i got bob dylans modern times for the holidays,i give it an A ,a remarkable achievment lyrically,musically.dylan delivers another knockout.can you say grammy.

john scialfa

I agree with you John. The test is how often i listen to it and i do more than any other CD since its release. Bob's an incredibly charismatic artist nusically, lyrically and vocally. A grade

Yeah A+....
Fantastic release, and Dylan continues to confound, delight, and entertain!

top shelf stuff. the key is that bob isn't driven by Sony mandates or "need to get product out to promote/justify tour" or artificial motivators like that. he's driven my his muse - and he's not been going into the studio in the past decade unless/until he has something to say. it shows.

I rate it an "A"; I'd have to say Bob's backup is one of his best and he's
had numerous and famous backups over the course of his career;

One of his best since Desire, superior to "Love and Theft", and a worthy conclusion to the loose trilogy started with "Time Out Of Mind". A+

Great album! Has to be an "A".

I'll add an A, too.
I didn't quite *get* Modern Times at the first 3 listenings or so.
Then...I put it on, while doing something else, and I heard it from a different angle, terrific album.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 17:14 by Erik_Snow.

Edward Twining Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with you John. The test is how often i
> listen to it and i do more than any other CD since
> its release. Bob's an incredibly charismatic
> artist nusically, lyrically and vocally. A grade

I gave it an A+ when I first got it.

But I grew tired of it pretty quickly. Lyrically, I loved it, but some of the music got rather tiresome quickly for me, it was just a little too simplistic for me.

I still think it's a fine album, but L&T and TOOM are both better albums and have stood the test of time/playability better for me.

highanddry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I still think it's a fine album, but L&T and TOOM
> are both better albums and have stood the test of
> time/playability better for me.


Modern TImes is not TOOM for me either, and maybe Love&Theft surpasses MT too.
Still...it's terrific.

Nikolai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of his best since Desire, superior to "Love
> and Theft", and a worthy conclusion to the loose
> trilogy started with "Time Out Of Mind". A+

I don't see it as part of a "trilogy." even a loose one, unless it is based on Bob's artistic revival. (I'd say that began with Bob's "Dignity" single, before Time Out Of Mind.)

Sound-wise, I'd pair it up with Love and Theft, but it doesn't really seem linked to the bleak-but-brilliant Time Out of Mind.

Bob himself scoffed at the "trilogy" notion in his recent Rolling Stone interview.

Dignity is actually a hold-over from the '89 Oh Mercy sessions, though. Bob himself says that there IS a trilogy - but that MT is just the second installment of it....

maybe it's the "Never Ending Trilogy!"

It's a little bit more relaxed than the last album. I don't find myself playing it that often. But that sometimes takes me a while. Lines from it do pop into my head pretty frequently. I think I like "Workingmans Blues" the best. But the album is still an A.

i like that idea!

I think bob has been down on Time Out of Mind for a while now. Even though it was his choice to use Lanois again?

Agree, Modern Times is a A+ album..

2 1 2 0

I don't know, I have been listening to it, and it is a little hard to get into. It might take a few listens. It is hard to get past that croaking voice sometimes. My favorite so far is Thunder on the Mountain.

D-

Duane in Houston Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> D-

phew! Well at least Bob passed your test....

loog droog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nikolai Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > One of his best since Desire, superior to "Love
> > and Theft", and a worthy conclusion to the
> loose
> > trilogy started with "Time Out Of Mind". A+
>
> I don't see it as part of a "trilogy." even a
> loose one, unless it is based on Bob's artistic
> revival. (I'd say that began with Bob's "Dignity"
> single, before Time Out Of Mind.)
>
> Sound-wise, I'd pair it up with Love and Theft,
> but it doesn't really seem linked to the
> bleak-but-brilliant Time Out of Mind.
>
> Bob himself scoffed at the "trilogy" notion in his
> recent Rolling Stone interview.

The operative word is "loose trilogy" is "loose". They're not explicitly linked like the "Born Again" trilogy (which might have been a quartet if Bob hadn't consigned some of the best songs from those sessions to the Bootleg Series), but each album consists of a suite of thematically connected songs, and a great many of the lyrics (and the music) are reflective - whether explicitly so (much of TOOM) or obliquely.

As for Bob scoffing at a suggestion made by the press .... Remember when he said that "Blood On The Tracks" wasn't about his disintegrating first marriage?

TOOM was indeed brilliant. It's my favourite Dylan album.

I'm with "cc." i think "Workingman's Blues" is the best track on this "A-" album. 10 times better than "Love And Theft"

"Take all the pain...It's yours anyway"

C

There's good stuff. And there's tired and predictable.

He's very reliant on the high quality of his team these days. They are more of a fronting band than a backing band........ though he still gets to sing........sort of!

And as for the band ....... if only Keith could still knock out those effortless Berry-esque lead fills which abound on track one.

To me, it's good, but sounds like stuff that maybe didn't make it onto the previous two cd's, both of which I think are better.

I loved 'Time out of Mind' and 'Love and Theft',and have spinned 'Modern Times' quite a lot since it was released,but,as good as it is,and it has some quality tunes there,I do feel it's a wee bit over-rated. I don't think it's anywhere near Dylan's truly great works. After those poor albums of the '80's,when it looked like the Muse had left his Bobness -- it sometimes feels that if Dylan makes an album that has some quality,the critics and fans leap onto it as "classic".

To call 'Modern times' the best album of 2006(as some magazine poll did recently) surprised me a lot -- doesn't say much for the world of music released last year if MT,a very good but not truly great album,is considered the best.

A solid B+

cc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think bob has been down on Time Out of Mind for
> a while now. Even though it was his choice to use
> Lanois again?


well he still plays plenty of songs off it, so I cant see that hes 'down' on it

He just doesnt consider it a trilogy, for the obvious reason that unlike the two most recent albums, TOOM used session musicians and an outside producer.

well it really depends on what one is rating against! against other dylan albums? against other artists?

i'm hesitant to give an a+ to anything

modern times is among the best i heard all year.. but i don't think one can seriously compare it to blood on the tracks... or blonde on blonde...

i would say that i have to rate it in relation to others.. and right now these are some of my ratings..

freewheeling is A
highway 62 A
blonde on blonde A+
bringin it all back home A
john wesley A
nashville A
basement tapes A-
new morning A-
self portrait (i like it actually) A-
another side of bob dylan B+
times they are a changing B
planet waves C+
dylan a- (i love this one...i guess i just like the self protrait era stuff)
blood on the tracks A+
desire B
street legal B-
slow train/saved/shot of love B-
empire burlesque C
infidels C (i'm sorry theproduction just ruins this for me)
oh mercy B+
under the red sky C
time out of mind A- (a true powerhouse because of four masterpiece songs..you have to give more recognition to an album that includes not dark yet than say modern times which while good i don't believe has anything on that level)
love and theft B
modern times B
live 1966 A+
bootleg series 1-3 A



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-27 02:02 by stoned_in_dc.

groove and comfort, these are the two things that i think dylan finally achieved on modern times...the 60's albums seemed speed driven, the 70's were bitter and confused, and the 80's and early 90's were forced...with TOOM and L&T it seemed as though bob was searching and with modern times he struck what he was looking for...i grade it with a good cup of coffee and a cigarette, that is what goes good with this album...

listen dc-stoner - i can't take your list seriously if you're gonna rate Self Portrait higher than mt, l&t, another side, oh mercy, desire, times, infidels...you gotta be kidding me. even dylan would scoff at that....

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cc Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think bob has been down on Time Out of Mind
> for
> > a while now. Even though it was his choice to
> use
> > Lanois again?
>
>
> well he still plays plenty of songs off it, so I
> cant see that hes 'down' on it

I mean the production, specifically. Maybe it was when "L&T" came out, and he was explaining why he produced it himself, that he talked about how he'd grown unhappy with Lanois's work. In that sense, he would be keen to play the songs in live arrangements to demonstrate how he wanted them to sound.