Album Review: Cat Power Sings Dylan – The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert

In November 2022, Cat Power stepped on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where she subsequently delivered a song-for-song recreation of Bob Dylan’s legendary set at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in May 1966 (which became known as the Royal Albert Hall Concert thanks to a wrongly-labelled bootleg). This was the show where Dylan plugged in his guitar half-way through the show, prompting the infamous “Judas” heckle from the folk-purists in the crowd.

Power replaces the tension of Dylan “going electric” with a stunningly warm and reflective take on some of the greatest songs ever written. She remains true to the spirit of the original gig by only plugging in for the second half, beginning with the honkytonk shuffle of ‘Tell Me, Momma’. Acoustic highlights include a 12-and-a-half-minute ‘Desolation Row’ and a whimsical ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’, while the electric set includes a brilliantly bluesy ‘Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat’, a yearning ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’, and a swirling ‘Baby, Let Me Follow You Down’.

Chan Marshall (Power’s real name) inhabits the songs and then some, her husky tones bringing out the beauty and warmth in stone cold classics ‘Just Like A Woman’, ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.

Of course, Power is no stranger to interpreting other people’s material, having released three acclaimed albums of covers to date, but this may be her most ambitious and successful yet.

8/10