Rory Block

Positively 4th Street: A tribute to Bob Dylan

Stony Plain Records

“I grew up in Greenwich Village and was a teenager when Bob Dylan’s songs were becoming huge hits. We didn’t think it unusual to spot John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan walking down West 4th Street…My father’s place of business, The Allan Block Sandal Shop was at 171 West 4th…in the cover photo, taken in the late 1960’s, I am seated in the window……the reflection in the glass is a reverse image of Jones Street, where Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo were photographed for the cover of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” taken by the celebrated folk and rock photographer David Gahr. Rory remembers her father talking…with an artistic looking man…I was aware of who he was…but I was raised to respect peoples’ privacy and not fawn over anyone…it was just part of the general musical atmosphere that characterized the place and time”.

Rory opens with Dylan’s “Everything Is Broken” as she sings “Broken lines, broken strings, broken threads,broken springs, broken idols, broken heads, people sleeping in broken beds, ain’t no use jiving, ain’t no use joking, everything is broken, broken bottles, broken plates, broken switches, broken gates, broken dishes, broken parts, streets are filled with broken hearts, broken words never meant to be spoken, everything is broken”. The song appears on Dylan’s 1989 album “Oh Mercy” and was produced by Daniel Lanois. Interestingly Lanois first produced Dylan in 1997 on another song that Rory sings, “Not Dark Yet”, from the album “Time Out of Mind” with Cindy Cashdollar playing a baritone guitar.

Although this tribute is an album of Dylan covers we get to hear some of his more obscure songs chosen by Rory. These are songs that move her emotionally. “Ring Them Bells” is one you may have heard sung by Joan Baez as it was recorded live at “The Bottom Line” in 1995. I love Rory’s version as sometimes she plays slide while othertimes her full guitar sounds more like a twelve string. Her version of “Like A Rolling Stone” is a more intimate version of the Dylan favorite.The same can be said of “Mr. Tamborine Man” which appears on Dylan’s 1979 album “At Budokan” and Rory’s version is true to the original. On the title track “Positively 4th Street” Rory’s arrangement kicks up a notch as she adds a drum roll on each chorus. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” was first released on Dylan’s 2005 “Live At The Gaslight:1962”.The last two songs “Mother Of Muses” and “Murder Most Foul” are from Dylan’s 2020 two-cd set “Rough and Rowdy Ways”. The latter was originally 17 minutes but Rory’s version comes in at over 20 minutes as she paints a dark picture starting with the assasinations of both JFK and Martin Luther King.

Throughout the recording Rory’s interpretations are especially moving. Rory Block has given us a fine tribute album.

Richard Ludmerer
Contributing Editor/Making A Scene

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