Bob Dylan may have some leftover Frank Sinatra covers from his Shadows in the Night recording sessions. Producer Daniel Lanois, who worked on previous Dylan albums, heard the folk legend's most recent LP prior to its release and he was also treated to some bonus tracks that didn't appear on the album. In an interview with the Vancouver Sun, Lanois revealed that those extra songs might be compiled for a second Shadows in the Night release.
"He felt that a lot of that music was written not only by great professional songwriters at the time, but a lot of it was written from the heart, from the wartime, and people just pining for a lover," Lanois said (via Something Else). "He felt there was a lot of spirit in that music. He felt there was a kind of beauty, a sacred ground for him."
The producer said the pair listened to 21 songs, which means there's 11 other tracks ready to go. Lanois thought that Dylan covering his hero for two albums was a great move.
"For one of America's great writers to say, 'I'm not gonna write a song. I'm gonna pay homage to what shook me as young boy,' I thought was very graceful and dignified," he added.
Shadows in the Night dropped earlier this month to positive reviews. It reached number seven on the Billboard 200 chart behind classic Sinatra tunes penned by songwriting legends. Rolling Stone gave the effort four stars and critic David Fricke wrote about Dylan's ever-evolving voice.
"The great shock here, then, is Dylan's singing. Dylan's focus and his diction, after years of drowning in sandpaper, evoke his late-Sixties poise and clarity on John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline - also records of deceptive restraint and retrospect - with an eccentric rhythmic patience in the way he holds words and notes across the faint suggestions of tempo," the review reads.
