New Dylan album of Sinatra classics

BOB Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his rock poetry but he is returning to classics with his new album, which marks his latest collection of Frank Sinatra standards.

Triplicate, which will come out on March 31, will be Dylan’s first three-disc album and his third successive album consisting of covers of tunes performed by Sinatra.

Dylan released a first track from Triplicate – a take on I Could Have Told You, originally released by Sinatra in 1954, with the rock legend’s grainy voice over a melancholy slide guitar.

Other songs Dylan covers on Triplicate include The Best Is Yet To Come, one of Sinatra’s most famous songs whose title is inscribed on his tombstone; As Time Goes By, best known for the piano scene in classic film Casablanca; and Stardust ,a perennial American favourite since Hoagy Carmichael’s 1927 original.

While Sinatra is the common thread on Triplicate, Dylan’s 38th studio album, the 30 songs come from a range of songwriters.

Dylan chose the selection and recorded them with his touring band at Capitol studios in Hollywood, his label said.

At 75, Dylan has shown no sign of slowing down. He plans a tour of Europe in April and May and was recently announced as a headliner of the Firefly festival to take place in June in the eastern US state of Delaware.

But Dylan was characteristically reticent in October when he was the surprise winner of literature’s most celebrated prize, with the Nobel Committee hailing his unique rock voice.

He did not show up for the prize ceremony in Stockholm in December, but sent a speech in which he said he was honoured to win the award. – AFP