The Smiley Smile Message Board

What do you think of Dylan's newest album? I've been listening to it a lot on vinyl, it sounds great!!!

My favorite track is When the deal goes down....

great video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNv02iE_9rU

I think it is a great record.  Not quite up to the standards of Time Out of Mind or especially Love and Theft, but still terrific in its own way.  The guy is on top of his game right now and his live show is a stone cold killer.  Some aren't fond of it, but I think his new gravelly old man voice is perfection!  My favorite track is Netty Moore.

I absolutely love it--I've been listening to it regularly since the day it was released. I think it is better than Time Out Of Mind, and right around the same place in my mind as Love & Theft (which I have consistently ranked among Dylan's five or so best). Great album, and I love the timeless production especially--no attempts at either retro or modern production: just songs.

It's pretty good. The songs are well-written. He voice has alot of emotion.

I agree with Luther about the production... it's the first thing I noticed when I listened to the album; I couldn't peg down what time era the production was going for, because it was indeed timeless.

I'm no fan of Dylan at his peak, but I've enjoyed his recent records quite a lot, good sound, no pretention and his voice, even though more wrecked is more listenable to my ears.

Dylan's been performing 5-6 songs from Modern Times per show live. He's been using "Thunder On The Mountain" as one of his encores! However, he rarely plays my favorite from Modern Times, "Someday Baby"....

i used to give my '60's music heroes free passes on the quality of their most recent work because "hey, we're lucky to get anything at all from them". Not any more. Bob has raised his game remarkably over the course of his last three releases.

I agree that Bob's last three have been on par with some of the best work in his catalouge.  Not quite the level of Freewheelin', Bringing it all Back Home, Higway 61, Blonde on Blonde, or Blood on the Tracks, but right up there behind them.  Especially Time Out of Mind.  Damn, what a phenominal record!!!

I'd sure like Macca or BW to come out with something "right up there behind"  some of their best work.

I thought this was a thread about the Chaplin film  ;D

I saw Bob Dylan in concert on Sunday night in Hershey, PA. He performed four songs from Modern Times:

Rollin' And Tumblin' - the first song when Dylan went from guitar to keyboard, great rocking version, Denny Freeman was incredible on guitar

Spirit On The Water - the audience was familiar with the Modern Times' songs, they reacted to the lyrics on this one, Dylan sang it with emotion

Nettie Moore - one of the highlights of the show, the audience got very quiet, Dylan sang it like a love song, it increased my appreciation of the song

Thunder On The Mountain - one of the encores, Dylan had fun with the phrasing, it turned into a jam, the band was rocking

I like some of the songs, but it's not an album that's gripped me the way Love and Theft did. There's an awful lot of dragged out shufflin' blues.  However, I saw him a few months back and Nettie Moore was absolutely one of the highlights of a great show.

That's how I feel, also. The songs are all about a minute too long and seem to drag, but who am I to tell Bob Dylan how to write songs.:)

After hearing the four songs live, which I enjoyed, I'm going to give modern times another good listen...

Nettie Moore is easily my favorite tune from that record.  I hope to see him live again soon and hopefuly hear that one.

Of the last three I like

Time Out of Mind ****
Love & Theft ****
Modern Times ***1/2

That is giving Highway 61 ****1/2...so these albums are great!!! Love his gravelly voice but it took me 10 years to get used to it!

Yeah, me too.

It's funny, but even though Bob Dylan's voice has gotten rougher and isn't as strong as it was even in the 1990's, he's learned how to use it well (his phrasing is incredible), and, in concert, he can still rock with it. The way he SANG those songs the other night still has me shaking my head. The guy is still going strong at age 66!