Bob Dylan's Modern Times, a new Masterpiece?

I'm a huge Dylan fan, and I like to see that people still consider his new work worth listening to, but I can't see how you can call "Modern Times", anything more than a three star disc. And that is probably being overly generous.

It sounds ok, but it is almost entirely recycled from classic blues and folk tunes and from his own material. He has done this picking things here and there all through his career of course, but he used to make things his own, now he is just copying them. That being said, he is 65, and that is a hard lived 65, lots of concerts and lots of partying have left him with limited vocal ability and apparently not much to say.

So what, accept he is past his prime and revel in all the great music he has made. Even if most of it was made before 1979 or is that 1969?

matthew

Dreadhead

I agree with you. That "Modern Times" works the same area as Leon Redbone's career. If I remember correctly Bob said at one time that if he ever started a record label he would sign, Redbone as his first artist. Bob did found a label and I don't think he ever followed through with that promise.

I like Redbone's music a great deal, but it is lacking in originality. And I think Bob has slipped into that camp as well. At least they are both finding inspiration in great music. But if you really like the sounds on Modern Times, you should explore the artists where this music comes from.

Against my better judgement and probably my wife's if she knew about it. I have shucked out a couple hundred dollars to see yet another Dylan concert in an acoustically challenged hockey rink. Maybe I'll like Modern Times better, when I hear it live. That being said, he has played this type of music in part at several shows i've already seen, so i think i know that answer already.

looking for a cure from bob-itis

matthew