Customer Reviews

Together Through Life (Deluxe Edition) CD + DVD

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

He's pushing 70 and has artistically and financially earned a peaceful retirement several times over, but Bob Dylan has found it in his heart to generously present us with another album of new material. What's more, in my opinion it's even stronger than 2006's Modern Times.

Whereas Modern Times found Dylan mining similar subjects and moods to those explored in Love and Theft and Time Out of Mind, Together Through Life distinguishes itself by consisting pretty much entirely of love songs. It's still Dylan, though, so these aren't sappy or hackneyed--the words are full of wry frustration, sensuality, compelling nostalgia, and some of the purest heartfelt devotion the man has ever committed to tape. The album's opener and de facto 'single,' "Beyond Here Lies Nothing," kicks things off in a relatively heavy fashion, as pounding toms and dirty guitar licks frame Dylan's shadowy descriptions of consuming love. It's immediately evident that Dylan the producer isn't sticking with the same old formula--he's increased his acoustic instrumentation, including mandolins, violins, banjos, and especially an accordion, and to great and organic effect. The accordion's cheerful, liquid, flitting timbres really complement the laid-back nature of this set of songs, and it strongly recalls Dylan's days with The Band (which never hurts, so far as I'm concerned).

Anyone who's still contending that Dylan's voice is shot needs only to listen to the down-tempo, mandolin-drenched "Life Is Hard," one of Dylan's most successful torch songs, to hear how much heartbreaking emotion he's still capable of wringing out of his own words, even cooing wordlessly toward the song's end. Likewise, "I Feel a Change Comin' On" serves up Dylan's most heartfelt expressions of tenderness since Time Out of Mind's "Make You Feel My Love." Worry not, though--Dylan's nostalgia is leavened by his characteristic wit and inimitable strangeness. "My Wife's Home Town," with its "I just wanna say that hell's my wife's home town" refrain, contains plenty of tongue-in-cheek mock self-pity and Dylan's chuckling at the end of the track is worth the album's price alone. The album's closer, "It' All Good" takes some extremely effective ironic liberties with the titular saying, and the bluesy "Jolene" follows suit, surprisingly containing one of the best guitar hooks in his recent history. Dylan's fascinatingly surreal blending of American culture, mood and geography also pops up numerous times, especially on the downtrodden "If You Ever Go To Houston," and we get to see more than a few mysterious characters as the album unwinds. Finally, "Shake Shake Mama" has one of Dylan's most addictive vocal melodies backed with some gnarly guitar bends--I can imagine that this song will be a total crusher live.

Throughout, Dylan's production remains top-notch. The sound is warm and organic; on Modern Times I felt that the sound lacked a certain grit or oomph to back the harder-edged tunes with the energy they deserved, but here Jack Frost (aka Bob) has hit a sweet spot that better matches the mood of the material, letting the accordion swirl and the electric guitars growl dirtily. It sounds even better if you crank it up a few notches--a hallmark of good mastering. While a couple of songs tread sonically very close to earlier territory ("This Dream of You" almost sounds like an outtake from Desire, and "Forgetful Heart" would fit inconspicuously on Time Out of Mind), the strength of the songwriting here and the love song concept makes Together Through Life an eminently satisfying listening experience that sounds fresh even alongside his most recent work. Overall, while Modern Times had a couple tracks that didn't really click for me, I can't spy a weak song in this set.

As far as the bonus material goes in this "deluxe" version, it's about the same as earlier deluxe editions--nothing essential or earth shattering, but certainly of interest to fans and collectors. The second disc is a Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour (a program that's really worth checking out for the great music and Dylan's entertaining commentary), and the third is an interview outtake from No Direction Home. Unless you're a really big fan, you're probably ok with the standard version, although the deluxe one isn't much more expensive. As far as I'm concerned, Dylan has produced so much great material in his career that he really doesn't owe us anything new. But if he wants to keep putting out albums this great, who am I to say no? Here's hoping the next one is just as good.

Everyone is commenting how the latest Bob Dylan album has a Mexican bar feel - I would not know as I have never been to a Mexican bar.

Together Through Life - Dylan's 4th masterpiece in a row is a less polished more immediate endeavor than its predecessors - especially Modern Times, which had struck a chord with critics & listeners alike (and Alicia Keys I am sure) as an instant classic. This one is deliberately imperfect (made for an imperfect time in our history I guess), forcedly rushed & more Basement Tapes than any other Dylan record since or before. As if a citizen of a once powerful nation - who is saying he has had enough & just says what he wants to say. When I listened to Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft & Modern Times - they all had this aura of a classic - production compared to the best in the world - lyrics, music, craftsmanship, orchestration - all just came together. This one, on the first go, is more `live' - more in your face - as against studio. Lyrics are simpler (co-written with Hunter) - it is as if he is trying to reach the masses - devils & saints alike - and he is attempting to be more direct, both in delivery & use of words. It is like the old man of the family, at the head of the table, whispering words of wisdom to get better - and no one really cares about.

The singing, the uttering of words, the impeccable timing of the verses and the click-clack of the rhymes is all God's work - Dylan grabs you at the first go. It appears he has been thinking more about singing than ever before and the result is obvious - this is one of the best sung Dylan albums. For the sixties, everything Blonde & Blonde & before - that was sheer talent - the words, the voice, the feel, the urgency & the absolute & utter sense of timing .., this one the other hand is created carefully even with a feel of being urgent & immediate, a maestro in his golden years preserving his glory. I have not heard Dylan `sing' any better in a long time - this is as good as it gets.

Compact discs usually don't pronounce the same warmth as wax of the olden times for the most part & one thing that has really fascinated me is how much Jack Fate has converged the sounds of CD & Wax over the past three records - this one is perhaps the best - perhaps even better than Modern Times - this one sounds as warm as any Vinyl would do. This is just my first take - I will let my listener friends decide for themselves.

Thirty years after the year of the Slow Train, the man still stands alone in some deserted rail station, somewhere in Southern Texas, and murmurs, with more conviction & urge than ever before; listen to him sing again, `when you gonna wake up, & strengthen the things that remain,' albeit in different words.

Would there be another one? I do not know, & neither do you - one can only hope -

And if this is the last one, once again, from the bottom of my heart, Thanks Mr. Dylan - just for being there ..

Oakville: Toronto: April 28, 2009

This is one of the items in the goody bag that comprises the "Deluxe Edition".

I got it, but I don't need it. Nor do I need the poster and the forgettable DVD extras.

But the album itself - that's another story.

Dylan continues to reinvent himself. This time the cagey old trickster has morphed into an amalgam of equal parts Howlin Wolf and Leon Redbone.

Yikes!!

The lyrics on Together Through Life are the result of a collaboration between Dylan and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

Long ago Dylan wrote, "Louise holds a handful of rain tempting you to defy it".

Not quite as long ago but almost, Hunter wrote, "It's just a box of rain, I don't know who put it there. Believe it if you need it or leave it if you dare".

And today, here's what they come up with together:

Well I didn't come here dear with a doggone thing
I just came to hear the drummer's cymbal ring
There ain't no way you can put me down
I just want to say that hell's my wife's home town

How come?

Our song writing duo is quick to provide an answer:

Well there's reasons for that and there's reasons for this
I can't think of any now but I know they exist
I'm sittin in the sun till my skin turns brown
I just want to say that hell's my wife's home town

You know what? This ain't half bad...

Here's some examples of yet other memorable lyrics -

Well, I'm movin' after midnight
Down boulevards of broken cars
Don't know what I'd do without it
Without this love that we call ours
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' but the moon and stars

If you see her sister Lucy
Say I'm sorry I'm not there
Tell her other sister Betsy
To pray the sinner's prayer

I must be losing my mind, you're the object of my desire

Brick by brick they tear you down
A teacup of water is enough to drown

And these are from the song I like best - Forgetful Heart.

Forgetful heart like a walking shadow in my brain
All night long I lay awake and listened to the sound of pain
The door has closed forevermore if indeed there ever was a door

You know, as I listen to this CD, I get the feeling that Dylan's really having fun. In a couple of places you even hear him chuckling in the background. These songs are some kind of easy going, post modern, existential Americana.

Yup, for sure - that's it...

And the sound is absolutely amazing. Producer Jack Frost is some kind of a genius. Wait, does this guy really exist? Who is he anyhow? Anyway, the music is tight, together, all at once happy and haunting. Especially David Hildago's accordion.

What you see is what you get - as announced by the last number, "It's All Good".

No, really it's great.

Five stars.

Together Through Life is a great continuation of Time out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times. Though it may present a shock to the listener if they had suddenly jumped from his earlier work to his current period, once you get used to it, it sounds pretty damn good. For those who have ever followed his body of work know he's never really hung on to a single voice. As for me, I knew there was a huge shock when I turned on Modern Times for the first time after listening to Mr. Tambourine Man from Dylan's 1964 performance. I immediately turned it off and dismissed it. After a third and forth listen, I've grown to like his current trademark growl. After a few days, I began to grow into other albums from his recent period of work. Along with few other artists, I've always found there is a breaking in period with Dylan. You need to shake off the impression that every single artist needs to have that perfect voice. You know the sound. Give this album a second listen if you don't like it the first time. It'll break in, like that favorite couch of yours. Who knows, this might drag you into other artists who share a similar croak such as Tom Waits.

Together Through Life continues Bobs recent string of great albums. I believe the work he's done in the past decade rivals any of the classic records of his early career. Sure it's not the Dylan of then, but who could expect that? He is living in the moment just like he did then, making music timely to him and if the rest of us are on board it's all the sweeter. The only complaint about this record is the deluxe editions. Unless you are a die hard fan to extreme extents buy the normal one disc version. I bought the deluxe edition with the bonus dvd, which was very short (less than 15 min) and not that interesting minus hearing an early demo of "blowing in the wind". The radio show disc is cool enough but not a have to have. And the poster and sticker are a nice touch, but more for the collector than someone who just cares about the record itself. Also Best Buy is selling a version that comes in a miniature milk crate with a t-shirt. Again unless you have to have these soon to be collectibles I would skip it for the $30 plus they want for it. Otherwise this is an AMAZING RECORD! Speaking for the music itself. Killer band, David Hidalgos accordion playing is a real treat and addition, as well as Mike Campbell on guitar.

I've always loved listening to records and sometimes the radio late at night in the car parked in our driveway. Literally hours of my life have been spent this way and I'd ask any skeptics out there not to knock this nocturnal leisure-time pursuit until they've tried it--chilling out like this can be and is a sure-fire little vacation from what ails ya. I sit in the passenger seat mostly where I can enjoy all the advantages of electric cigarette lighter, leg room, beverage holder and so forth without the hassle of having to deal with the steering wheel. Plus I've never actually driven a car over here, preferring two wheels over four whenever I have to get my lazy carcass in gear, so riding shotgun kind of comes naturally to me. In any case a change of scenery now and again works wonders undreamed of I've always found, especially on a hot summer's night when you can recline comfortably in the front seat with the windows down just digging dang good tunes without recourse to hat, scarf, housecoat, slippers und so weiter, as the hard-working employees over there in German sausage factories are always saying--the plumpen arbiters in the Titanic Teutonic Weiner Works being particularly good exemplars of this usage. These happy banger burghers are constantly chanting und so weiter but of course what they really mean is "and so on . . . to the next sausage"--such is their dedication to their profession. In English I think we just mean blah blah blah when we say and so on. Germany, eh? I worked three separate long stretches in a mental hospital in Hamburg during the 80's--folding sheets in the laughing-academy laundry now mind you, not as a patient or anything like that or at least I don't think so--but had to leave eventually because of a general and frankly onerous want of strong helpless laughter. Good folks to work for and with I guess but socially they're frog-marchingly unfunny and their cakes and pastries are full of that horrible ginger flavour. Plus their spoken English is far too excellent for a simple foreigner like me to understand. Great draught beer though and Berlin was fun for about ten seconds but other than that nothing seemed able to finally stave off that dismal feeling you get when you're surrounded daily by a particularly gruesome set of national characteristics. Luck was on my side though coz I escaped in 1990 to the smoking pot--Oops! of course I mean--melting pot and urban death-maze that is New York City where the belly laughs roll a lot freer, the metropolitan vibe is only mighty and the high-calibre English spoken by these unsleepy natives includes such comic gems as "gimme your money" and "what are you looking at?" Really, I seriously do dig this batty burg, just the perfect place of exile, both in its frantic urban jitterbug and in that mellower slo-mo suburban jive I'm beginnng now to deeply attend to and appreciate. Here's another reason I like New York: Four distinct seasons and hot water on tap. Is that a positively propitious quincunxial conjunction or what? One more: Drop in some time and say Ahoy-hoy to God in the unexpectedly lovely Saint Francis of Assisi Church there in the middle of West 31st Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. They even have this serenely spacious and underlit shrine to Saint Anthony of Padua right underneath the church where you can sit quietly and pray for the recovery of your lost pencil and so forth. Even activated an electric candle too--just by pressing a little red button. The candle came on. I think I would have rathered a real candle and the smell of burning wicks and wax but you can't always get what you want, even in New York. But in short and resorting to cliche for a minute, The Big Apple and certain outlying suburban environs are still at this late date in history a poor immigrant's paradise--a real American oasis to say the truth. I've worked and smoked and in my spare time taken a measure of ease on various park benches in New York for about twenty years now and dang if I ain't planning to settle my lazy old bones here. Bob Dylan himself crashed for a spell in this fabled and fabulous metropolis and his section in Chronicles reliving his time here is just a lovely thing to read. Meanwhile back inside my love muffin's German auto: this VW has a right beefy quadraphonic audio rig too so sounds of a certain righteous crankitude invariably surround the entire inside of the interior. One time though this same VW got pranged into by the dude across the street recklessly backing out of his own gaff in broad daylight--the Passat was parked out in front of our hut, the missus wasn't even in it at the time as we were both watching tennis on the telly if I remember correctly, Wimbledon I believe--and anyway here comes this fat jasper in his vintage little fart dart and puts a big hurt on both doors of my special lady's beloved motor. This neighbour is not such a bad egg I guess but on the negative side he's a crap driver, has a very short fuse and sports a grotesquely swollen and pitted schnozzle which is hardly ever not glowing a vivid purple in some type of vexation. Still, thanks to some fancy footwork on the part of his insurance company we, the injured party, had the use for about a week or two of a nifty new rental car with of all things a satellite radio! Of course I'd heard of this sublime innovation in space-age broadcasting but had never had the pleasure of actual access to one and believe me I spent whole weekends and most weeknights living in the passenger seat of that brand-new Buick fiddling with the buttons and volume control and whatnot and honestly grooving to any number of great radio stations, all commercial free. Bliss that was. The terrestrial radio in my old lady's VW has no such satellitic capabilities alas so nowadays when I'm in a mood to kick back in the car I usually end up switching to records eventually which I also bung in the radio console area which is somehow a record player too thanks to more modern technology I suppose. Just this past Saturday night in fact--a fantastically stormy night--round about two maybe three in the AM, I struck camp in my La-Z-Boy, climbed into the German auto and fired up a bunch of hot crunchy fahrvergnügen. First up was Weld, live Neil Young and his trusty bughouse bandoleros cranking out huge rolling waves of soundtrack--the highlight here being the 14-minute version if Like a Hurricane on Disc 2 on account of there was an actual hurricane blowing up outside, mad yowling wind and torrential rain slanting down like bleeding stair rods. The conditions blew something fierce all night but inside the stationary vehicle all was plangently and pungently aromatic rock and roll nirvana. The next record I bunged in was Dylan's electric and friendly jug-band jamboree here, in the Deluxe Edition no less. The album itself is all good, as Zimmy might say, full of a lively and weirdly off-kilter vibe that instantly appealed to me but funnily enough the best thing about the Deluxe Edition of Together Through Life turns out not to be the record at all but the episode on one of the bonus disks of Dylan's radio gig, Theme Time Radio Hour. This is the one about Friends & Neighbors and it's as crafty a bit of ancient magic as you're likely to run into in a car parked in your very own driveway. Yup, this old coyote's still a total trip when he wants to be. The best thing too on the radio show, which features some really entertaining headshakers--one, by Howlin' Wolf, is introduced by Bob in the following words: "This next song is entirely without flaw and meets all the supreme standards of excellence" and when the song, My Friends, was over I surely did think I thought so too--but really the best thing here is Dylan's responses to the two dudes who e-mail him in their dopey observations and inane questions. It's been one of the real pleasures of my life to have reclined there in that car and heard Dylan effortlessly batting away the categorical anxieties of earnest and grimly obsessed fanatics. A beautiful moment really, old Bob playfully flashing his fangs, just for old time's sake. This true cowboy poet here at this point in time is assuredly still the same maverick mahubba bubba from the time way back when he knew just exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. Dylan's a miracle of farking nature and that's a fact. The album itself is happily yet another side of the feller but oboy I did love to hear here on that radio broadcast the dude actually speak his words in that cracked and funny deejay patter of his. A bleeding gem I say again but don't even think of watching the DVD--that particular item of bonus material, an interview with some downtown clown named Roy Silver, is remarkably odd and I think the best way to watch it would be either with an extremely full meerschaum or, failing that, extremely closed eyes plus the volume all the way down at zero.

"Together Through Life" didn't make much of an impression on me, even after repeated listening. It seems like a watered-down version of "Modern Times." The second disc was my first exposure to Bob's radio show. The theme is Friends and Neighbors, and from the first (uncredited) strains of Charlie Parker doing "Just Friends," you know you're in good hands. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

This CD has been on in my car since the day i received it.One or two of the tracks are brilliant.

Excellent again of Bob his Highness. You have to listen real close and many times. Then! As always evergreens.

I am generally pleased with this set (the deluxe edition) but it's just a bit less impressive than the previous Dylan albums going back to "Time Out of Mind." My initial sense of mild disappointment was due to the pre-release hype and certain odd trends in the early criticism that appeared in various magazines - the writers who reviewed this raised some expectations in me that were not realized by the actual music. It's good enough (I never felt like I wanted to hit the skip button) but not what I expected. They were constantly referring to a "Tex-Mex" and "Southwestern" sound and mentioning Dylan's earlier work where this was apparent. This album doesn't strike me that way at all. Hidalgo's accordion is not as omnipresent as I thought it would be (which some may find to be a good thing, depending on their attitude towards that particular instrument) and rarely evokes what I consider to be a "Southwestern" or even "Tex-Mex" feeling. "If You Ever Go to Houston" is about the only thing here that comes close. Maybe I have a different idea of what that kind of music should sound like, but I'm not hearing it here. The accordion usually sounds more like a strolling musician at a sidewalk cafe in Paris or maybe New Orleans. In fact, if the album had been released as "some out-takes from the recording sessions from Love and Theft, with some different approaches and a couple of changes in the musicians" I'd have been more prepared for it than I was, but that's just me. After hearing the variations on the songs and music in "Tell-Tale Signs" I could have believed that quite easily. (By the way, if you like "new Dylan" at all, and if you haven't already done so, BUY THE TWO-DISC SET OF "TELL-TALE SIGNS" NOW!!!!)

Another critic said something to the effect that your listening would be frequently interrupted because you would have to keep getting up to dance, but only two songs on this album even remotely approached that effect on me, and considering that I once felt compelled to dance to "Highlands," that's saying a lot. Most of these songs are fairly slow; a few resemble a waltz and one even reminds me of a polka.

I really liked the "Theme Time Radio Hour" disc, never having heard his justly-famous and very entertaining commentary and patter before, and the songs on it were all pretty good, well worth the few extra bucks this set cost me over the album CD by itself.

The "Lost Interview" DVD could be considered a freebie and you aren't missing much if you haven't seen it, mostly just his first manager relating some rather generic initial impressions of Dylan as a youth and how he lost him to Albert Grossman.