Posted on: June 1, 2020 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue starts off Vargen’s collection of Bob Dylan covers. Immediately showcasing his ability to transform vital parts of Dylan’s corpus, this introduction is heartfelt, emotive, and well-polished. With such a distance between the original and Vargen’s version, fans will be locked in to see what the performer does with the rest of these compositions.

I Threw It All Away keeps hitting listeners in the feels as Vargen’s guitar works immediately draw listeners in. A layered vocal approach imprints the song deeply, while there’s an interesting dynamic between the guitars and drums that continues to yield new twists and turns with subsequent plays. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight brings Mia’s vocals into the fore. With a bit of a traditional country approach taken here, Vargen calls back to the days of Dolly Parton and George Jones.

Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right ramps up the tempo a bit to act as a yin for I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’s yang. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below) has some of the most intimate and alluring guitar work we’ve heard, while Reine’s are there to provide a further lens of world-weariness and experience.

Tomorrow Is a Long Time does more tons with the open space that exists all around the guitar / bass / vocal dynamic . The meandering pace of the track makes for a quaint track that twinkles in the distance. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door takes a page from the Guns ‘n’ Roses version of the track. The tautness of the guitar and bass here and crispness of the overall composition makes for a fun take on the classic.

Love Minus Zero / No Limit concludes things in a hopeful, bouncy sort of a way. There’s a bit of Beatles and Neil Diamond scattered in here, making for a composition that could slot well into 1970s AOR stations.

Love / Leave is a fascinating collection of Dylan covers, allowing Vargen ample opportunity to put their own footprint on each and every song they tackle.

Top Tracks: It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight

Rating: 8.2 / 10

Vargen – Love / Leave – 11 Songs of Bob Dylan / 2020 Self Released / 11 Tracks / Domain / Facebook /

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