Bob Dylan
Planet Waves

The best Dylan album since "John Wesley Harding", seven long years later.
This is a great comeback. Accompanied by Robbie Robertson's "Band" and company (no kidding!), Bob returns to the inspiration of his better days, a convincing voice, and interesting melodies.

The orchestrating Band is clearly felt, right from the playful blues opener, "On A Night Like This". Lyrics align with his recent frivolous productions, but are well constructed.
But the grand return is the masterpiece "Going, Going, Gone", truly a great song. It's the synthesis of Dylan's evolution, a "Don't Think Twice" aged ten years, bitter with Robertson's guitar working hard to convey the right pathos.
Same goes for "Tough Mama", and "Hazel" which has been performed live recently and appeared quite convincing.
Another masterpiece is the song dedicated to his son Jakob (leader of the Wallflower, but then he was only a few years old), the wonderful "Forever Young", and the harsh "Dirge", an unsettling prologue of the album that's about to come and a chronicle of Dylan's inner turmoil in those years: "I hate myself for loving you, and the weakness that it showed, you were just a painted face on a trip down to suicide road". Simple accompaniment, Dylan's piano, full chords, and Robertson performing miracles on the acoustic, inspired, gritty voice. A real gem.
The other songs do not reach this level but do not spoil the atmosphere.
A curious note: already in the recording studio, Dylan replaces the song "Nobody 'Cept You", a good one, with "Wedding Song", written in those days and hastily recorded, with chords that are sometimes forgotten or shifted from major to minor, and a harmonica solo best forgotten. The lyrics contain some frame-worthy passages. An excellent song born, like many in Zimmy's songbook, by chance and impulse. Fortunately, "Nobody ‘Cept You" was resurfaced in the "Bootleg Series Vol 2". It could have replaced "Something There Is About You", mediocre. It's the beginning of a series of bizarre choices in Dylan's album tracklists, culminating with "Infidels".

An excellent album: the resurrection is almost complete, the transition phase has found a precise direction, and the results are palpable. Dylan is on tour with the Band, dazzling audiences, and is preparing for another four years on the crest of the wave, characterized by great albums and always on the road with the now-legendary "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour.