Bob Dylan
Modern Times
Columbia
By Vicki G. Siolos
It’s true that Bob Dylan’s voice is an acquired taste. It’s the one thing that has kept me from being a fanatic about his catalogue. Still, it’s merely a speck of a reason when considering the abundance of talent as a songwriter. Lyrically, he weaves phrases together that flow effortlessly – so simple and relative in their combinations, but in a way that you can’t imagine yourself writing these common stories the same way.
“Spirit On The Water,” the second track of his thirty-first studio album, Modern Times, is the kind of song your parents will dance to at a reception after dessert has been served. Planted firmly in some era before these modern times, the song solidifies the album’s power to be timeless; really, truly timeless in that it surpasses generations and genres, delivering ten new songs that can appeal to any music fan. No matter how many rockabilly or classic rock revivals continue to occur since the beginning of this decade, Bob Dylan is an artist who owns the 1960s, and the upbeat “Rollin’ And Tumblin’” and “Someday Baby” wear ribbons of inarguable authenticity.
At this point in his career, it’s expected that Dylan would be praised for just about anything that he releases. A factor that can potentially lead to skepticism from newcomers or converts to his fanbase, one could say that 2001’s Love And Theft is his best of the last decade. The album dropped when New York and the rest of America was shattered by September 11th, and Dylan’s release – amongst the many others that were released around that time – became a staple in America’s need for a voice to speak to them. Theft is abundant with an upbeat balladry that heard high praises, but there’s a classiness to Modern Times that dutifully supports the supposed trilogy of his recent three albums that was implied by the media. Slower, softer, and darker than its prior, Modern Times is a side door into understanding the music of Bob Dylan, one that he not only left unlocked but keeps wide open with each listen of the ten song collection.
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