Love and Theft (Bob Dylan)

Bob Dylan is great. this album is great

Nothing short of genius.

Interesting album, here. I am not sure how to compare it to some of his earlier stuff (I've heard some say that it's his best yet). But "Love and Theft" sure ain't bad. It's full of blues, a bit of folk-rock, and an interesting kind of fusion of light jazz, blues, vaudeville, and country. Bob hasn't lost his ability to pen a great song. Clapton put out a pretty good album recently, Dylan did, and I hear that Elton's following suit. Clapton's songwriting was just so-so at times, but Bob has some great tunes on here. I have his MTV unplugged album from maybe five years ago, and I was afraid how scratchy his voice might have gotten to be now after hearing that. It seems the songs on this record were set in a key that he's comfortable singing in, and his vocals are a sort of growl that give the well-written songs a lot of heartiness and fervor. My favorite tunes are "Mississippi" (great upbeat folk-rock tune), "High Water" (awesome Celtic melody with lyrics that capture the spirit of the sound), "Moonlight" (easy-going light jazz song with too many words), "Po' Boy" (somewhat depressing light-folk with what is probably my favorite line from the album- I think you'll know which one I'm talking about after you listen to it), and "Sugar Baby" (a sweet sentimental ballad). I bought the limited edition "Digipack" or whatever you call it, with the bonus two-track c.d. Neither of them seem to be anything special, the first one a tedious-sounding folk ballad that will probably grow on me, this is very early Dylan- perhaps he still had yet to perfect his art, but I prefer a lot of his other early folk covers. Then is a simple version of "The Times They Are A-Changing." The sleeve has images of Bob with his signature stone-faced stare, he's looking a bit older. And there are a few photos of him dressed like a Backstreet Boy. But he is the same old Bob Dylan with a good album here. I only wish I could be sure he's thrown out the ol' bong...