Bob Dylan : Together Through Life :: Review

Seemingly unstoppable, Bob Dylan is a man who does not rest upon his laurels.  Fresh from releasing the archival set “Tell Tale Signs” in October, Dylan is back with his new album “Together Through Life.”  Recorded in Fall 2008 and co-written with Robert Hunter, “Together Through Life” is yet another trump card in Dylan’s critical rebirth.   “Together Through Life” is a loose and breezy album thematically tied together with romantic issues that stands as a strong contrast to the moodier “Modern Times.”  “Together Through Life” is a dry and gritty album that captures the feel of a small Tex-Mex town thanks to the accordion talents of Dylan’s newest band mate David Hidalgo of Los Lobos fame.

Together Through Life” opens with a stinging blues lick by Mike Campbell accentuated by Hidalgo’s squeezebox on the apocalyptic “Beyond Here Lies Nothing.”  On “Beyond Here Lies Nothing” Dylan’s narrator sings of the love he will share as the world burns away.  “Behind Here Lies Nothing” channels  “Black Magic Woman” and leads into the jazzy ballad “Life Is Hard.”  “Life Is Hard” was originally written for the Olivier Dahan film “My Own Love Song” and casts Dylan’s lovelorn narrator with the hard reality of moving on without his companion.  “Life Is Hard” is song that is sandwiched between the enigmatic “Beyond Here Lies Nothing” and the snarly “My Wife’s Home Town.”   By sequencing the songs in this manner, Dylan has created a mini-opera of a newfound love quickly turning sour.  Whether intentional or not, it offers a snapshot of the themes covered on the remainder of the album.

Dylan’s stay in the southwest is echoed in “If You Ever Go To Houston” where the gun-toting author treads a dangerous ground while looking for a lost love as he traverses the entire state of Texas.  “If You Ever Go To Houston” has a musical cousin in “This Dream of You” a lovely Tex-Mex waltz where the narrator still finds troubles with his search for his lost love.   Not all of “Together Through Life” is filled with this type of soul searching as Dylan offers several humorous asides in “Shake Shake Mama” and in the darkly funny “It’s All Good.”  As Dylan turns the phrase on its ear, he closes an album that finds him adapting to a new weird cultural landscape with restored vigor.

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This post was submitted by greg.

Bob Dylan : Feel A Change Comin’ On :: Track Review

Dylan’s new single, “I Feel A Change Comin’ On” from “Together Through Life” is a breezy romantic pastiche which initially finds Dylan pining for his baby as she takes a stroll with the village priest.  Throughout, Dylan offers ruminations on life and love as the accordion sways in time and Dylan reassures us that a ¼ of the day is already gone so why not pursue anything but love.  Similar to “Highlands” from “Time Out Of Mind,” Dylan shifts to first person with the following verse, “I’ve been listening to Billy Joe Shaver / and I’m reading James Joyce / some people, they tell me / I’ve got the blood of the land in my voice” as a bluesy guitar trails off in the distance.

I don’t think “I Feel A Change Comin’ On” is Dylan’s best stuff on this album by far.  It just seems dull and too schmaltzy for my taste. I’m still holding out hope that “Together Through Life” is a solid listen and I’m sure it will be, as long as its not overwhelmed by romantic ballads.

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This post was submitted by greg.

Bob Dylan : Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ :: Track Review

I suppose I couldn’t get away with a three word review of a Bob Dylan song by stating it was pretty f@&#ing cool, could I?  As if it were blessed by the ghost of Tito Puente “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” is Dylan’s first single from “Together Through Life” and it marks a southwestwardly change for the mighty bard.  The song has gritty texture with its zydeco accordion and stinging bluesy guitar and organ intro.  Stepping back from the 1940′s and 1950′s period pieces that Dylan has grown fond of recently, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” is a song of this era.

“Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” brings to mind the sardonic tone of  “Everything is Broken” and the brooding “Things Have Changed” showcasing a romantic lyric that estimates that as long as you have the narrator, who cares if the already rotten world turns to shit outside.  I dig the sentiment, and my only regret is that there’s not enough guitar licks in this abbreviated song.  If this is an early indicator of the tone,  sound and quality of the album, I’d like to add it to my best of list for the year.

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This post was submitted by greg.

Bob Dylan : Together Through Life :: Album Details

Dylan has a way of making a dramatic entrance for himself.  The follow up to 2006’s “Modern Times” is entitled “Together Through Life” and features a photograph by Bruce Davidson from his 1959 Brooklyn Gang collection.  The couple locked in an embrace on the back seat of a car keeps with Dylan’s recent album art car fixation.  I’m sure fellow Dylanophiles will scrutinize it for years to come.

“Together Through Life” will be released on April 28, 2009 on Columbia Records.  The record was produced by Jack Frost and was partly inspired by Olivier Dahan’s upcoming film My Own Love Song. There are ten tracks on the album, of which nine song titles are known: Beyond Here Lies Nothing; Life Is Hard; My Wife’s Hometown; Forgetful Heart; Shake Shake Mama; I Feel A Change Comin’ On; If You Ever Go To Houston; This Dream of You; and It’s All Good.

This post was submitted by greg.