Bob Dylan
Modern Times

2006, Dylan is still Dylan, after thirty-two albums he remains a monster of authentic skill. Many critics and fans mark the end of his career with the beautiful Oh mercy! of 1989, with the last isolated flash of genius in Time out of mind of 1997. Instead, after the admirable album of '97, Dylan completely frees himself from any professional obligations towards record companies and fans/critics (not that he had really ever listened to anyone beyond his creative instinct throughout his career) and launches into a trilogy, produced solo under the pseudonym Jack Frost: Love and theft (2001), Modern times (2006) and Together through life (2009), a genuine rediscovery of the old rock-blues of the early '50s, polished and modernized because these are indeed modern times and not a revival of the great music that was. An isolated rock lesson because none of the new generations of music want to draw from those sources and this lesson: perhaps it is precisely in this way that the lack of rock artists from 2000 onwards can be explained.

I would like to start by commenting on the masterpiece of the album, for the writer one of Dylan's most beautiful songs: Ain't talkin, almost nine minutes of music with a hypnotic and psychedelic approach, with a bleak tango rhythm accompanying the bitter reflections of a man who feels he has not reached the existential happiness he would have liked to achieve; in these verses, you can feel the pessimism that had invaded historical albums and masterpieces like Blood on the tracks and Desire

"they say that prayer has the power to heal
so pray for me mama
in the heart of man a wicked spirit can dwell
I try to love my neighbor and do good
but oh, mama, things ain't going so well"

Another ballad, another masterpiece is Nettie Moore, a track in some ways "experimental," led in the verses by the bass marking the time repetitively, like the ticking of a clock, but then opening into very melodic choruses; here too, Dylan certainly doesn't have sweet words for what his life has been and where it has taken him

"I have a bunch of sins to pay for and I don't have time to hide"

A less somber, pop piece is Workingman's Blues #2, with a melody that harks back to Let it be; here the theme is underpaid work and the poor economic conditions of the working class, a return to the themes of his beginnings

"There's a nighttime mist coming down by the hill
Star light by the edge of the shore
The purchasing power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's getting shallow and weak
Well the place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad"

Spirit on the water and Beyond the Horizon are two relaxed waltzes, even in themes, talking about women, love, sex.

And what about rock? Thunder on the mountain is a surprising piece, only a genius can rewrite a modern Johnny B. Goode, without plagiarizing it; the beautiful guitar interventions by two great guitarists like Denny Freeman and Stu Kimball are noteworthy.

Rollin' and tumblin', Someday baby and The levee's gonna break are three blues with a rockabilly pace: Dylan has written pieces like this many times, but here in terms of composition we are at the level of the electric turning point albums Bringing it all back home and Highway 61 revisited.

Rock, blues, tango, waltz...what's missing? Jazz! Here it is in the dreamy notes of When the deal goes down, where Dylan returns gloomy and pessimistic about his own life, but here he's accompanied by the figure of the woman he loves

"we eat and we drink, feel and think
On the road, far away, we wander
I laugh and I cry and I'm haunted
By things I'll never see or hear again
The midnight rain follows the train
We all wear the same thorny crown
From soul to soul, our shadows fold
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down"

An album from another time and at the same time modern, the album of a true artist, against the tide and free. Listen to it and live it!