Bob Dylan's Modern Times, a new Masterpiece?

I just got the LP today. Have got through sides 1-3, haven't done side 4 yet. I think it would be a stretch to call it a "masterpiece" and I definitely have to listen more. There is a "flatness", sound wise, to the record that Ben describes above, without a doubt. I'd bet a lot of money the original master is digital not analog. While it sounds reasonable, I think it could've sounded much better with a bit more care in the studio. I find Bob's voice to be really miked hot on side 3 and think they should've dialed him down a bit. Then again, I've got a fairly big smudge and some scuffing on that side of the album (along with some problems on other sides including excessive label glue) which may be contributing to that but I doubt it. I like how Sony has a small blurb inside the record talking about the quality control etc. with their phone #. I'll be giving them a call but will probably just keep what I've got for fear that the replacement will be worse.

Bob taking writing credits for Rollin and Tumblin and Someday Baby is a bit of a joke. While he may have twisted a few words around on these ones, they are old blues songs that have been performed thousands of times. I like Bob, but he's really stretching it there.

I agree with Ben that it is a real stretch to to interpret any of Dylan's comments as a personal attack on Lanois.

Frankly, I like quite a bit of the performance on MT, but I'm not so sure that it is a "masterpiece". This, of course, is entirely subjective and we can argue this until the cows come home.

What is not subjective, in my opinion, is the sound quality, and, as far as I'm concerned (I have the vinyl), that's fair game both within the context of this thread and Dylan's recent comments about sound quality. When someone states that the "production" is masterful, that's simply a load of crap. It's a mediocre to slightly above mediocre sounding recording at best as much as I might like the performance; it doesn't mean I can't appreciate the performance (I've got lots of great music that's not particularly well recorded). But if Bob is going to complain that most recent music sounds crappy, he's going to be fair game when it comes to criticism of the sound quality, particularly if he's producing it himself. I don't see that as an audiophile pissing match, but maybe Ben is just pulling our legs.

There's no doubt in my mind that if Joe Harley at Audioquest had done this record it would have sounded a ton better. If that makes me a Diana Krall or Holly Cole lover, so be it.