I hate it when fans and critics react to a new album by a legacy artist by saying "it's their best since ______." The implicit message is that this artist will never be as good as they were in the good old days. The other side of the double edged sword of this statement is that it can be a way for the fan/critic to find something to praise about a beloved artist's recent, mediocre effort. I have heard so many Rolling Stones albums called "their best since Some Girls" when none of them are really much good. There, I said it! (I also think Some Girls is a bit spotty but I don't want to start an argument.)
The beauty of Dylan's second comeback in the late 90s was that his music was so good that it could not be damned with faint praise. It was at least as good as his best, period. At the time it thrilled me because I first started listening to him in '91 but none of his current stuff had felt remotely relevant. Then, as his hit single of the time said, things had changed.
Time Out of Mind (1997)
I remember the wave of hype when this album came out, and I assumed it was the usual "his best since ____" bullshit. Then I bought it and was totally transfixed. I don't know how many times I listened to it in my little studio apartment in Chicago late at night. In the fall of '98 I got to see him live for the first time at the United Center, and it was just a fantastic show. I was hard up at the time and basically barely ate for a month to afford the floor-level tickets. Totally worth it.
For this album Dylan brought back Daniel Lanois, who did so much for Oh Mercy. His recent dive into the blues on World Gone Wrong comes through as well. There is an eerie midnight sound compounded by the deft use of the organ, one of my favorite instruments. The songs are also just powerhouses. Even the schmaltzy "To Feel My Love" is a good one. The shaggy dog 15 minute closer "Highlands" is great too, it adds some needed lightness. I hadn't listened to it in awhile and wondered if Time Out of Mind held up, and it totally does. The years of woodshedding and returning to his roots paid off in great music that did something new.
Rating: Five Bobs
"Love and Theft" (2001)
This album famously came out on 9/11 and was a constant companion for me in those awful times. It also came after the flood of roots music set off by the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Here Dylan goes back to the country blues and bluesy country (a la Jimmie Rodgers.) He plays with his touring band, giving the songs a lived-in feel. It is a top five all time Dylan album for me. Listening to it again I realized I still knew every damn word.
The overall sound of the album is great, but so are the songs. "High Water" is a wonderful homage to Charley Patton, Big Joe Turner, and all kinds of American musicians. "Mississippi" is simply one of his best songs ever. "I'm going to look at you until my eyes go blind" is a great lyric on its own, but the way he sings it with such longing makes it sublime. Sure Dylan is croaking here, but croaking works with the blues! Just an amazing album and the true culmination of Dylan returning to the deep roots of American music that he was so tied to early in his career.
Rating: Five Bobs
Modern Times (2006)
The rootsy sound is in evidence again here, but more attuned to jazz and ballads than rollicking good times songs like "Summer Days." The songs also stretch out some more and take their time. At the time I liked it but did not embrace it as much as the prior two albums. Listening to it again I realized I was wrong, and that my judgement may have been clouded by the fact that I was going through multiple difficult life transitions at the time that other music spoke to better. (Let's just say I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" on repeat back then.)
"Workingman's Blues #2" is the highlight here, and it gets at the emotional weariness of the late Dubya years. Like the last record Dylan had his touring band in the studio, and the sound is just incredibly warm. Dylan also seems to have figured out how to produce by this point. Great stuff.
Rating: Five Bobs
Together Through Life (2009)
I maybe listened to this album two or three times when it came out. It's not that I didn't like it, it just did not scale the heights reached by the prior three albums, all among the best of Dylan's career. This one was less meticulous and more in the mode of Dylan's spontaneous style of earlier years in the studio. This basically means it could have been better with more time and care. That said, David Hidalgo from Los Lobos is a great addition in the studio, and his Mexican accordion flourishes add a nice new wrinkle to the sound. The songs get a little same-y but listening to it again I realized it's a great little stylistic detour, akin to Nashville Skyline or Desire. The songs are not as strong, but they are good enough. It's a good little coda to one of the best periods of Dylan's entire career. A period when his music was not "his best since..." but perhaps his best.
Rating: Four Bobs
Odds and Ends
As I mentioned last time, many of the songs from this period are on the Tell-Tale Signs entry in the Bootleg Series. I love hearing the alternate takes on "Mississippi," although I still like the album version best. Even 40 years into his career Dylan was recording multiple, radically different versions of his songs. I saw him on tour in 2004 and while it was not the best performance, I admired how willing his was to take his songs in new directions. In this period he also released a non-album single, "Things Have Changed," which as I progress further into middle age has kind of become an anthem of mine.
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