The follow up to 2001's Love & Theft. Another album swampy honky tonk songs from the greatest American poet.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Thunder On The Mountain
2. Spirit On The Water
3. Rollin' and Tumblin'
4. When The Deal Goes Down
5. Someday Baby
6. Workingman's Blues #2
7. Beyond The Horizon
8. Nettie Moore
9. The Levee's Gonna Break
10. Ain't Talkin'

Disc 2:

1. Cold Irons Bound (Unreleased live version from Masked & Anonymous)
2. Blood In My Eyes
3. Things Have Changed
4. Love Sick (From The Grammy Awards)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41820 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-08-29
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Special Edition
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Amazon.com
First new album in 5 years featuring 10 new songs. Special limited edition deluxe package includes: Book style package Expanded booklet with never-before-seen photographs Bonus DVD including videos for: "Cold Irons Bound" (Shot live on the film soundstage during the making of the film Masked and Anonymous) "Blood In My Eyes" "Things Have Changed" "Love Sick" (From The Grammy Awards).

Dylan Classics and Collections

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan	The Times They Are A-Changin'	Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited	Blonde on Blonde	Blood on the Tracks
No Direction Home: The Soundtrack	Biograph (Box Set)	Bootleg Series 1-3: Rare 1961-1991 (Box Set)

Amazon.com
At a time when the majority of those his age are drifting into retirement, 65-year-old Bob Dylan has put the capper on a three-record run that ranks with the best in his storied, 44-album career. Like Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft before it, Modern Times is a rootsy, blues-soaked pool of the purest form of Americana--skipping the progressive bells or whistles for an understated backing by his touring band. Dylan's voice, which cracks, rasps and moans from the pop singer's pulpit, hasn't been this rich and emotive since 1976's Desire. And while his lyrics prolong his steadfast allusions to a higher power and his own immortality, they are not without the Dylan mirth, as when he sings of tracking pop queen Alicia Keys from Hell's Kitchen to Tennessee in "Thunder on the Mountain," the album's opener, which teams with "Someday Baby" and "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (for which Dylan misguidedly claims writing credit) as the record's most fiery numbers. Still, it's the Dylan that tells of a slave-loving owner ("Nettie Moore"), brings New Orleans to the front burner ("The Levee's Gonna Break") and plays the part of an eloquent lounge singer ("Spirit on the Water," "When the Deal Goes Down" and "Beyond the Horizon") that makes Modern Times sound just like old times. --Scott Holter

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Customer Reviews

Not quite 'modern' but it's another good one
Since Time Out Of Mind, us Dylan fans can be proud again to admit that we're fans of the new stuff, not just classic Dylan. Modern Times is his third release in a streak of impeccable material. The latest is a return to the styles Dylan introduced in Love and Theft-- blues and rockabilly. As with that album, Dylan (aka Jack Frost) produced Modern Times. Here, the songs are longer, the lyrics arguably more memorable and there's a few more down-tempo ballads. Contrary to the popular notion that Dylan's voice is incomprehensible (probably owing to his horrible performance at his 30th anniversary concert), the singing is so clean you can understand everything without the benefit of a lyric sheet (though it would have been nice to have).

As I said, the songs are longer: the shortest is 4:58, the longest over eight minutes. Dylan borrows from blues standards on Rollin' and Tumblin' and The Levee's Gonna Break, but liberally infuses a mess of his own lyrics. When the Deal Goes Down and Workingman's Blues, especially the latter, are his best ballads in decades. All in all, its not as forceful as Love and Theft. It's not as surprising as that album was, but hardly less of a masterpiece. His lyrics have gotten sharper and wittier, jumping out at you at odd moments with silly innuendos, jokes about getting old, an Alicia Keys name-drop. It's altogether friendlier and more fun that the last two releases.

Like reviewers elsewhere have said, Modern Times is unlikely to win him many new fans or impress fans of his earlier work that never bought into his new stuff, but those who've stuck with Dylan over the years and listened with awe to Time Out of Mind are not going to be able to put down Modern Times for quite awhile. Now I just wish Dylan would put out albums more often! Maybe in a couple years Columbia will release all the songs (I've heard about 2 hrs worth) that wouldn't fit on these last three albums...?

About the bonus disc: don't waste your money. Everyone knows Columbia's holding on to a ***-load of unreleased Dylan stuff and all they could choke up for an extra eight bucks is four (okay, one of them is new...) mediocre tracks that barely differ from the album versions? Instead of offering something interesting for fans and collectors they're just taking advantage of those few who'll invariably say "why not?" and throw them the extra few dollars. Buy the regular version. You won't miss anything by skipping the bonus DVD (no one's going to watch it more than once anyway).

Great Album, better with each listen
When I first listened to the CD I thought it was second or even third of the last three he has made. But after listening to it for a few days I am think it is perhaps the best of the three. It is not a humorous as the second or as dark as the first. Even more than the first it points to someone who is coming to terms not just with aging, but with the end of life which is beginning to come into view. I think he is again giving voice to his generation, where we are getting to the point where both our parents have passed, and while we are not ready to go yet, we can now see a bit of the horizon which in the past was only an intellectual exercise. And yet even with that there is the will to carry on, and carry on with vigor...thus we have lyrics like, 'you think I am over my prime, lets put it to the test'...dont have the lyrics in front of me, but I am sure others will have the exact lyrics.
He has also returned a bit to social commentary with "Workingman's Blues" where he gives his opinion of globalization. In "The levee's gonna break" there are certainly references to New Orleans, but also I see it as being an extension of "Hard Rain Going to Fall" in that perhaps we are going through such a rain and indeed the levee's may break. That could be a reach, but the is the wonder of his songs, they are nebulous enough for us to find the meaning that suits us :)
I really like almost all the songs on the album, probably the faster ones a bit more but even "Beyond the Horizon" which has a Hawaiian flavor is good due to the strong lyrics. (Not really a bit fan of Hawaiian music).
A number of songs like "Ain't Talkin" remind me of the way he strung different images together like we saw on his earlier songs like Hwy 61. The other theme that continues is his religious references, which are mostly personal now. So we get things like 'now I see where the scriptures are true.' These flow with the song, again much like is early music but a bit more personal. Always loved the idea that God was telling Abraham that the next time he saw him he had better run :)

Jack Frost's Old Time Radio Hour
Modern Times is a very good Bob Dylan record that fits nicely into the current "Social Security Renaissance" phase of his career. The record company and lots of critics have been calling it part three of a trilogy that began with Time Out of Mind and continued with Love And Theft but I would suggest that the latter two enjoy a much closer connection with Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong, his early '90's revisit of the folk songs that lit his fire in the first place. I guess this theory makes Modern Times the last block in a quad.

Time Out Of Mind shares with its two subsequent neighbors in the Dylan discography a return to exquisite song craft, stunning lyrics and passionate musicianship that were sorely lacking from the hit and miss affairs of the eighties. However, the atmospheric production and small army of master musicians playing on it tie it much more closely to the other Daniel Lanois produced highlight of the catalog, 1989's Oh Mercy.

When the back to back folk-cover releases, Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong dropped in the early 90's after the uninspired Under The Red Sky, it looked like a retrenchment for an artist who had run out of inspiration. Who knew that by revisiting his roots, he would re-ignite a blast of inspired creativity that continues to inform and inspire his work to this day?

As other reviewers have noted, Modern Times is very much Love and Theft Part II, which is no bad thing. Both records draw on traditional folk and blues melodic and thematic forms but emerge as a Dylanized hybrid that sits comfortably beside his best work.
In addition to the invigorated songwriting and the no-frills Jack Fate production a major key to the success of these two albums is that they were recorded by Dylan's Never Ending Tour band. Instead of his usual method of hiring a band of studio aces supported by superstar guest appearances, the guys playing on these records are the same cohesive unit blazing away with him night after night in arenas, theaters and baseball parks. This provides a sympathetic foundation that he has not enjoyed since his collaborations with The Band. Ironically, as the Never Ending Tour band continues to evolve, bassist and musical director Tony Garnier is the only link between the two groups that made these records.

Like Love and Theft, the songs on Modern Times are a mix of familiar song forms. There are roots-rockin' / bluesy rockers Thunder on the Mountain, Rollin' and Tumblin', Someday Baby and The Levee's Gonna Break. Old Timey Waltzes Spirit On The Water and Beyond the Horizon as well as a straight ballad, When the Deal goes Down. There are also tunes that I think of as Dylan-esque (for lack of a better term) and these are probably my favorites: Ain't Talkin', Nettie Moore and Workingmans Blues #2. In Fact, Ain't Talkin' may be the knockout Dylan classic of the whole album.

Although quite good, Modern Times is a little softer, a little less rockin' that Love and Theft and I wonder if this is not partly due to the absence of Charlie Sexton. Charlie Sexton is such a consummate rocker and I think his much lamented departure from the touring band spills over into the studio. The rockers on Modern Times are good but never quite achieve lift off. Watch the Cold Iron Bounds video presented here for a taste of the rock bite this band was unable to provide.

Finally one minor complaint: The record company is charging quite a bit extra for this deluxe edition, and I think it would have been very appropriate to load the bonus DVD up with more than four videos. High on my personal wish list is a complete version of the smokin' Drifter's Escape from the Masked and Anonymous movie.