The album opens with “My Back Pages,” which is preceded by what sounds like a sound bite of a preacher preaching. The Magokoro Brothers give this familiar tune a fairly straightforward reading, which is nicely accompanied with harmonica flavoring. If it weren’t for the Japanese vocals, this act might have easily passed for any number of American alt.country acts. Speaking of which, alt.country fans will find plenty to be pleased by here. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is given a sadder-than-sad reading by the Grateful Dead, and Jerry Garcia nails the song’s regretful emotion perfectly. His rambling guitar style also nicely frames his performance. Later, Jerry Garcia performs “Senior (Tales Of Yankee Power)” solo, with an organ and female vocal-backed epic rendition. Los Lobos plays “On A Night Like This,” which was recorded especially for this film. It’s sung both in English and Spanish.

Los Lobos and especially the Grateful Dead, are longtime Dylan admirers. So much of the fun here is listening in on some of the recording’s more world music-related tracks. “If You See Here, Say Hello” is by Italian folk-pop hero Francesco de Gregori, for example, and “One More Cup Of Coffee” is done by Turkey’s Sertab. “Come Una Pietra Scalciata (Like A Rolling Stone),” by Italian rappers Articolo 31, would be nearly unrecognizable without the actual Dylan sample on its chorus.

Dylan himself is also featured quite often here. His “Diamond Joe” is an entirely different song from the “Diamond Joe” included on Dylan’s 1992 “Good As I Been To You” release, and “Dixie” is that old American standard, done in a fairly straight manner here. “Down In The Flood” is a new version of a song that dates back to the early ‘70s. Dylan plays it with guitarists Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton, bassist Tony Garnier and new drummer George Recile. “Cold Irons Bound” is also a new version of an older song, which also features the same backing band.

“Gotta Serve Somebody” is sung by Shirley Caesar, on a track taken from the recent Black gospel tribute to Dylan’s overtly religious late-Seventies period. The Dixie Hummingbirds close the album with “City Of Gold,” which is a second dose of harmonious traditional gospel.

By all accounts, the buyer should beware before purchasing tickets to the movie “Masked And Anonymous,” but CD buyers need not take such precautions.