Dylan Vs. Dylan

Poor Bob Dylan. He's got a tough act to follow, a huge shadow cast by his much younger self. But give him credit for rescuing a career that seemed to have slid into irrelevance and rediscovering his voice (or discovering a new voice, perhaps) in this decade. Modern Times was a really good album, and even as he hurtles towards 70 he is has become arguably a "cooler" live performer than he ever was.

The new record, Together Through Life, sounds like a bit of a throwaway to me - after years of playing funky, unexpected places on his Neverending Tour (in addition, of course, to big arenas in major cities), this album is full of sounds borrowed from jukejoint blues, Tex-Mex, zydeco, and other forms of Americana. It seems like it's supposed to be a musical gumbo; but it's a little short on spice, and ends up sounding instead like comfort food. Everything occupies a midtempo place. The sound of Dylan's voice, ragged but still compelling, drifting over a strong, forward-moving groove was one of the great surprises of Modern Times and Love And Theft. This album never really hits that combustion point. Except maybe on "Shake Shake Mama," a good-natured bluesy stomp that will remind no one of "Ballad of a Thin Man" or "Subterranean Homesick Blues" - mainly because it doesn't intend to.

I think the most interesting decision Dylan made here was to collaborate on the lyrics with Robert Hunter, best-known for his longtime work as lyricist for the Grateful Dead. After all, part of the Dylan legend is that he is a Poet, not just another singer/songwriter. Wonder why he thought he needed or wanted help with words, of all things? After all, Dylan's greatest songs are great more for their words than their music. Even his most interesting music is fairly basic - anyone can write a song on the same old C, F, G and Am chords (for proof, see most of the albums in your record collection); not everyone can write "Like A Rolling Stone." So did it really require two giants of American pop lyrics to come up with "My Wife's Home Town," whose payoff line is "Hell is my wife's home town"?

Tell us: How does Bob Dylan's Act 3 compare to Act 1 of his career? Are the recent albums stronger for not trying to Change The World?
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