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Top-Selling Jewish Recording Artists
(US. sales only, in millions)
Billy Joel
Barbra Streisand
Kenny G.
Neil Diamond
Simon and Garfunkel
78.5
70.5
48
47.5
38.5
Bob Dylan
Michael Bolton
Barry Manilow
The Beastie Boys
Carole King
35
28
24.5
22
14.5
(From Recording Industry Association
of America, June 2005)
MAURICE POGODA, Franklin
Favorite Album — Blood on the Tracks: "My
choice might change over time (Planet Waves,
Desire, Hard Rain), but whatever appeals to me at
a given moment, it's just really hard not to go
back to Blood on the Tracks.
Favorite Song— "Tangled Up In Blue": The story
is so powerful. It's about relationships and travel-
ing around. It really resonates with me. Right
Maurice Pogoda
now, with the war, I'm listening to "John Brown"
from the Unplugged album. A fantastic album.
Dylan Memory "I took my oldest, Aaron, now in college, to see Dylan for
the first time when he was 11. In our bar mitzvah speech about [Aaron], we
used "Forever Young" as the main theme as we will for our younger son.
NANCY KAPLAN, West Bloomfield
The young Bob Dylan: The Scorsese documentary concentrates on his career
from 1961-1966
The Future
It seems clear that Dylan's life and
music contain many more riches
that are yet to be mined, and others
that haven't yet been produced.
With last month's release of No
Direction Home: The Soundtrack,
Dylan has now produced 48 official
albums, counting greatest hits and
the 30th anniversary concert double-
disc, which is mostly Dylan covers.
While we've been waiting for the
follow-up to 2001's acclaimed Love
and Theft, Dylan has released three
double-disc bootlegs, and there are
undoubtedly more on the way.
But while waiting for new Dylan
music to appear, you can bide your
time and spend your bucks replacing
your collection with newly remas-
tered and SACD versions of his
entire catalogue, which even most
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Dylan purists find to be an aural
improvement.
Visit the newsstand and you can
find magazines — usually British —
that keep knockin' on Dylan's door.
This month's Mojo and Uncut both
include audio CDs with covers of
Dylan songs. Mojo provides 15 cov-
ers and a rundown on the top 100
Dylan songs, with commentary by
musicians, critics, poets and others.
Uncut has Highway 61 Revisited cov-
ered by its own favorites.
And Sony just released Dylan ring
tones for your cell phone. The com-
pany promotes them under the title
"Ring Them Cells!"
The most eagerly awaited book on
Dylan will be by Dylan himself: the
second volume of Chronicles, the
first volume of which was released
last year. 2004 also saw a revised
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Favorite Album — Highway 61 Revisited: "Not
only because of the particular songs that are on
it, but also because it came out at the time
when I was most devotedly a fan of his."
Favorite Song — "Don't Think Twice, Its
Alright": "I like it because it is personal and
reflective. It still affects me whenever I hear it."
Dylan Memory: "I saw Dylan at the Cherry Hill
Nancy Kaplan
New Jersey Music Tent when Joan Baez was on
a summer concert tour [in the early '60s]. She brought him on stage to
introduce him. They sang a couple of songs together ("Blowin' in the
Wind," "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"), and he did one or two by
himself.
BEN KONSTANTIN, Royal Oak
Favorite Album — Blood on the Tracks "It was my first
Dylan album. It's totally organic, totally him. It's not
really political, but more about relationships, which is
why I first gravitated toward it."
Favorite Song— "Shelter from the Storm": "It's sad, it's
uplifting, its melancholy. It takes you through all of
these emotions."
Dylan Memory: "I saw him at Cobo a few months after
Ben Konstantin
9-11. He didn't talk at all, but instead played songs that
were relevant, just hinting at what was going on, which was comforting. It
got to the essence of who he is, I think — there's something very Jewish
about marching on, surviving and continuing to do things the way you want
to do them, no matter what the consequences."