Sebastian Cabot - Sebastian Cabot, Actor, Bob Dylan, Poet

Stand and deliver

Not quite the meeting of two genii (despite the highfalutin title), this is nevertheless compelling. As it suggests, British actor Cabot takes on the Dylan songbook in spoken word. It’s all pre-’65 Zim, bar a version of Like A Rolling Stone, and, musically, all lightly orchestrated, with the original melody-referencing strings taking a back seat to Cabot’s voice.

Opener Who Killed Davey Moore? sets the stall out, with Cabot inhabiting each different character – boxer, manager, gambler and chorus-like questioner – giving them overblown, character-stereotype voices. It’s a remarkable one-man show, if only for the fact that he decided such a song needed to be spelt out any further. Boots Of Spanish Leather takes it a little further, with Cabot flitting from romantic, letterreading lover, to fair Welsh maiden sailing the high seas.

In the main, though, the board-treader takes the Shakespearean male lead approach, rather over-egging the Dylan-as-poet concept (odds on, you can guess most of the songs covered). Another William comes to mind, too: Shatner no doubt heard this and figured it could be a formula for many other successful reworkings. Still, the question remains: Dylan or Cabot? Whose diction is best?

Rev-Ola | CR REV 198

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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