Almanac Music: Dylan Covers – Kiwi Style: 2000-15

 

In an earlier Dylan covers article, I had a good look at what was happening in New Zealand with regard to Dylan covers.  I found that there were two distinct eras – the first was 1965-1975 and this era was covered in my earlier article.

 

In this, my 8^th Dylan covers article, I return to the ‘Land Of The Long White Cloud’ and dig deep into the second era – 2000-2015 – where the interest of NZ singers & bands in Dylan’s anthology reached another peak.

 

To be considered a New Zealander, the artist was either born & raised in NZ or moved to NZ as a youngster and spent their formative years in NZ, during which they learnt and honed their skills as a musician and/or vocalist and a member of a band.  That said, there are 4 artists in this article (Marc Hunter, Kevin Borich, Neil Finn & Glyn Mason) who would easily be granted honorary Aussie status.

 

 

Marc Hunter

 

Marc was born in Taumarunui (central North Island of NZ) on 7 September 1953.  As I write this article Marc would have celebrated his 71^st birthday.

 

Marc is best known as the lead singer of the band Dragon, which was formed by his older brother Todd in Auckland in 1972.  By mid-1975, Dragon had relocated to Sydney and over the next few years had major chart success with ‘April Sun In Cuba’ and ‘Are You Old Enough’.  Other songs to ‘shake’ the charts were ‘Get That Jive’ and ‘Still In Love With You’.

 

Addicted to heroin & alcohol, Marc’s stage behaviour deteriorated to the point that by early 1979, he was fired from the band by older brother Todd.  By 1982, with his act cleaned up, Marc was invited back into the band when it reformed and they had chart success with ‘Rain’ and ‘Dreams Of Ordinary Men’.

 

When initially relieved of band duties, Marc shifted into a solo career, which he maintained alongside his subsequent Dragon commitments.  Marc released 5 solo albums between late 1979-1994, including a covers album (1990’s Night And Day) – although neither the albums nor the promotional singles rated highly on the Australian charts.

 

Marc died on 17 July 1998 in Berry NSW – 8 months after being diagnosed with throat cancer.  He was buried at Gerringong Cemetery on the NSW south coast.

 

In 2008, Marc was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a member of Dragon.  Marc & the band also received similar recognition in 2011 when they were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

 

So, how does this all lead to Marc’s connection to a Dylan cover song?  In 2000, the double CD Forever Young: The Solo Recordings 1979 – 1995 was posthumously released.  Despite Marc not commercially releasing a cover of Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’, the CD not only includes Marc’s cover of the song but also the song title has been further honoured as the album title.  Research suggests that the cover version of ‘Forever Young’ was produced by Keith Walker in 1989 – & thus, I assume that it was a contender for the above mentioned 1990 Night & Day album – which was a ten track covers album – although, perhaps, the Dylan cover was shelved as it didn’t sit well alongside the Bacharach/Gershwin/Porter/Mancini numbers.

 

 

 

 

In my research of Dylan covers I have listened to countless renditions of Dylan’s creative output – and I would rate Marc’s version of ‘Forever Young’ up there with the best of them.

 

 

Bic Runga

 

Bic was born in Christchurch in 1976.

 

In Australia, Bic is best known for her 1997 top 10 single ‘Sway’.  Her first three studio albums received some attention but only managed to peak at 50, 41 & 26 respectively on the Australian album charts.

 

In New Zealand, it is a different tale. Her first three studio albums – Drive (1997); Beautiful Collision (2002); Birds (2005) – all debuted at no.1 on the NZ Top 40 Albums chart. Her two subsequent studio albums – Belle (2011) and Close Your Eyes (2016) peaked at no.5 & no.15 respectively.

 

In 2016, Bic was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.  Damian Vaughan, Recorded Music NZ CEO, recognised Bic with the following words:  Bic is one of our most loved and treasured recording artists, her songs are instantly recognizable and have been part of the fabric of New Zealand for more than 20 years.

 

On 3 October 2003 (between her second and third studio albums), Bic teamed up with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and performed a concert at Christchurch Town Hall.  An album of the concert was released in November 2003, titled Live in Concert with the Christchurch Symphony.  It is here that the connection between Bic and Dylan’s anthology takes place – with the

third track on the album being ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’.

 

 

 

Kokomo

 

It is quite likely that you have never heard of NZ band Kokomo, despite them being around since 1991 (and still going strong).  Kokomo was formed in Tauranga in the Bay Of Plenty region of NZ’s North Island.   The only times the band ventures outside the Bay Of Plenty border is to perform at NZ’s varied annual folk, jazz, blues, roots, music, arts, food and wine, and scallop festivals.

 

The band is fundamentally an independent blues band that has managed to garner local resources and produce low budget limited release albums – often sold at their various live performances and by mail order.

 

Since 1992, the band and its various offshoots have released twenty albums, with the twenty-first album in the catalogue due for its official launch at The Jam Factory, Tauranga on 14 September 2024 (i.e. this upcoming Saturday!).  It would be fair to say that none of the albums, blues covers or original songs have charted in NZ (or elsewhere, for that matter)– yet the band remains a constant on the live festival circuit across NZ.

 

2008 marked a departure for Kokomo when the band released its eleventh album In The Well. A long-planned labour of love, it is a collection of twelve Dylan songs re-arranged and re-invented in the Kokomo style. The album was released on Dylan’s 67^th birthday – 24 May 2008.

 

What is most interesting about the album is the selection of songs – including ‘On A Night Like This’; ‘Dignity’; ‘Trying To Get To Heaven’; ‘Things Have Changed’; ‘Queen Jane Approximately’; ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’.  There are no songs from the top 25 Dylan covers list; nothing from the early folk (1962-64), ‘domestic life’ & Nashville influenced (1967–73) or ‘religious’ (1979-81) eras.

 

The final track on the album is ‘Cat’s In The Well’ – which obviously gives the album its title.  This is one of only two known covers of this song, which Dylan originally recorded on his 1990 Under The Red Sky album.

 

 

 

The only other cover of this song is by a Norwegian band called Matpackers, with their version translated into and sung in Norwegian.

 

 

Kevin Borich

 

Kevin was born in Auckland in 1948.  In 1964 (at the age of 16), Kevin formed the La De Da’s – a band that I covered in detail in my earlier ‘Dylan Covers – Kiwi Style: 1965-75’ article.

 

By the mid 70’s, Kevin had settled in Australia and formed a new band ‘Kevin Borich Express’, which has released five studio and two live albums.  Kevin was also a member of The Party Boys between 1982-89.  In between band commitments, Kevin has released seven solo albums – the most recent being Duets in July 2023.

 

Despite his NZ heritage, Kevin has received the following Australian-based accolades:

 

Best Guitarist 1977 & 1978 – Australian Rock Music Awards;

Heritage Award 1999 – Australian Blues Music Festival;

Inducted 2003 – Australian Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

 

Throughout his career and especially on stage, Kevin has taken a liking to Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ – so it is fitting that a (somewhat) rare and raw YouTube clip from 2010 allows us to re-live Kevin’s live performance of the song (ably supported by Footy Almanac favourite Dave Warner).

 

 

 

 

The Starbugs

 

Take five Wellington, NZ based kids – aged between 7 to 15 – and introduce them to the Bob Dylan songbook.  The result is an 11 track The Kids Sing Bob Dylan album that features classics such as: ‘Mr Tambourine Man’; ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’; ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’; ‘I Shall Be Released’; ‘The Mighty Quinn’; ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’; ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’; ‘Girl From The North Country’; and ‘Forever Young’ – all songs in the top 20 Dylan covers of all time.  Add a few outliers: ‘Man Gave Names To All The Animal; and ‘Mozambique’ – a song that has only been covered by six artists.

 

Co-producer Radha Sahar said the album was a lovely way to celebrate Dylan in the year of his 70th birthday.

 

The Starbugs version of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ uses The Byrds musical arrangement and includes the first and second verses of Dylan’s original four verse song; which is one verse more than The Byrd’s 2min:18sec chart topping 1965 version.

 

 

 

 

Chris Thompson

 

Chris was born in Kent, England in 1948 but moved with his family to Hamilton on New Zealand’s North Island when he was 5 years of age.  During his teens and early 20’s, Chris honed his musicianship and vocal abilities in several bands around the Hamilton City.

 

In 1973, aged 25, Chris returned to England to pursue his musical career and by 1975 he had secured a role as guitarist and vocalist for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Chris’s tenure with the band covered two distinct periods: 1975-86, which involved the release of six studio albums and one live album, including Chris providing lead vocals on the no.1 chart topping cover of Springsteen’s ‘Blinded By The Light’; and 1996-99, with the release of a further studio and live album.

 

Between 1979-80, Chris formed the US based band Night and they had an Australian no.3 hit single with ‘Hot Summer Night’.  Since 1981, Chris has also released multiple solo studio and live albums.

 

One original song that Chris co-wrote in 1986 with Andy Qunta (ex-Icehouse), Keith Reid (ex-Procol Harum) and Maggie Ryder (ex-Eurythmics backing singer) was called ‘You’re The Voice’.  After being denied the opportunity to record the song by various London-based record companies on the grounds that it was ‘not commercial’, Chris offered the song to John Farnham, who was seeking new material to re-launch his career after a stint with The Little River Band.  In what was a sweet ‘win/win’, John’s career re-launch reached dizzy heights beyond his wildest hopes and Chris and co received a decent flow of royalty payments.

 

To connect Chris to the Dylan songbook, it is important to note that between 1972-98 the Manfred Mann Earth Band recorded eight Dylan covers, usually one per studio album, as well as including multiple Dylan covers in their ‘live’ performances.  These were often lesser-known Dylan songs (e.g. ‘Please Mrs. Henry’, ‘Get Your Rocks Off’, ‘Father Of Night’, ‘You Angel You’).  The most interesting Dylan cover is ‘Father Of Night’ – the original Dylan recording for the 1970 New Morning album clocked in at 1min 32 secs (the shortest song in Dylan’s entire studio-released catalogue) – while Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s version (titled ‘Father Of Day, Father Of Night’) on the 1973 Solar Fire album clocked in at 9min 55secs.

 

Chris often performs ‘Father Of Day, Father Of Night’ in his live concert sets.  The YouTube clip that follows runs for a modest 4min 53secs.

 

 

 

 

Note: The Chris Thompson in this article is not to be confused with another NZ singer/songwriter also going by the name Chris Thompson.  The latter Chris Thompson was born in the early 1950’s in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand’s North Island.  He is a singer/songwriter in the country/folk/blues tradition, releasing his first album self-titled album in 1973 – and a further dozen albums over the subsequent years.

 

 

Neil Finn

 

Neil needs no introductions to the Footy Almanac readership, but a brief summary is in order.

 

Neil was born in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island in 1958.

 

Member of Split Enz (1977 – 1984), writing major hits – ‘I Got You’, ‘One Step Ahead’, ‘History Repeats’, ‘Message To My Girl’.  In 2005, Split Enz were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

 

Co-founded Crowded House in 1984 and continues to serve as lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter. Since 1986, the band has released 8 studio albums – each peaking in the top 3 on the album charts in Australia and New Zealand and selling over 15 million copies worldwide.  In 2016, Crowded House was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

 

Neil also released six solo albums between 1998 – 2017.

 

In 1993, Neil was awarded an OBE for his contribution to music in New Zealand.

 

As far as I can ascertain, Neil’s only recorded connection to the Dylan songbook is when he accepted a 2012 invite to contribute a song to the 4-disc CD Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International. In total, seventy-six Dylan songs were covered by an internationally diverse range of artists and bands and made available on CD and digital-only bonus tracks. At track 3 of disc 3, Neil Finn with Pyjama Club perform ‘She Belongs To Me’.

 

 

 

Note: Pyjama Club comprises Neil, his wife Sharon, Sean Donnelly & Alana Skyring.

 

 

Daniel Bedingfield

 

Daniel was born in Auckland in 1979, although his singer/songwriter career commenced in 2001 when he was based in London.

 

His debut 2002 album Gotta Get Thru This reached no. 2 on the UK charts and sold over 4 million copies worldwide.  His follow up album, the 2004 Second First Impressions peaked at no. 8 on the UK charts.

 

In 2012, Daniel (like Neil Finn above) accepted an invitation to contribute a song to the Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International album.  His version of Dylan’s ‘Man In The Long Black Coat’ was made available as a digital-only bonus track. It is one of the more interesting interpretations of this song.

 

 

 

 

Glyn Mason

 

Glyn was born in Nottingham, England in 1949.  By 1952, his family had moved to Australia and then finally settled in the Lower Hutt region of New Zealand’s North Island by 1958.

 

Glyn’s first band was The Roadrunners, which he joined in 1964 (aged 15).  His next band was called The Bitter End before he moved to Auckland in 1968 and helped form the band Jigsaw (not to be confused with the Aussie band Jigsaw that had a minor hit in 1970 with ‘Yellow River’).

 

Glyn’s big break came when Larry Morris left ‘Larry’s Rebels’ and the renamed ‘Rebels’ invited Glyn to join the band as lead singer. They recorded an album titled Madrigal in 1969 and moved to Australia – although the band split up in 1970.

 

Glyn’s vocal talents were not lost on the Aussie scene and he joined Chain in 1970 – adding his vocals & guitar to the band’s first two ‘live’ albums: Chain – Live (1970); and Chain – Live Again (1972).  In between those two live albums, Glyn had travelled to the UK and it was Matt Taylor who had lead vocals for Chain’s most iconic album (Toward The Blues, 1971) and song (‘Black And Blue’).

 

In 1972, Glyn joined Sydney-based band Copperwine for a short stint after the departure of Jeff St. John before settling into the country-rock band Home for a couple of years.  Home released studio albums in 1973 (at last!) and 1974 (Long Long Way To Nowhere).

 

After Home’s demise in 1975, Glyn joined the progressive rock band Ariel and contributed guitar, lead and backing vocals to the band’s third and final studio album Goodbye Fiona. In July 1977, the band decided to split, but not before the recording of a themed farewell concert at Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne – which resulted in the release of two ‘live’ albums between late 1977 and 1978.

 

In 1978, Glyn joined Sam See (ex-Country Radio) and Chris Stockley (ex-Dingoes) to form, unsurprisingly, The Stockley, See, Mason Band. In 1979, the band released its only album – a ‘live’ recording titled Beg Steal or Borrow.  The band called it quits in 1980.

 

As a result of developing polyps on his vocal chords, Glyn left the performing music scene and eventually had a successful 21 year career as the on-the-road rep for Fender musical instruments.

 

In the early 2000’s, Glyn reunited with Sam See, forming The Pardoners.  To date they have released studio albums in 2006 and 2011. In 2016, Glyn and Sam were joined by Lindsay Field (ex-John Farnham backing singer) and released the 14 track Down Under The Covers CD – which canvasses a wide diversity high profile Aussie songs such as ‘Highway to Hell’, ‘Great Southern Land’, ‘I’ll Be Gone’, ‘Leaps And Bounds’, ‘Beds Are Burning’.

 

So, where does the Glyn Mason/Dylan connection come in?  In 2015, Glyn decided to release a solo album called What Goes Around. The opening track is a demo recording of Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’.  Glyn’s lyrical interpretation is worth a listen. The YouTube clip has only received 28 views in the past 2 years (and  6 of those views have been mine) – so I hope the Footy Almanac family can give the number of views a decent uplift.

 

 

 

 

After two ‘Dylan Covers – Kiwi Style’ articles, I have exhausted my database of known Dylan covers by Kiwi artists.  The next article in the series will resume normal transmission by returning to Aussie shores.

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read Here.

 

 

 

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