longest span between No 1 albums with 51 years having first topped the chart with The Freewheelin Bob Dylan in 1963 41 In the US the album debuted at No 7 on the Billboard 200 and No 1 on the Top Rock Albums chart selling 50 000 copies in its first week 42 As of April 2016 the album has sold 151 000 copies in the U S 43 Track listing EditNo TitleWriter s Length1 I m a Fool to Want You Frank Sinatra Jack Wolf Joel Herron4 512 The Night We Called It a Day Matt Dennis Tom Adair3 243 Stay with Me Jerome Moross Carolyn Leigh2 564 Autumn Leaves Joseph Kosma Jacques Prevert Original French lyrics Johnny Mercer English lyrics 3 025 Why Try to Change Me Now Cy Coleman Joseph McCarthy3 386 Some Enchanted Evening Oscar Hammerstein II Richard Rodgers3 287 Full Moon and Empty Arms Buddy Kaye Ted Mossman Sergei Rachmaninoff3 268 Where Are You Harold Adamson Jimmy McHugh3 379 What ll I Do Irving Berlin3 2110 That Lucky Old Sun Haven Gillespie Beasley Smith3 39Total length 35 17Personnel EditBob Dylan vocals productionAdditional musiciansDaniel Fornero trumpet Tony Garnier upright bass Larry G Hall trumpet Dylan Hart French horn Donnie Herron pedal steel guitar Alan Kaplan trombone Stu Kimball guitar Andrew Martin trombone Joseph Meyer French horn George Receli percussion Charlie Sexton guitar Francisco Torres tromboneTechnical personnelGeoff Gans album design Steve Genewick assistant engineering D I Harper horns arrangement Al Schmitt recording mixing Doug Sax mastering John Shearer photographyChart performance EditWeekly charts Edit Chart 2015 PeakpositionAustralian Albums ARIA 44 8Austrian Albums O3 Austria 45 3Belgian Albums Ultratop Flanders 46 3Danish Albums Hitlisten 47 4Dutch Albums Album Top 100 48 2Finnish Albums Suomen virallinen lista 49 8German Albums Offizielle Top 100 50 6Irish Albums IRMA 51 1Italian Albums FIMI 52 6New Zealand Albums RMNZ 53 7Norwegian Albums VG lista 54 1Polish Albums ZPAV 55 6Portuguese Albums AFP 56 6Spanish Albums PROMUSICAE 57 3Swedish Albums Sverigetopplistan 58 1Swiss Albums Schweizer Hitparade 59 2UK Albums OCC 60 1US Billboard 200 61 7US Folk Albums Billboard 62 1US Top Rock Albums Billboard 63 1 Year end charts Edit Chart 2015 PositionBelgian Albums Ultratop Flanders 64 60Dutch Albums Album Top 100 65 59Swedish Albums Sverigetopplistan 66 72US Folk Albums Billboard 67 6US Top Rock Albums Billboard 68 29References Edit a b Eakin Marah October 31 2014 There s a new Bob Dylan record coming in 2015 The A V Club Retrieved February 8 2015 Bob Dylan Releasing New Album Shadows in the Night in 2015 Bob Dylan Archived from the original on February 7 2015 Retrieved February 8 2015 a b Greene Andy May 13 2014 Bob Dylan Releases Frank Sinatra Cover Rolling Stone Archived from the original on October 13 2017 Retrieved February 8 2015 a b c Reviews for Shadows in the Night by Bob Dylan Metacritic Retrieved February 3 2015 Grammy Nominations 2016 See the Full List of Nominees Billboard Prometheus Global Media December 7 2015 Retrieved May 31 2020 a b c d e f g h i j Pareles Jon February 2 2015 Releases from Bob Dylan and Diana Krall The New York Times Retrieved February 8 2015 a b c d e f g h Peeples Stephen K February 3 2015 Grammy Legend Al Schmitt Previews Bob Dylan s Shadows in the Night Stephen K Peeples Retrieved February 8 2015 Shadows In The Night 2015 searchingforagem com Retrieved June 9 2021 Dolby Theatre The Official Bob Dylan Site www bobdylan com Retrieved June 9 2021 Minsker Evan December 9 2014 Bob Dylan Announces Frank Sinatra Covers Album Shadows in the Night Pitchfork Retrieved June 9 2021 Greene Andy January 20 2015 Hear Bob Dylan Cover Sinatra on Stay With Me Rolling Stone Retrieved June 9 2021 Bob Dylan Is Giving His New CD Yes CD to 50 000 Over 50s Wondering Sound Archived from the original on February 2 2015 Retrieved February 8 2015 a b c Love Robert February 2015 Bob Dylan Does the American Standards His Way AARP Retrieved February 8 2015 Watch Bob Dylan s Film Noir Video for The Night We Called it a Day Billboard Retrieved February 3 2021 Bob Dylan sent off David Letterman with a beautiful haunting Frank Sinatra standard For The Win May 20 2015 Retrieved June 9 2021 Watch Bob Dylan sends off David Letterman with The Night We Called it a Day The Know May 20 2015 Retrieved June 9 2021 Shadows in the Night by Bob Dylan reviews AnyDecentMusic Retrieved June 13 2018 a b Erlewine Stephen Thomas Shadows in the Night Bob Dylan AllMusic Retrieved February 3 2015 a b Reiff Corbin February 3 2015 There s nothing standard about Bob Dylan s latest The A V Club Retrieved February 8 2015 a b c McCormick Neil January 23 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in The Night review extraordinary The Daily Telegraph Retrieved February 8 2015 Anderson Kyle February 6 2015 Shadows in the Night EW review Entertainment Weekly Retrieved May 26 2019 a b Petridis Alexis January 29 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night review an unalloyed pleasure The Guardian Retrieved February 3 2015 Gill Andy January 30 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night album review Restoring life to old standards The Independent Archived from the original on February 8 2015 Retrieved February 8 2015 Simmons Michael February 6 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows In The Night Mojo Retrieved May 26 2019 a b Deusner Stephen M February 3 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Pitchfork Retrieved April 2 2017 a b Fricke David February 3 2015 Shadows in the Night Rolling Stone Archived from the original on October 9 2017 Retrieved February 4 2015 Weber Theon February 5 2015 Review Bob Dylan Teaches Sinatra to Sing on the Rustling Shadows in the Night Spin Retrieved May 26 2019 Music Review Bob Dylan Shadows In The Night a b Partridge Kenneth February 3 2015 Bob Dylan Takes on Frank Sinatra Billboard Retrieved February 11 2015 Cataldo Jesse February 2 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Slant Magazine Retrieved February 3 2015 Heselgrave Douglas February 3 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Review Paste Retrieved February 4 2015 Christgau Robert January 15 2019 Xgau Sez robertchristgau com Archived from the original on July 26 2018 Retrieved January 15 2019 Bob Dylan Favorite songs from each album of the 10s and beyond WITH VIDEOS NJArts net July 4 2021 Retrieved July 16 2021 Dolan Jon Doyle Patrick Greene Andy Hiatt Brian Martoccio Angie Sheffield Rob Shteamer Hank Vozick Levinson Simon June 18 2020 The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century Rolling Stone Retrieved February 3 2021 Bob Dylan Tour Statistics setlist fm www setlist fm Retrieved February 3 2021 Bob Dylan s 20 Best Songs of the 10s and Beyond Spectrum Culture February 19 2021 Retrieved March 15 2021 Starr Larry 2021 Chapter 11 The Great American Songbook In Latham Sean ed The World of Bob Dylan Cambridge United Kingdom Cambridge University Press pp 142 143 ISBN 978 1 108 49951 4 Ranking all of Bob Dylan s songs from No 1 to No 359 For The Win May 24 2021 Retrieved June 9 2021 Ranking All of Bob Dylan s American Songbook Covers Cover Me April 3 2017 Retrieved June 9 2021 Jones Alan June 10 2016 Official Charts Analysis Paul Simon nets seventh No 1 album Music Week Retrieved June 13 2016 1 dead link White Emily February 13 2015 Bob Dylan Debuts at No 1 on Top Rock Albums Billboard Upcoming Releases Hits Daily Double HITS Digital Ventures Archived from the original on April 30 2016 Australiancharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 11 2015 Austriancharts at Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night in German Hung Medien Retrieved February 11 2015 Ultratop be Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night in Dutch Hung Medien Retrieved February 9 2015 Danishcharts dk Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 14 2015 Dutchcharts nl Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night in Dutch Hung Medien Retrieved February 9 2015 Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night in Finnish Musiikkituottajat IFPI Finland Retrieved February 13 2015 Offiziellecharts de Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night in German GfK Entertainment Charts Retrieved 9 December 2021 GFK Chart Track Albums Week 6 2015 Chart Track IRMA Retrieved February 9 2015 Italiancharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 12 2015 Charts nz Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 14 2015 Norwegiancharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 14 2015 Oficjalna lista sprzedazy OLiS Official Retail Sales Chart OLiS Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry Retrieved February 13 2015 Portuguesecharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 13 2015 Spanishcharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 13 2015 Swedishcharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 8 2015 Swisscharts com Bob Dylan Shadows in the Night Hung Medien Retrieved February 11 2015 Bob Dylan Artist Official Charts UK Albums Chart Retrieved February 8 2015 Bob Dylan Chart History Billboard 200 Billboard Retrieved February 13 2015 Bob Dylan Chart History Top Americana Folk Albums Billboard Retrieved February 13 2015 Bob Dylan Chart History Top Rock Albums Billboard Retrieved July 6 2020 Jaaroverzichten 2015 Ultratop Retrieved July 6 2020 Jaaroverzichten Album 2015 dutchcharts nl Retrieved July 6 2020 Arslista Album Ar 2015 in Swedish Sverigetopplistan Retrieved July 6 2020 Americana Folk Albums Year End 2015 Billboard Retrieved July 6 2020 Top Rock Albums Year End 2015 Billboard Retrieved July 6 2020 External links EditOfficial website nbsp Al Schmitt Interview on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Shadows in the Night amp oldid 1148664021, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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