Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
74 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a classic, but utterly warm and spontaneus., April 28, 2009
Sixty-eight years and 33 albums in and Bob Dylan seems bigger than ever.
Dylan's 33rd studio album comes packaged with a CD of tracks from his delightful radio show, "Theme Time Radio Hour" -- an appropriate union given that his latest has a similar old-time feel and would fit in perfectly the next time he turns DJ.
The CD has reignited interest in Dylan as a relevant artist of our times, as opposed to a legendary antiquity.
"Together Through Life" is characterised by a loose swing and prominent accordion. He has assemble here his warmest, most unforced, set of songs in recent memory.
The album is a beautifully played collection of antique, urban blues pop.The ghosts of the great Chicago bluesmen haunt these song structures.
The results have been compared to the vintage Chicago blues sound of Chess Records.
A warm, wheezy accordion (played by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos) lends a borderline Tex Mex flavour.
At least half of the songs are wry, even slightly comic tales of ordinary American lives of desire, heartbreak and remorse.
For sure,the lyrics, co-written with poet Robert Hunter, a "non-performing" member of The Grateful Dead, won't intrigue the academics but the head-nodding grooves of "It's All Good" and "If You Ever Go to Houston" will appeal to more basic instincts.
The single song, "Life is Hard", written and recorded for Olivier Dahan's forthcoming film, "My Own Love Song" (it's about a road trip to Memphis undertaken by a wheelchair-bound singer and her best buddy) "proves an incongruent trigger for such a bluesy album, its lap steel and mandolin carrying one of Dylan's most uncomfortably pitched croons". -Independent
"There is nothing as epic or as playful as "Highlands" or as plaintive as "Nettie Moore", nothing with the weight or depth of those late Dylan songs that possess the resonance of the great blues and folk ballads he loves. By the end, you may feel that you are listening more to that strange whispery croak of a voice than to the words themselves". - Sean O'Hagan
Dylan sounds gruffer and less nasal than on his last one, Modern Times, approaching Tom Waits territory on "My Wife's Home Town".
Yet the album shocases Bob Dylan in fairly relaxed, spontaneous mood, content to grab such grooves and sentiments as flit momentarily across his radar. So while it may not contain too many landmark tracks, it's one of the most naturally enjoyable albums we may hear all year.
Album's highlights: "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'", "It's All Good", "I Feel a Change Comin' On", "Forgetful Heart", "My Wife's Home Town"
|
|
|
35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
S'ALL GOOD, April 29, 2009
Journalists are fond of calling the last 3 Dylan albums a "trilogy". At the very least, Together Through Life should lay such notions to rest. By now, Dylan fans should have come to understand their avatar's impulsive & elusive nature. Something as premeditated & pretentious as a "trilogy" is not in the cards. So let's leave that at the door.
No, this isn't another "masterpiece". It casts any such expectations aside like a snake shedding its skin. Dylan mythologists will salivate & proclaim it genius & discerning critics might dismiss it in light of the acclaim Modern Times recieved. But without a doubt, Together is just as inspired as anything he's cut since 1997's Time Out of Mind.
A few things set Together apart. David Hidalgo's accordion lends a definite Tex Mex quality to the proceedings. Where Dylan's previous offerings seemed steeped in the mythology of the Old South, Together gives you the impression of being set in an endless string of Texas boarder towns.
Overall, the production is grittier & more intimate to the point of being nearly claustrophobic. Listen to it through ear phones & you're likely to come away with a different experience than on the stereo.
Another thing that characterizes Together is its obsessive focus on a single theme. These are all love songs. From the romantic abandon of Beyond Here Lies Nothing to the sarcastic resignation of It's All Good, herein lies a long, winding road from infatuation to betrayal, to bitterness to restless farewell.
Highlights include Beyond Here & It's All Good which bookend the album. Both are rollicking & upbeat while still holding on to a brooding intensity. Other standouts are the wistful Dream Of You and My Wife's Home Town which somehow manages to switch hats between humor & anguish. Listen closely & you can hear Dylan chuckle mid song.
Most notable is Life Is Hard. The fragility in Dylan's delivery is for lack of a better word, moving. When he rises from his signature rusty growl to wary heights of his upper register it's enough to put a lump in your throat. As for the likes of Shake Shake Mama, it might come off as filler, till the line, "I get the blues for you baby when I look up at the sun".
Together Through This Life may not be as sprawling & epic compared to what came before. Nor will it have the same milestone impact of Time Out Of Mind. But for this fan, "it's all good" even if it's not proclaimed a masterpiece. At the very least its a solid effort, proving he's still in the saddle & not quite ready to let go of the reigns. I do have the sense however, that on down the line, Together might just prove to be a unique gem in Dylan's formidable 46 album catalogue.
|
|
|
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If your an all around fan or like the Newer Dylan than you should like this., May 1, 2009
I've only had a couple of listen throughs, but so far its all good. If you're a real fan of Dylan than you'll like this one. My feeling is that this album is a bit of a sleeper album. It seems like the more you catch his lyrics and how things are phrased the better the songs seem to become. I'll only highlight one song and thats "Shake Shake Mama", just a good song that captures some of what Dylan channels into his music. Other than that I'll let you decide and add that we all may not have the same shout out songs, but there guaranteed to be one that catches your ear. Enjoy.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Bob Dylan 
