Welcome to issue 19, the Modern Times special,
and thanks to all who wrote in with their thoughts on the album. We offer a variegated selection here of the many responses.
So many indeed that I abandoned my own review, which may be for the best as it may not have been enthusiastic enough for
most of your palates. I’ll use this double editorial to briefly explain why, (especially as I am not good at saying ‘goodbye’
so want to put it off as long as I can); although I did start off in the days prior to the full release defending the album.
Or to put it more accurately, defending the pre-release teaser of ‘Thunder on the Mountain’ against a stiffly negative welcome.
It was not that I was knocked out by the song, but that it was being judged in isolation and my thought process was that
‘Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum’ would have sounded very weak in isolation but performs an important introductory function on
“Love and Theft” so ‘Thunder on the Mountain’ should not be prejudged out of context. In addition it had the outrageously
brilliant rhyme of ‘sons of bitches’ and ‘orphanages’ which I trust is original as it is difficult to imagine anyone other than Dylan
thinking of it. It is not just a clever couplet but a deeply meaningful one as wars increase the number of orphanages needed, which
in turn are a rich picking ground for future armies.
On the other hand I did describe the track as sounding ‘“Love and Theft” lite’; a phrase that appears to resonate with
many and hoped the album would not sound like its predecessor as that’d be such an un-Dylan-like thing to do. Alas that is one of
the main stumbling blocks I have, much as I love “Love and Theft” the musical similarities are too conspicuous for comfort.
Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I am captivated by Modern Times too. Such as the sumptuous opening of ‘Workingman’s Blues #2’;
the poignant beauty of the vocal on the opening chorus lines of ‘Nettie Moore’ and when the mood is right I can be charmed by ‘Spirit on the Water’
and appreciate ‘When the Deal Goes Down’; I can even take one or two of the seemingly endlessly interchangeable blues fillers he presents us with
in this old age.
I note, though, that I write ‘when the mood is right’; very soon after its arrival Modern Times became something I rarely felt driven to
play; whereas “Love and Theft” was with me for a year wherever I went, compelling me to listen again and again.
The difference, in addition to the same-sounding musical background,
is partly to do with a comparative lack of cohesion in the lyrics
and the overall web of allusion. On “Love and Theft” and
the successful songs from Time Out of Mind Dylan’s borrowings
built a new, creative statement. Take, ‘Trying to Get to Heaven’ for
example a perfect patchwork of borrowed lyrics creating a definitive
new Dylan song. Whereas on the songs here I feel that anything goes;
it doesn’t matter within a song what couplet follows which.
(continued in editorial for issue 20)
Andrew Muir
