Bob Dylan"Together Through Life"
Columbia Records
Released April 28, 2009
****
Dylan was supposed to perform in Phoenix tonight, but apparently his promoters didn't realize that it was hot in Arizona in August and canceled the show. (I personally suspect that with money tight right now people weren't willing to drop $100 to see him - even with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp.)
But that's a shame, because "Together Through Life" is his strongest album since 1997's "Time Out of Mind." The writing is sharp, and musically he's ditched his vaudeville minstrel shtick that marred his last couple albums. With help from Grateful Dead collaborator Robert Hunter, he's crafted a pleasant set of lyrics, while Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and Heartbreaker Mike Campbell help out instrumentally.
The result is a spontaneous, rocking affair that veers from Parisian jazz to messy, Tom Waits-esque blues. Hidalgo especially shines, adding accordion throughout the record - never intrusive yet absolutely essential to every tune on which he plays - especially "My Wife's Home Town" and the sultry Tex-Mex "This Dream of You."
Hunter even seems to tone down his poetic style - his work with the Dead was so distinctive, but on "Together Through Life" he plays to Dylan's strengths while ignoring his own extensive literary mythos.
I'm not going to hail this album as a "return to form" for Dylan - his work since 1976 has been wildly inconsistent, and I've especially disliked his work since "Time Out of Mind" when he grew the pencil-thin moustache and started hosting his awful radio show on XM.
I'm not interested in Dylan the personality, I'm interested in Dylan the poet and musician and by those standards "Together Through Life" is an enjoyable and accessible outing from the cantankerous folk rock icon.
And some of these tunes would've sounded wonderful under the August moonlight in a West Valley baseball stadium - especially since temperatures weren't terribly hot yesterday.
Buy "Together Through Life"
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