Bob Dylan "Modern Times" (released 8/29/06) Album Review

The Old Croaker's still got it! If you loved "Love and Theft," his 2001 masterwork, you'll really like "Modern Times." It's kinda like "L. and T.'s" kid brother: easier-going and shorter, but coming from the same song-gene pool. Both feature a predominance of blues-based songs with a few old-timey parlor tunes thrown in for texture and richness. However, "Modern Times" does one thing different. Dylan has included three standard blues gems made famous by the elders of the tradition but with lyrics rewritten as only Zimmy Boy can. He never credits the originals (possibly because he believes in the "Folk Process" as Pete Seeger calls it whereby music is always out there and in the air and anything you do with all you hear is how all music is made anyway) but neither did Zeppelin (although I'm sure Jimmy Page was no Seeger fan).

Here are the tracks:

1. Thunder on the Mountain...A Great opener; rollicking blues; lyrics include lusting after Alicia Keys (him, too?) and avenging his father's death.
2. Spirit on the Water... a little snazzy, a little jazzy. Good, but needs to grow on me a little more.
3. Rollin' and Tumblin'... This is excellent, better than Cream's version and almost rivals Muddy Water's.
4. When the Deal Goes Down... A very pretty waltz that I liked right away. Then I saw a video he made of it that basically follows Scarlett Johanssen around all day as she smiles and pouts. I was hooked. Ironic because I seldom see any videos of anything. Dylan's website just sent it to me. He's a big fan of mine, I guess.
5. Someday Baby... Another great cover. I can't wait to see him do this one live. I've heard Van Morrison cover it with Them, even the Stones do it, but this is better.
6. Workingman's Blues #2... a beautiful love song that I could have seen my grandfather woo my grandmother with to get her in the sack back in the 1930's. And yes, she was hot back then.
7. Beyond the Horizon... Another parlor tune that sounds like a leftover from the last record.
8. Nettie Moore... The second best song on the album... it has a haunting and pounding percussion like something out of Plastic Ono Band's "Well Well Well" or "Remember,"
but lighter with a lament for lost love and disconnection.
9. The Levee's Gonna Break...third best; it takes Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe's 1929 version and backs it up with a breezy rhythm guitar that reminds me of Canned Heat's "Goin' Up the Country;" then he just rocks it out Bobby-style. Page and Plant eat your heart out.
10. Ain't Talkin'... This is the gem, folks...I'll shut up now, just give it a listen....