Barb Jungr – Hard Rain: The Songs of Bob Dylan & Leonard Cohen
Alejandro De Luna
It´s been a long journey for London-based cabaret obsessed, Barb Jungr. Active since the 70s; with an genuine career and without following the established and digestible guidelines of mainstream music, it seems like if the interpreter, songwriter, eloquent columnist and theatre writer´s career has been diverged into an extensive mission of paying respects to the best storytellers and/or interpreters that music has been throwing to popular culture in the last 60 years.
Deeply obsessed with the great American songbook, Jungr´s jazzy-like voice offers an exploration through genuine songwriter and interpretative heritage: Nina Simone, Elvis Presley, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits, Neil Young – and specially – Bob Dylan. These are just some artists that have been reinterpreted by Jungr´s gentle tone and jazzy approach that could easily work as the soundtrack of those endless dark nights full of cigarette smoke, neon lights and rancid alcohol in small outcast cabaret clubs.
In Hard Rain – her last collection of reinterpretations – Jungr pays her respects (again) to the septuagenarian genius from Minnesota, Bob Dylan, and Canada´s dark bohemian wise baritone, Leonard Cohen. Each one of the 11 tracks that shape Hard Rain are revaluations of American wisdom filled with emotion and jazzy textures that in Jungr´s voice gain clarity and depth. It feels like if we are re-reading a superb book but discovering new details and the missing pieces of a puzzle in the story with the goal of enriching the experience.
Bob Dylan
With the exception of “Gotta serve somebody” (1974) reinterpreted as a cabaret jazzy-like version, in Hard Rain, Jungr covers Dylan´s early period (1963 – 1965) – one of his most creative peaks and one of the more guitar-driven phases from the nasal storyteller mastermind. These inclusions are provocative and challenging due to the absence of the six strings in Jungr´s album. Hence, the songs gain depth with Clive Bell´s sensitivity on the shakahachi and producer Simon Wallace on piano, hammond organ, accordion and synths.
There is another pattern: protest songs. From Dylan´s second full-length album, The Freewheelin´ (1962), Jungr choose three classics full of political context, timeless eloquence and superb folk achievement. “Blowin´ in the wind” is refashioned into an ambient-like piece enriched by Bell´s shakuhach. “A hard rain´s a-gonna fall” mutates into a piano-drive piece and “Masters of war” turns into a magnificent strong jazzy-like track. The protest hymn, “It´s alright ma” (1965) from Dylan´s early electric phase gains precision on piano and Jungr´s smooth voice, and “Chimes of freedom” (1964) nasal folk mutates into a spooky version of dark and thoughtful beauty.
“Dylan is no Dean Martin”, there’s nothing easy listening about him – but his voice is up there with the best. Like Cash, Édith Piaf, Maria Callas and Nina Simone, his concern is direct and visceral communication”. (Barb Jungr, New Statesman 2011)
Leonard Cohen
As per Leonard Cohen, it feels like the reinterpretations of Canada´s bohemian baritone are more introspective and enriched with a dark and timeless atmosphere. In Hard Rain, Jungr leaves out Cohen´s early folk-driven phase and put emphasis (with the exception of “Who by fire” and “First we take Manhattan) on long time muse Sharon Robinson´s co-written pieces.
“Everybody Knows” (1988) is transformed into a Peggy Lee-like jazzy piece. “Who By Fire” (1974) offers one of Jungr´s strongest interpretations full of emotion and a nostalgic haunting piano as well as in the essential “First We Take Manhattan” (1988) where Jungr´s takes the bluesy and club-like atmospheres to a higher thickness. “1000 kisses deep” (2001) becomes the soundtrack of those long club afterhour nights and “Land of plenty” (2001) is re-versioned into a memorable cinematic-like piece.
Is not easy to perform songs by Cohen or Dylan without being judged or negatively compared but Jungr´s ability to elevate storyteller classics into a new estate of contemplation is truly remarkable. Barb Jungr is not a cover artist. It seems that her vast knowledge in popular music absorbs timeless pieces in order to give the song another meaning that is revalued in a cabaret-like style. A round satisfying album.
