Modern Times

Modern Times, Bob Dylan's latest work of original songs, was released on Tuesday, August 29th. Dylan's last record, Love and Theft, was released on September 11, 2001, making the apocolyptic overtones of some the lines all the more spooky. But as one critic said, when you've been singing about the ends of days for 40 years sooner or later you're going to be right.

Modern Times feels like a natural progression from Love and Theft. Both were produced by Dylan under the pseudonym Jack Frost. Unlike the sea change of tone and sound between 1997's Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft, there's nothing unexpected musically about Modern Times: Chicago blues riffs, Hoagy Carmichael chord progressions and long ballads. Modern Times was recorded with Dylan's touring band, who provide a steady and professional backing lacking some of the urgency of Love and Theft. The emphasis of the record on Dylan's singing.

Dylan's voice - mocked by clever 6th graders and 50 year old librarians alike - has evolved into quite an instrument. On "Someday Baby," Dylan occassionaly whispers lines in a higher register giving the impression that he can barely utter the words of spite: "Well you take my money and you turn it out / You fill me up with nothin' but self doubt / Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry po' me any more." Dylan has learned when to growl, when to wail, and when to whisper.

But the utter joy of Modern Times as with all of Dylan's recent material in this grand stage of his career including the memoir Chronicles is the wonderful one liners. No one writes with more wit and beauty as Bob Dylan. He's also a bit of a salty dog. A sampling:

"I got the porkchops, she got the pie / She ain't no angel and neither am I"
"They brag about your sugar / Brag about it all over town / Put some sugar in my bowl I feel like laying down."
"You think I'm over the hill / You think I'm past my prime / Let me see what you got / We can have a whoppin' good time."
"When I was young, driving was my crave / You drive me so hard, almost to the grave."

There's lots more to say about Modern Times, but listening to it after reading a few reviews, one notices how lazy and repetitive these reviewers are. Some repetitions: "Thunder on the Mountain" is a Chuck Berry-like song, the drummer uses brushes instead of sticks throughout, and Modern Times is the third part of a trilogy of records starting with Time Out of Mind and continuing through Love and Theft. All of these statements can be easily called into question, but reviewers repeat them like seagulls bleating in unison at the beach.