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 Dolly has always dabbled in remaking a song and giving it her own personal touch. Some of my favorites are Two Lovers, Love is Strange (with Kenny), House of the Rising Sun, Sweet Music Man, Time For Me To Fly, Those Memories of You, Mr. Sandman, Knocking on Heaven's Door, and Stairway to Heaven. Of course, there's the standard I Get a Kick Out of You to be added to that list. I always enjoy listening to Dolly cover another artist's song and make the song her own. She has given us three full cd's of covers starting with The Great Pretender, Treasures and now Those Were The Days. Each cd has a special focus and each one covers different era's of music (Treasures covers several decades!). I love all three.
I have to admit that I'm not much of a folk music fan and some of these songs I had never heard before and a few I had heard but did not know the name. I'm not a Bob Dylan fan and was not dissapointed that he was not able to perform on the cd with Dolly. The song does not need him and I think his addition would have taken away from the song. I like every track on the cd and enjoy the guest artists. I have to say that after seeing Dolly live and hearing her live performance of Imagine, the cd does not quite capture the feeling of the live performance. Don't get me wrong, it's one of the best cuts from the cd but hearing her sing that song live is breathtaking! I'm a huge Dolly fan and will admit that although I love all her cd's, I was a bit skeptical of this third cover's cd. I mean do we really need another cover's cd? I now know that answer is Yes! The bluegrass feel of the cd is typical Dolly and her voice is angelic. I must admit that after her duet with Rod Stewart on Baby It's Cold Outside, I am anxiously awaiting a cd by Dolly covering some of the great standards. She's given us several terrific bluegrass cd's and has been a hit with pop radio/charts and country radio/charts. Jazz standards would be an awesome addition to her many many talents and triumphs! Some people may think that this cd has a political agenda and Dolly denies any such intention but I say, Why Not? Anti-War, what better message can be sent? I do not feel an anti-war message when listening to this cd but some of the songs do mention war and soldiers but I don't feel the songs are sung in protest of war or have a specific stance on war. Just a thought, what about Kenny and Dolly covering The Beat Goes On? That would have been a great treat for this cd, or Linda and Emmy and Dolly singing The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy? But the song list is great and Dolly sounds marvelous. I hope she never stops recording.
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I'm supposed to believe Dolly Parton singing songs she in all likelihood hated when they first came out? Please. Hearing her sing Imagine might just make John Lennon crawl out of his grave. I don't believe these songs have any meaning for her other than allowing her to jump on the bandwagon of older pop singers singing classics. Here's the problem. I believe Rod Stewart when he sings standards. He lets the songs shine through while maintaining his own style. These 60s/70s songs in Dolly's hands become parodies worthy of Weird Al Yankovic. Dolly, stick to hardcore traditional country. That's your forte. Leave these songs alone.
"Those Were The Days" marks Dolly's third full album of cover songs, although she has included cover material on albums thruout her career. The first full cover album was 1984's "The Great Pretender" in which Dolly covered songs from the late 50's and early 60's. Although "Pretender" is a good album, it suffers from the typical 80's production, heavy on the synthesizers. The next like album was 1996's "Treasures" which was kind of a mixed bag of genre's and era's. With "Days" Dolly sticks pretty much to the late 60's and early 70's. The songs are all done in bluegrass-y style of her most recent work. For the most part the results are fantastic. A few of the songs take a few spins to grow on you, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and "Both Sides Now" have been sped up a bit but work once you become accustomed to the faster style. For me the stand out tracks are the title track, which has always been a favorite of mine, "Me & Bobby McGee", "Where Do The Children Play" and "Imagine".
