Everybody covers Bob Dylan but nobody does it like Bryan Ferry.
Kronomyth 0.9: Rainy day women.
So this was how the world was going to end: rocking and rolling with stylish women in raincoats. Bob Dylan’s original vision of the apocalypse came tumbling down like rain, but Bryan Ferry floods the senses with his glamorous re-vision. I’ll confess, I didn’t know what to make of this the first time I heard it. Was Ferry fooling with us, or were we fooling ourselves? Whatever his intent, the effect was delightfully disturbing. Eddie Jobson also deserves to take a bow for his inspired contributions to this track.
On the flip side, Bryan Ferry takes aim at his own back catalog with a breezy version of “2 H.B.,” a song that first appeared on Roxy Music’s First Album. The original was fragile, maybe a bit too precious for a song about Humphrey Bogart, but the new version worked out the romantic kinks nicely. Years later, this version of “2 H.B.” was included on the brilliant catch-all, Let’s Stick Together.
Original 7-inch single version
A1. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan) (5:17)
B1. 2 H.B. (Bryan Ferry) (3:44)
The Plastic
Released on 7-inch single in September 1970 in the UK (Island, WIP 6170), Germany (Island, 12 982 AT) and the Netherlands (Island, 12 982AT) with regional picture sleeve. Reached #4 on the UK charts. Also released as promotional 7-inch single in 1973 in the US (Atlantic, 45-3017) feat. A mono on flip side.
