Harry Belafonte - The Midnight Special (1962/2016)

Known to rock collectors as being the first album to feature Bob Dylan (he plays harmonica on the title track), The Midnight Special is also a record that best exemplifies Harry Belafonte's uniqueness as a recording artist. Belafonte's main strength as a performer has been his ability to effect unique interpretations of traditional material. Combining blues, big band, gospel, and soul, Belafonte utilizes mainly traditional material on one of his best programmed albums of the sixties. The folk warhorse "On Top of Old Smokey" becomes a bluesy, supercharged six-minute epic which generates excitement as it increases in intensity, only to fade away in its denouement. "Muleskinner" is country music legend Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel No. 8," made all the more exciting by the Belafonte Folk Singers' whistles, shouts, and slaps. Other highlights include "Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad," a prison work song transformed into an after hours blues and the folk standard "Crawdad Song," which becomes a rousing big band stomp. Belafonte's notorious perfectionism in the studio apparently didn't sit well with the 20-year old Dylan, who walked out on the session after recording only one title.