At the age of sixty, Bob Dylan has released 43 albums in his career, which has spanned nearly forty years. Beginning with his 1962 self-titled debut album, Dylan has become one of the most prolific and acclaimed singer-songwriters of the twentieth century. Dylan’s latest artistic endeavor, Love and Theft, released in September, shows yet the latest phase in the evolution of Bob Dylan’s career. Love and Theft is Dylan’s first release since 1997’s Time out of Mind. Overall, Love and Theft seems to be the most diverse Dylan album in recent years. Combining elements of country, rhythm and blues, and middle American folk, Bob Dylan has crafted an album which is a worthy companion to 1975’s Blood on the Tracks, and 1965’s Highway 61 Revisited.
Love and Theft marks Dylan’s third collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois with whom he released 1989’s Oh Mercy and 1997’s Time Out of Mind. On October 19, Love and Theft was awarded gold record status by the Recording Industry Association of America. In the four years since his last album, Dylan has given over 500 live performances and enlisted the talents of guitarist Charlie Sexton. Though the days of Dylan’s outspoken anti-establishment songs such as "Like a Rolling Stone," "Times They Are a’ Changing," and "Talkin’ John Birch Blues," are gone, Dylan continues to bridge the past and present, borrowing and reworking depression and reconstruction era folk sounds in Love and Theft’s "Mississippi," which was originally intended to be released in Time Out of Mind. Meanwhile a classic bar blues sound can be heard in "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum," "Honest with me," and in "Cry a While." Overall the album is strong with a characteristic Bob Dylan sound from the raspy echoing voice to the well-crafted and multi-faceted lyrics. The songs have the feel of a seedy smoke-filled film noir bar scene, with a touch of class and depth, which only Bob Dylan can craft.
Love and Theft is available in stores now either as a 12-track album or a limited edition two-disc set with extra bonus tracks. Also coming soon is Timeless, the Hank Williams tribute album that will feature a performance of "I Can’t Get You Off of My Mind" by Bob Dylan. An interview with Bob Dylan can be found in this month’s issue of Rolling Stone, and Dylan can be seen live on November 13 at the Onondaga Co. War Memorial in Syracuse, November 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and at the Fleet Center in Boston on November 24.
