Bob Dylan

Item: Love and Theft
Author: Megan Lenz

Love and Theft

(2001)

Reviewed by Megan Lenz

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Label Sony MusicThe Phantom Tollbooth2001

blues rock folk rock

Not too many 60-year-old guys can turn out what may very well be the best album of the year. But then again, Bob Dylan isn't most 60-year-old guys. The unconquerable Dylan's Love and Theft is the first studio album he has released since his Grammy-winner Time Out of Mind.

The unpretentious sort of bluesy folk-driven rock/rock-driven folk (though neither designation can really contain this album) Dylan has crafted on this record practically reeks of Americana, in the best way possible. Listeners hear the sunsets, the winding roads and the echoes of time and musical influence long past. This record almost makes one wish resurrection of those times. Everything on this album has a kind of synthesis that makes it seem that the components have been mingled together at length. From the band Dylan has assembled and the instrumental sounds it creates (including such organic sounds as a banjo, an accordion, as well as a mandolin), to the interplay of the lyrics and music, this album defines synergy.

Dylan hits all the key themes in this record: life, death, love, women, faith, God, friendship, history and heritage. The lyrics seem to flow out of him with unconscious ease, like he's an old sailor spinning a yarn or a farmer passing the secrets of the land on to his kids. One thing Dylan doesn't do on this album is brood. Instead, he speaks like someone who has acquired perspective along with experience (why can't these two go together more often?). He's not above an occasional lyrical wink. He even tells a knock-knock joke. Don't believe it?

Knockin' on the door, I say 'who is it, where you from'
Man say 'Freddie', I say 'Freddie who'
He say, 'Freddie or not, here I come.

And that in the same song in which he remarks, "Time and love have branded me with their claws." (Po'Boy)

Dylan's voice is gristled, and that fits his substance and his style. The gooey overproduction of pop music wouldn't suit the subtleties of Dylan. He produced this album himself, under the pseudonym of "Jack Frost."

It might be fate, irony or just coincidence that this album was released on the now-infamous date of September 11, 2001. The man who has, in 43 albums, seen many stages in life and history pass by again provides a word that, however unconscious it was at the time, seems ripe with meaning in these tragic days.

I'm on the fringes of the night fightin' back tears that I can't control,
Some people ain't human, they ain't got no heart or soul,
But I'm a-cryin' to the Lord, tryin' to be meek and mild,
Yes, I cried for you, now it's your turn, you can cry a while. (Cry a While)

In one way, there seems to be too much to say about Dylan. How to condense such a long and influential career? But in another sense, there are few words for this man. Dylan remains essentially Dylan, and he's not gussying himself or his music up for anyone. Volumes can be written about the intricacies, but all you need to know in the end is that he is who he is and that's it. Don't throw the term "living legend" around too loosely. It certainly applies to Dylan, but flippant it isn't. Dylan inspired and continues to inspire generations of songwriters, but we are quite glad to have the real deal still around.