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"Love and Theft"

Bob Dylan - "Love and Theft" Audio CD

A fair review of the Bob Dylan ""Love and Theft"" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Bob Dylan reviews here, or go back to the Bob Dylan tabs.

Band: Bob Dylan
Title: "Love and Theft"
Rating:

Release Date: 2001-09-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum 2: Mississippi 3: Summer Days 4: Bye And Bye 5: Lonesome Day Blues 6: Floater (Too Much To Ask) 7: High Water (for Charlie Patton) 8: Moonlight 9: Honest With Me 10: Po' Boy 11: Cry A While 12: Sugar Baby

Fun, Fun, Fun, and though provoking too!
Its impossible to put my finger on it, but it generates a feeling that is timeless. This is one of my favorite Bob Dylan albums. It deals with difficult topics, but with an attitude that rises above it all! And the lyrics are both brilliant and very fun too. I think this album deserves alot more attention. Its like a whirlwind tour of traditional American music, synthesizing elements of rock, jazz, blues, country, etc. . . On top of that, it sounds both old/classic and new/fresh at the same time. A monumental achievement and a testament to Bob's genius!.

modern American folk Music
" As a non music-educated listener, and true fan of Dylan for over 35 years (because I like his music, period), this is my favorite among his last five releases. Now that several years have passed since "Love and Theft" was released, following "Time Out of Mind" and preceeding "Modern Times," it can be compared on a level playing field against all of Dylan's recent works including "Modern Times" and "Together Through Life. If you are looking to choose something of Dylan's that best represents what he has been up to lately, and how his music has evolved, I would recommend this be your first purchase (followed shortly thereafter by the other four if you like this one). It is the best example of who Dylan is, and what his music has become. Love it, like it, or leave it, the music and lyrics on this album best capture America's evolution from around the 1930's to the present day. With this album, Dylan has created what could be described as modern American folk music . . . if there is such a thing. .

Once Again, The Blues Is Dues-Dylan Style

Okay, okay I have gone on and one over the past year or so about the influence of Bob Dylan's music (and lyrics) on me, and on my generation, the Generation of '68. The first paragraph of this review has been used to review other later Bob Dylan CDs. But, please, don't blame me. Blame Bob. After all he could very easily have gone into retirement and enjoyed the fallout from his youthful fame and impressed one and all at his local AARP chapter. But, no, he had to go out on the road continuously, seemingly forever, keeping his name and music front and center. Moreover, the son of a gun has done more reinventions of himself than one could shake a stick at (folk troubadour, symbolic poet in the manner of Rimbaud and Verlaine, heavy metal rocker, blues man, etc. ) So, WE are left with forty or so years of work to go through to try to sort it out. In short, can I (or anyone else) help it if he is restless and acts, well, . . . . like a rolling stone?

All of this is by way of introduction to the latest group of CDs from the vaults of one Bob Dylan's vast repertoire of musical interests. I note that there is a touch of going back, way back, and a life times' summing up driving the music. I also note the increased emphasis on the music that influenced him early on in his rise to fame and many tips of the hat to the so-called American Songbook that he seemingly knows by heart. While we are all familiar with the various periodizations of the Dylan musical trajectory- folk troubadour a la Woody Guthrie, hard rockster, semi-Christian evangelical, old vaudeville showman and sentimental (for him) songster it is good to see him return ever more to his beginnings. "Bringing It All Back Home", "Blonde On Blonde" and "Blood On The Tracks" will probably be his monuments in the folk/rock/pop pantheons but some of the late work, especially some of the covers of the early blues men like Skip James and Blind Willie McTell will endure as well.

Stick outs here include "High Water" (his tribute to the legendary Mississippi bluesman Charley Patton; a very lyrically mysterious "Mississippi"; a plaintive "Po' Boy": and, a seeming return to 1920's pop culture Rudy Vallee crooner-type "Bye And Bye".

L&T wins the most improved album award for Dylan
The music was good but I didn't like his voice and I couldn't believe that Dylan would open the album with a song called 'Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum'. The first couple of times I played this record I wasn't very impressed and thought that it had little to offer.

After repeated listens I still was having trouble identifying the greatness of this album so I set it aside. Then I purchased Together Through Life, which I enjoyed, and it made me take another listen to L&T and I finally got it! He was trying to summon old blues styles from the 40s and 50s. . . and was doing it masterfully!

As for the tracks, I still don't like Tweedle Dee. So if you were to take it off of the album you would start with Mississippi, which is a great song! I think it belongs on Time Out Of Mind (the album for which it was written) but it plays nicely here. Summer Days and Bye & Bye are good songs but I think the album really kicks in right after.

Lonesome Day Blues, Honest With Me and Cry A While are blistering blues jams, which Dylan's hard and raspy voice fits perfectly with the old school blues rhythms. High Water is unique and is sung with attitude. With the addition of the banjo, the subtle accordion and backing vocals this song really stands out. Floater, Moonlight and Po' Boy are graceful ballads which Dylan sings with a playfully slyness. Sugar Baby is a nice slower ballad and is a good closing track.

L&T doesn't flow perfectly like Blonde On Blonde but the strength of a majority of these songs pulls this album to the top of Dylan's catalog. It represents the start of another great phase of his musical genius.

Au Revoir, Lanois
Dylan went on the road, sharpened his chops and then recorded a straightforward barn-burner. This is a very fitting "corrective" to Dylan's mixed experience with Danny Lanois and his black boxes and Acadian sonic shaman act. Every cut has its own charms but my favorites are Lonesome Day Blues, High Water (a prescient Katrina ditty?) and Moonlight. Dylan sounds courtly and world-weary and right at home in the clean, buzzing mix. High times. .

You can see a complete list of all Bob Dylan discography, or go back to the Bob Dylan tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.