Bob Dylan's "Modern Times"

[the captain]

Modern Times came out today, in the States (and I assume yesterday in the UK). Several of you must have bought it, and I left work this morning to head down to the Electric Fetus (a local indie record store just south of downtown Mpls) to pick it up.

So, what are your thoughts? I am not going to jump out and make any purportedly definitive judgments. But I will say my first impressions are very good: I love the sound of the band he's got, sounding like it did on L&T. I think Dylan deciding to produce his own records has been the best thing that could've happened to his albums. No more drum machines and synths, no more Lanois-fog, just a kickass rock-country-jazz band backing the man. And I must say, I love his voice these past albums more than any other he's sung with since the mid-60s albums. The croak suits him well.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I agree with your thoughts, Luther, although I'm a fan of the work Daniel Lanois did with Dylan.

I love Dylan's band and their sound. I think they were trying to recreate much of their live sound on Modern Times, and it works for me. Dylan has settled nicely into this hoarse, croaking vocal style, although it did take some getting used to. I'm also enjoying Dylan's lyrics; he's not holding anything back (not that he ever did), and some of the lines on Modern Times make me chuckle - in a good way. Also, his phrasing on Modern Times is great. One complaint I have is the length of the songs. They're all so long, a little too long for me.

BTW, I saw Bob Dylan live in Reading, PA last week. If you get the chance, try to catch him. Tickets were only $49.  A great concert, he really puts out 100%, and you never know what song is going to pop up next. That's part of the fun!

Edit: Whoever put that Dylan quote about Napster at the top of the Smiley Smile Board - good job! It's one of Dylan's typically great lines. Tells it like it is.

[Roger Ryan]

"Modern Times" is wonderful and overall I think it's a better album than both "Love & Theft" and "Time Out Of Mind" (at the same time, none of the tracks quite reach the height of brilliance like "High Water" and "Cold Irons Bound"). Dylan's vocals are much more enjoyable than on L & T since he's figured out how to work with his limited vocal range a little better. As far as song length goes, my only quibble would be with the otherwise lovely "Spirit On The Water"; this little 30s-style romantic shuffle should be about three and a half minutes, NOT over 7 and a half minutes! You gotta love Dylan's passion for the song, though, since he felt compelled to come up with verse after verse for it. The other tracks all seem to be about the right length for the subject matter or style.

Favorite line so far: "That lazy slut keeps charming out my brains".

[the captain]

I like it more than Time Out of Mind (production of which I don't care for--Lanois belongs in hell), but probably not quite as much as L&T, which is really among my very favorite Dylan albums.

[donald]

I saw Lanois live and really liked him.  I bought his studio album of the same material and didn't like it.

He ws hot sh*t in the studio there for awhile.

[dude ll doo]

Haven't heard this yet either but i totally agree to go see the Dylan show if you can. He did a balls-out Mississippi Delta Blues swampy version of "It's Alright Ma" that i'm still trying to wrap my brain around. He was THAT good.
And when he pulled out "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" I thought i'd died and gone to heaven.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Haven't heard this yet either but i totally agree to go see the Dylan show if you can. when he pulled out "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" I thought i'd died and gone to heaven.

Yes! He played that at the concert I attended. Amazing version. But the real surprise was the unbelievable arrangement he did of "Watching The River Flow". Rockin' blues with harmonica solo. Blew the album version away.

[dude ll doo]

yeah that was unbelievable too! His band is mind blowing. Very similar to B.W. and Arthur Lee-Young hired guns that are fans and totally into the music.

[b.dfzo]

Nobody has mentioned this odd lyric:

"I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line
I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee"

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I like the new record, probably more than Theft but not as much as Time. I need to listen to it a few more times to get it all, but there are definitely tracks that knocked me right out (track 6). I gave in and bought the limited version with the DVD, even though I am annoyed to death with these oversized packages that don’t fit in conventional CD holders. I’m anal. I like to have them in order.

Time Out of Mind is probably my favorite Dylan album. I think now maybe I like it even more than Blonde on Blonde. Maybe I’m nuts, I dunno. I hear some people saying they didn’t like it, but I want to sleep with it under my pillow. Perhaps Lanois production is not as bare bones as is expected from a Dylan album, but I’m all right with that. I think he made the right choices and added an air of mystery to the tracks. And they are all really strong songs. That’s the key. Theft had some songs that I loved, some I thought were just okay. I really liked “Moonlight” and “Po’ Boy”.  It was an album full of energy, though. He’s obviously got his groove on. 

Anyway, the new record sure sounds like it’s got something going for it. I’ll listen to it further and see just how good it is.

[CosmicDancer]

I bought it the day it came out and wanted to give it a few listens before I weighed in on it. 

Overall, I think it is a very good album.  Not as good as Time Out Of Mind and especially Love and Theft.  Modern Times has some moments of absolute greatness such as Nettie Moore, Working Man's Blues #2, and Ain't Talkin that rank up there with some of his best material.  Not a bad cut on the album IMO but listening to it made me remember just how much I love the witty and playful Dylan we got on Love and Theft which in my mind is one of his top 5 or 6 albums. 

I am really digging on the new throaty, raspy, old man voice Bob has now.  I have loved it more with each album since TOOM as he has learned to use it to such a great effect.  His phrasing on the new stuff is out of this world!

My one complaint with Modern Times lies in the "borrowing" of some material.  Now I know that it is a folk tradition to pass along songs and borrow tunes, ideas, and even lines from older material and it isn't anything new to Bob but Rollin' and Tumblin' and Someday Baby are extremely similar to the original old tunes made most famous I would say by Muddy Waters and The Levee's Gonna Break has been passed around for years as well.  I know that the lyrics have mostly been changed but it just doesn't work for me.  These songs are public domain by now I'm sure and even Muddy Waters wasn't the origianl source, but the credit, "All Songs Written By Bob Dylan" doesn't sit well with me.  At the very least, the credit should be Trad. Arr. by Bob Dylan.  Just a minor beef and in the end, it doesn't really matter.  Don't get me wrong, I do think his versions of these songs are fantastic!

All that said, I love the record and I hope Bob can keep it up for a long time to come.  And I will jump on board with all of the people praising his live show.  Go see it ASAP becuase his band is sh*t hot and he is reworking some great old tracks to almost greater places than the original versions.  Unbelievable!!

[andrew k]

i think is a pretty darn good album. great for an old fart like dylan   but my problem lies in that its too similar production-wise to love and theft.  too predicatble.  i don't undersatnd how people can knock on time out of mind for it's production..... are you kidding?  it sounds like the basement tapes part 2.... incredible.  the production makes that album - well, so does that fact that it has excellent if not perfect dylan songwriting.  unrelated opinions aside, i can recommend Modern Times to any one.  great record in fact.  probbaly a better experience live, where the band really matters.  i'm not that impressed that somebody can accurately capture a great band on record if the band isnt doing anything that special.  i guess i want something more interesting in a studio product.

[the captain]

i think is a pretty darn good album. great for an old fart like dylan   but my problem lies in that its too similar production-wise to love and theft.  too predicatble.  i don't undersatnd how people can knock on time out of mind for it's production..... are you kidding?  it sounds like the basement tapes part 2.... incredible.  the production makes that album - well, so does that fact that it has excellent if not perfect dylan songwriting.  unrelated opinions aside, i can recommend Modern Times to any one.  great record in fact.  probbaly a better experience live, where the band really matters.  i'm not that impressed that somebody can accurately capture a great band on record if the band isnt doing anything that special.  i guess i want something more interesting in a studio product.

Sounding like L&T again is the best production decision made on a Dylan album in 30 years.

Re Basement Tapes v 2, I don't think the production of TooM is anything like Basement Tapes. My opinion, but what those guys did in that house in NY, and what Lanois did in Louisiana (or wherever they recorded that one) don't sound a thing alike. The former was mostly dry room sounds. The latter is drowned in typical Lanois fog.

And as for bands sounding good on a record being no small feat, well, you may be right, but I sure wish more people would try it, and especially Dylan. Nothing immediately dates an album quite like trying to do something contemporary with production. After having a decade or two of shitty sounding productions, you'd think more people would like the return to simple, true recording.

But in closing, hey--to each his own.

[Old Rake]

I agree with Luther wholeheartedly.

[Yorick]

Quite surprised to see that no one has even namechecked the song "Beyond The Horizon"!! It's without any doubt my favourite song on MT, it's so magical in much the same way as songs like "moonlight" and "po' boy" were on Love & Theft. I cannot stop listening to this song! Any others who share this sentiment? Yorick

[Old Rake]

Yup, Yorick: me! I love those timeless, odd little jazz songs that sit on both albums. They could be from 1920 or from 2120, who'd know? Gorgeous, gorgeous songs.

[the captain]

I love it too. I really like most of the songs on the album, so I wasn't getting into them much one at a time. But the high (for him) note at the end of the first line in the verse is great, and I love his voice when he hits it.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I've been listening to the album a lot the last few days, and my favorite song(s) keep changing. I saw the iTunes TV commercial of Dylan singing "Someday Baby", and now I can't get that song out of my head.

[Shady]

A great album, great band and some great lyrics,

Bob is back

[the captain]

Bob is back

He wasn't gone.

[b.dfzo]

He was album-wise.  Five years between new albums is prerequisite, yes, but nonetheless a long enough time to say he is, in essence, "back".  Ever since Oh Mercy he has been making good comebacks.

[the captain]

If they've all been good since Oh Mercy, then none have been comebacks except the one immediately thereafter.

[peerke]

He has hardly been off the road, with his Never-Ending Tour going on. So a come back is not in order, me thinks.

[donald]

Sure it takes time.

Bob Dylan will sell no line before its time.

[donald]

Just heard the album today.   I hope it grows on me, as did Love and Theft.    I didn't listen to Love and Theft much at first but I've played it pretty often over the last year.   My first impression is that it seems to be a combination of the kinds of material that made up the last two releases.



I bought my copy at Best Buy and it included a career spanning  booklet of album covers and discography.

Bob is aging gracefully but retains his edge.   Too bad most of his peers seem to be unable to accomplish either.