Bob Dylan - Love And Theft on CD

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A new Dylan release is, even today, bound to fuel a little controversy. In 1997 after a seven-year bout of writer's block he finally delivered what the fans were waiting for - a solid gold masterpiece: Time Out Of Mind. Like an even more grown-up version of Blood On The Tracks, it seemingly laid bare the soul of a man who, having faced his own mortality, found himself without love or comfort and was in a bitterly confessional mood. The 'Never Ending Tour' had only proved to his Bobness that you can run, but you can't hide. Yet such soul-searching seemed to mean that, it was, again, going to be a long wait for his next dispatch from the heart. So here it is, and it's already drawn some scathing press. It seems the weight of four years anticipation has produced what is now being termed "The Radiohead Effect", and the disappointment seems to spring from the fact that Mr Zimmerman has cheered up a bit. Yes, the bleak observations of cynicism and distrust still linger in lines such as: "I see ya loverman coming, coming across the barren fields. He's not a gentleman at all, he's rotten to the core, he's a coward and he steals." ("Lonesome Day Blues") and " Well, I'm stranded in the city that never sleeps. Some of these women they just give me the creeps. I'm avoiding the south side the best I can. These memories I got they can strangle a man" ("Honest With Me"), but this is a chirpier beast indeed - as if the old Jokerman has just decided that, well, life is rubbish, so let's just play. This means that, at times, he becomes disarmingly honest. "The girls all say, 'You're a worn out star!' My pockets are loaded and I'm spendin' every dime" ("Summer Days") Gone is the swampy ambience of the last album's Daniel Lanois production, and what we get instead is a band that rocks and swings with verve, swagger and Nashville clarity. Ranging from Country ("By And By"), Blues ("Lonesome Day Blues") and Rockabilly ("Summer Days") to a jazzy swing worthy of The Hot Club of France ("Floater (Too Much To Ask)") - Bob treats us to a, frankly, sprightly jog through just about every style available to a man of his experience. Sure, the voice is now barely more than a croak and the words don't have the weight that used to be termed...well, Dylanesque, but only a churl would begrudge the pleasures to be had in songs as bouncy as "By And By" and the nonsensical opener "Tweedle Dee". Dylan, himself, has described the album as "...a greatest hits album, volume one or volume two. Without the hits - not yet, anyway." It's good to see the funny side again, Bob. --Chris Jones Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window Product description Bob Dylan - "love and Theft" - CD