Album Features
UPC:	696998901520
Format:	CD
Release Year:	2003
Record Label:	Columbia (USA)
Genre:	Rock & Pop, Singer/Songwriter

Track Listing
1. Gotta Serve Somebody - Shirley Caesar
2. When You Gonna Wake Up? - Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC's
3. I Believe in You - Dottie Peoples
4. Are You Ready? - The Fairfield Four
5. Solid Rock - Sounds of Blackness
6. Saving Grace - Aaron Neville
7. What Can I Do for You? - Helen Baylor
8. Pressing On - Chicago Mass Choir
9. Saved - The Mighty Clouds of Joy
10. When He Returns - Rance Allen
11. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking - Mavis Staples/Bob Dylan

Details
Playing Time:	55 min.
Producer:	Joel Moss
Distributor:	Sony Music Distribution (
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Includes liner notes by Tom Piazza and Horace Clarence Boyer.GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album. "Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking" was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.Personnel: Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar); Mavis Staples, Regina McCrary (vocals); Wayne Barrett, Glenn Alexander, Larry Campbell, Tony Maiden, Fred Tackett, Brent Rowan, Charlie Sexton (guitar); Jeral Gray Sr., Scott Healy, Terry Young, Gary "Bud" Smith , Greg Mathieson (piano); Shannon Ford (drums, tambourine); Jim Keltner, Eddie Bayers, Bill Maxwell, Paul Leim, Calvin Rodgers, George Recile (drums); Adriane Lenox, Michael McElroy, Capathia Jenkins, Aisha Dehaas (background vocals).Audio Mixers: Christopher Shaw ; Joel Moss .Liner Note Authors: Tom Piazza; Jeffrey Gaskill; Horace Clarence Boyer; Joel Moss .Recording information: Chicago Recording Center, Chicago, IL (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); Emerald Studios, Nashville, TN (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); Jan Folkson Recording, New York, NY (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); Liwii Studios, Hoboken, NJ (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); O'Henry Studios, Burbank, CA (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); Record One, Sherman Oaks, CA (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); Signet Sound Deluxe, Los Angeles, CA (03/26/2001-03/04/2002); TRS Music Center, Toledo, OH (03/26/2001-03/04/2002).Photographers: Walter Wright; David Gahr; Donald Dietz.Unknown Contributor Role: Yvonne Staples.The concept of a compilation of Bob Dylan's gospel songs is certainly an idea whose time has come. That this does not feature Dylan performing the original versions of these songs is yet another. Executive producer Jeffrey Gaskill assembled a wide-ranging assortment of the hottest talent in the gospel arena, both past and present, to perform the songs from Dylan's Slow Train Coming and Saved albums, and producer Joel Moss extracted phenomenal performances from Shirley Caesar, the Fairfield Four, the Sounds of Blackness, Rance Allen, the Chicago Mass Choir fronted by Regina McCrary (who sang backup for Dylan on the 1978 and 1979 tours when these recordings were originally done), the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Helen Baylor (with Billy Preston), Aaron Neville, Dottie Peoples, Lee Williams & the Spiritual QC's, Mavis Staples, and Dylan himself (performing a duet on a completely rewritten version of "Gonna Change My Way of Thinkin'"). In addition, a reunion of Dylan's touring band from the period, which included Tim Drummond, Jim Keltner, and Spooner Oldham, performs on "Solid Rock" with the Sounds of Blackness. All of this is interesting, of course, but listeners know that all-star tributes fall short more often than not. This is no tribute, however, but a showcase of Dylan as one of the great gospel songwriters -- albeit 25 years after the fact.Caesar's version of the title track is a scorcher and would not have been out of place in a church pastored by James Cleveland. The Sounds of Blackness' "Solid Rock" does indeed rock -- it's funky, driving, and wrapped loosely around a minor-key trill and riff pulsing just ahead of the beat. Lee Williams & the Spiritual QC's' sweet, swinging read of "When You Gonna Wake Up" is smooth and haunting, like a more streetwise version of the Impressions, giving the groove in the tune a bluesier edge than the original. Peoples' "I Believe in You" could be a testimony in church, full of understated phrasing until she gets to the refrains when it breaks and the redemptive hope in the tune comes pouring from the center of her voice. The Fairfield Four's read of "Are You Ready" is standard fare for them, meaning, of course, that the performance is beautiful, stirring, and moving, but it is less recognizable as a Dylan tune than anything else here. Neville's "Saving Grace" suffers from his now overly sweet trademark manner of phrasing. Detroit's Rance Allen kicks it on "When He Returns." His baritone is reminiscent of C.L. Franklin's, and comes from the heart of the church. He ...

Editorial Reviews
3 stars out of 5 - ...The disc reveals Dylan to be as strong a gospel writer as he is folk balladeer...
Mojo

3 stars out of 5 - ...The real reason you're likely to want this collection is that Dylan himself guests with Mavis Staples on a gruff-but-glorious re-reading of 1979's 'Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking'...
Uncut (20030601)

...This tribute lets us hear these spirituals the way their writer probably heard 'em in his head... - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (20030404)