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''Empire Burlesque'' is the twenty-third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 10, 1985 on Columbia Records. Self-produced, the album peaked at number thirty-three in the US and at number eleven in the UK. Accompanied by multiple session musicians—including Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers members, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein—the album features a distinct "80s style" aesthetic.〔Higgins, Jim (Dylan's Burlesque Sounds Half-Finished ). ''The Milwaukee Sentinel''. June 14, 1985.〕 Fans and critics continue to debate the album's merits, especially when compared to his 1960s and 1970s output. ==The recording sessions== Before embarking on a European tour in the summer of 1984, Dylan had spent a substantial amount of time recording demos of new songs in his Malibu home, accompanied at times by other musicians. In rehearsals for the tour, Dylan attempted at least three of these new songs, and he occasionally found time to polish their lyrics during the tour. When the tour was over, Dylan returned to New York and began work on his next studio album. As Clinton Heylin reports, Dylan recorded in sporadic sessions, as had become his norm, rather than "block-booking studio time" and recording in one concentrated period. The result was "an unprecedented expenditure of" time for recording a Dylan album, from July 1984 to March 1985. To accommodate the casual nature of this process, Dylan chose to produce the sessions himself. Arthur Baker, who had previously worked with New Order and Afrika Bambaataa, was later recruited for these sessions, but much of the production work would actually be Dylan's. One of his first decisions was to forgo the use of a stable set of musicians. Instead, Dylan recorded with an eclectic mix of studio professionals. An aborted session with Al Green's band was held at Intergalactic Studios on July 24, 1984. A session with Ronnie Wood (formerly of Faces and currently with The Rolling Stones), Anton Fig (best known as the drummer for David Letterman's house band), and John Paris was held at Delta Sound Studios on July 26. The Delta session produced two notable tracks: “Driftin’ Too Far From Shore” and “Clean Cut Kid.” The former was set aside and would not be finished until 1986, when Dylan recorded his next album, ''Knocked Out Loaded''. The latter had originally been recorded during the ''Infidels'' sessions in 1983, but was not completed until now. Wood later described his surprise at Dylan's lack of authority during the mixing process. "(engineers would ) say, 'Hey Bob, we don't need this,' and he'd say, 'Oh, okay.' And they'd make a mix to their ears, and he'd just stand outside and let them do it. And I'd be saying, 'Hey! You can't let these guys...Look!! They've left off the background vocals!' or 'What about the drums?!' But there would be something going on in the back of his head which didn't allow him to interfere. And yet if he'd have gone into the control room with the dominance that he had while we were cutting the stuff, it could have been mind-bending." During one session between July and September 1984 (at the Power Station), Dylan demoed a song called "Go 'Way Little Boy," with Ron Wood and "cowpunk" rockers Lone Justice. Dylan and Wood also played on Lone Justice's version of "Go 'Way Little Boy," which was recorded at the same session and was ultimately released as a B-side to their single, “Sweet Sweet Baby (I’m Falling)”. A blues entitled "Oh Baby" was also recorded with the same lineup but has never surfaced. In terms of his own album, the New York sessions had so far been fairly unproductive. After six months of work, Dylan had only a few recordings that were deemed acceptable, and only two would eventually appear on ''Empire Burlesque''. "Sometimes nothing comes out, and other times I get a lot of stuff that I keep," Dylan said at the time. "I just put down the songs that I felt as I wanted to put them down. Then I'd listen and decide if I liked them. And if I didn't like them I'd either rerecord them or change something about them." In November, Dylan returned to Los Angeles and began recording there. An early session at Ocean Way Studios produced little if any work that was used for ''Empire Burlesque''. Much time was spent covering other artists’ songs, including “In The Summertime” by Ray Dorset (not to be confused with Dylan’s own song of the same name), “Freedom For The Stallion” by Allen Toussaint, and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” by Kris Kristofferson. Work became much more productive when Dylan continued work at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood. Recruiting Lone Justice drummer Don Heffington for the early December sessions, Dylan recorded an ambitious song he had co-written with playwright Sam Shepard, titled "New Danville Girl" and another song. Acceptable takes were recorded for both songs, though despite positive feedback from his peers, Dylan ultimately omitted "New Danville Girl" from ''Empire Burlesque.'' Regardless, he also found success on the next song, recorded at Cherokee on December 14. Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, and Howie Epstein, from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, joined Heffington for the session. "Something's Burning, Baby" would evolve into a key track on the album. Over the rest of the winter, Dylan recorded most of the tracks that were ultimately used for ''Empire Burlesque''. On January 28, 1985, another session at Cherokee produced the master take for “Seeing The Real You At Last.” This was followed by a brief stop at A&M Studios on the 28th and/or the 29th to record his contribution to “We Are the World.” On February 5, Dylan recorded master takes for two more tracks: “Trust Yourself” and “I’ll Remember You.” On the 14th—Valentine’s Day—Dylan recorded love songs, including Johnny Cash’s “Straight A’s In Love," but also one of his own, “Emotionally Yours.” With the exception of the “We Are the World” session, all of these songs were recorded with Heffington, the three Heartbreakers, and a few other session players at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood. Between the 14th and the 19th of February, Dylan returned to New York City, resuming work at the Power Station. On the 19th, he held a session with Roy Bittan on piano and Steve Van Zandt on guitar, both members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. They recorded at least one usable take of "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky," but Bittan and Van Zandt would not return for the remainder of the sessions. The following day, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, better known as reggae recording artists Sly & Robbie, joined the sessions. They had previously worked with Dylan on ''Infidels.'' Along with female vocalists Queen Esther Marrow, Debra Byrd, and Carolyn Dennis, the group recorded “Never Gonna Be The Same Again." On February 23, Dylan returned to the Power Station with Sly & Robbie, his back-up singers, and a number of session players, including Al Kooper, who filled in on guitar. The day’s work produced a significantly different version of “When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky,” which was ultimately chosen over the ‘Van Zandt version’ from a few days before. Around this time, Dylan also revived from the ''Infidels'' sessions "Someone's Got A Hold Of My Heart." "A song about being torn apart by irreconcilable demands," according to Clinton Heylin, in revision it was stripped of "just about every religious allusion from the original." Dylan retitled it "Tight Connection to My Heart" and set it aside for further overdubbing. One final song was recorded on March 3, a brand-new composition no more than a few days old. Recorded live-to-tape with no editing, overdubbing, or embellishment, “Dark Eyes” was also sequenced as the last song of the album. Some further overdubbing was scheduled, but with recording essentially finished, Arthur Baker was left to mix the album. "I'm not too experienced at having records sound good," said Dylan. "I don't know how to go about doing that. With Arthur Baker...I just went out and recorded a bunch of stuff all over the place, and then when it was time to put this record together, I brought it all to him and he made it sound like a record." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Empire Burlesque」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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