"Love And Theft" (2001)

I'd forgotten how much I love this album. When it was first released it sat on the CD player (it was the first Dylan release after I had given up on my refusal to accept that this new-fanged technology was perhaps not the work on the devil and might actually have something going for it - even though it was still a million times less satisfying than vinyl) in a state of near-permanence and became the regular soundtrack to the late-night, low-stakes poker games I found myself hosting at the time. And while I remembered it fondly for its connection to happy times, I hadn't actually given it a spin for a while. 

So out it came, on it went and I found myself reunited with an old friend. 

First up , Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Not Dylan's finest title for an opener and not the greatest number on the LP but still an immensely satisfying start (and a surprisingly dark ending to the song given the the child-like title). The thing that strikes you instantly is the sound. After the muddiness of Time Out Of Mind, there is a welcome clarity here. The songwriting aside, the key strength of the album is that it sounds like a band. Not surprisingly given that Dylan used his Never Ending Tour regulars Larry Campbell, Charlie Sexton, Tony Garnier and David Kemper for the recording. The unmistakable feel here is of quality musicians who know how to operate as a unit and Dylan sounds as comfortable with them as you would expect. On top of that, the vocal performance is as good as anything we've had since Blood On The Tracks. Each and every song is delivered perfectly. It is a mammoth performance from the old troubadour. 

So kudos to producer Jack Frost... aka Bob Dylan. If you've read any of this blog you'll know I've had a problem with Dylan's attempts to self-produce over the years. It seemed that to get his very best work he needed another hand on the tiller to rein him in, whether it be Tom Wilson, Bob Johnston or Daniel Lanois. When left to his own devices, things got far too messy. But here, praise the Lord, Dylan comes into his own, keeping it simple, clean - far more restrained than the Lanois produced previous LP and all the better for that. 

Tweedle Dee fades out. An encouraging start - an enjoyable enough tune performed with panache. But then, track two, comes Mississippi. Oh my. A staggeringly good song. Dylan at his finest. What's not to admire? A beautiful drifter's tale musically gentle, touchingly delivered and lyrically effortless:

City’s just a jungle; more games to play

Trapped in the heart of it, tryin' to get away
I was raised in the country

I been workin’ in the town
I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down

A latter day Dylan classic.

Mississippi might be the pinnacle but throughout "Love And Theft" Dylan gives us a lyrical masterclass. Each track is lyrically as tight as you like, travelling across the country, often dealing with dark material but frequently funny and with fictional and historical figures popping up as it takes his fancy. This is songwriting of the highest order.

Track three. Summer Days. On the face of it a non-nonsense, straightforward 12 bar blues progression, rock and roll number. Here is a good time to stop and talk about this for a second because by this point Dylan is regularly returning to this most simple of all structures (or slight variations on) for many songs. And over the next couple of albums it is going to get even more common. On this album alone Summer Days, Lonesome Day Blues, Honest With Me, Tweedle Dee and Cry A While are either straight out of the 12 bar blues progression handbook or near as dammit. Should this use of formula bother me? Does it? No and definitely no. Not to this point anyway. What matters is how they are done: is the performance good, is the vocal delivery special, is the song worked around the framework in an interesting or inventive way and do the lyrics hold up? On all of these counts each of the songs, on this LP anyway, hit the mark. Summer Days is the best example. A storming performance from Dylan and his band and lyrically joyful. Not only does he throw in (away?) lovely little gems:

She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She says, “You can’t repeat the past.” I say, “You can’t? What do you mean,

you can’t? Of course you can."

but then knocks you down with something as meaty as:

Politician got on his jogging shoes
He must be running for office, got no time to lose
He been suckin’ the blood out of the genius of generosity
You been rolling your eyes—you been teasing me.

"Suckin' the blood out of the genius of generosity" for heaven's sake. Wonderful.

[Later addition: It has been drawn to my attention that this is not original Dylan, rather a slight variation on a line from a speech by Abraham Lincoln concerning drunkeness: "The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and generosity". Dylan the magpie at work again. Still, it is a damn fine adaptation of the phrase.]

For the sake of space and your sanity I shall refrain from delving in to each and every song, suffice to say the standard never drops, whether it be Floater, High Water, Honest With Me or Cry A While, all top, top tunes.

Worth a special mention, though, are Moonlight and Po' Boy. On both of these Dylan reaches for a sound with its feet in somewhere around the 1920s. Both, but particularly Moonlight, have the feel of a soft-shoe shuffle befitting the sharply suited, bootlace tie wearer that Dylan has become. Lyrically Po' Boy is a delight; touching, funny and even contains a knock knock joke. A knock knock joke! Huzzah.

As so often over the last ten LPs or so, Dylan ends the record with a sudden shift of gear. Here he leaves us with the solemn Sugar Baby. It is perhaps an odd choice for an ending but it works. 

Your charms have broken many a heart and mine is surely one
You got a way of tearing the world apart. Love, see what you done
Just as sure as we’re living, just as sure as you’re born
Look up, look up—seek your Maker—’fore Gabriel blows his horn

It is a beautiful song and, anyway, if it is too down-beat an end for you, Tweedle Dee is just a push of a button away.

A fine LP, up there with the best of his work. Love it.

Out of five?

Five

Favourite track?

Mississippi (with Po' Boy running a close second)

Up next?

Modern Times.