Quote:
Originally Posted by Chives
How about Time Out of Mind/"Love and Theft"/Modern Times? I hear endless praise of the trilogy from mainstream press and such, but I've never heard anybody else say anything good about them so I'm a bit suspicious. I'm still going to work my way to them regardless, one by one, but I'd like to know if I should be excited or not.
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This is my own impression of the albums you mention,
Chives:
Time Out Of Mind: Too many slow, depressing numbers on this award-winning album. I`m convinced they gave Dylan a Grammy for it, not because it`s an outstanding album, but because the judges were thinking, "Dylan`s never won a Grammy, which makes us look pathetic. We`d better get in quick before he dies, and who knows, this could be his last album." On the plus side, the album has a few wonderful lines which I don`t want to spoil for you by quoting.
Love And Theft: This is a brief and quirky rennaisance which finds Bob in a surprising variety of moods. Some great tracks like
Mississippi and
High Water are slotted in with some real Dylan rarities: songs of good humour and contentment. Of the three albums, this is my favourite.
Modern Times: Don`t mean to be uncharitable, but Bob has such an old man`s voice on this album that I find it a bit off-putting.
Workingman`s Blues is a great song, but a lot of the lyrics have returned to his earlier style of writing: one line, one topic; new line, new topic. I much prefer his songs that stay on one theme and explore it, like
Black Diamond Bay for example. Listening to
Modern Times makes me think Bob can no longer rise to the intellectual challenge of coming up with that kind of song. So this is a portrait of Dylan past his prime; it`s sad, like watching your parents get old.