The 90s started off very uncertain for Bob Dylan. You had to dig deep to find any spark in `Under The Red Sky` (1990)’. ‘Good As I Been To You’ (1992) was the worst he could deliver to you and `World Gone Wrong` was just Bob wrong.
Then something amazing happened. Bob dropped ‘Time Out Of Mind’ on us in 1997 and gave us one of the best albums of his career.
‘Time Out Of Mind’ could have been a fluke but when he released ‘Love and Theft’ (2001) and ‘Modern Times’ (2006) we knew it wasn’t. Dylan had resurrected his career to a new level that reestablished the greatest poet in rock as a true legend.
‘Together Through Life’ is the new album, the 33rd studio album in this remarkable career and it is great Bob Dylan.
The formula Bob tapped into in ’97 has remained in ’09 on ‘Together Through Life’. This is a Dylan who has grown out of his own importance and is now comfortable using his influences to create new sounds.
The 20th Century Dylan was all about the lyrics. 21st Century Bob is the musician he always wanted to be. I can see what happened. He was so elevated as some Godlike figure in the 60s that he spent the rest of the century trying to live up to his own legend. He was considered a prophet more-so than a poet.
When ‘Time Out Of Mind’ came along, he stopped competing with himself. The prophet went back to being a poet. The minstrel went back to being a musician. This is the Bob we are hearing on ‘Together Through Life’.
This album came from nowhere. He only started recording in December ’08 and here it is already, just 4 months later.
That old nasally Bob is nowhere to be heard on this album. He was developed a well-marinated growl
Let’s focus on three great moments from this album.
‘Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ opens the album. It is pure blues and roots. Dylan always had the blues in him. He cleverly establishes the mood of this album from the first track.
‘It’s All Good’ is blues, country and zydeco in one. It closes the album. It is the bookend set up at the start. It is dark, dirty and rootsy. You just know by listening to this that Dylan would much rather be John Lee Hooker than Bob.
‘Jolene’ is track 6. I have to keep playing this one over and over. Dylan may have surfaced in the 60s but he has discovered the 50s with this one. This is pure Chuck Berryesque rock and roll. After Berry, the Beatles and Stones grabbed that turf. With ‘Jolene’, Dylan is grabbing his blade of grass.
Elsewhere on the album, ‘My Wife’s Home Town’ is another grubby blues track with a clever Dylan line “I just want to say that Hell’s my wife’s home town,” he sings with credit to Willie Dixon.
‘Shake Shake Mama’ says it all. “I got the blues for you baby” Dylan sings, sounding happy to have bypassed his poet laureate status on this record.
Dylan fans will love this album. None Dylan devotees may also find it a fine musical work.
Tracklisting for ‘Together Through Life’:
1. "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"
2. "Life Is Hard"
3. "My Wife's Home Town”
4. "If You Ever Go to Houston"
5. "Forgetful Heart"
6. "Jolene"
7. "This Dream of You"
8. "Shake Shake Mama"
9. "I Feel a Change Comin' On"
10. "It's All Good"
