Bob Dylan's Modern Times, a new Masterpiece?

First and second impressions of Modern Times ... it reminded me stylistically of a cross between Dylan's "Self Portrait" and the Band's "Moondog Matinee." Still need to do another 6 or so listens, but if my impressions are spot on ... Modern Times will be a good, enjoyable record. It will not be a classic like "Blood on the Tracks". It will be a good recording like "New Morning."

Regards, Rich

I am about where you guys are....I have listened to ''Modern Times'' about 8 times and my first impression is that is a continuation from ''Love and Theft'' which was allright. Do I listen to ''Love and Theft '' when I'm in the Dylan mood....No. Would I pick up ''Blood on the Tracks'', ''Highway 61''and something more recent like, ''Time out of Mind '' ...Yes. In my opinion ( which always starts a war ) ''Time Out of Mind ''....was his last real good album / disc. A very dark album / disc but the majority of those songs could stand the test of time because they were so personal and well written and as Ben Campbell stated there is some arrangement to those songs. ( hats off to Daniel Lanois ) I bought the ''Limited Edition'' version of ''Modern Times''and got the DVD of the four songs which I'm getting a real kick out of. None the less....we should be thankful that he is still putting out music that is DEFINITELY different from the rest of the stuff that's out there that no one will be even listening to next year !!!!!!

I can understand why the "harder and more atmospheric" sounds on TOOM would appeal more than the "quirky and lightweight" sounds on L&T.

Interestingly enough I find the production on TOOM really distracting and actually rather false and gimmicky.
It does work well in places and there are some classic songs on it.
I also find Dylan's voice is all over the place in terms of production and performance-his phrasing I find interferes even with the better songs as if he wasn't really feeling confident on the album.
Lanois production for me is actually something of a disaster especially when I consider Oh Mercy to be something of a masterpiece.
I do concede that the arrangements are more interesting overall if sometimes messy but when it works it works well.
Ultimately I see TOOM as overrated.

Love And Theft(2001) for me production wise is warmer and much more natural sounding.
Dylan sounds more confident despite the further limitations that age has bestowed upon his voice.
:-)
For me it's a far stronger record overall but I realise I'm in the minority with that opinion and that the lighter musical moments may be a hurdle for a lot of listeners.
For my money Dylan did something completely different on this record-it's a fantastic array of funny,fun, thoughtful and subtly powerful songs.

Modern Times features a very similar production to it's predecessor.
It hasn't (so far) for me got the factor X that lit up L&T for me but it could merely be the fact that musically Dylan uses very similar templates and sources.
Lyrically the album is quite different and arguably closer to TOOM in that respect.

It's always good to talk about Bob-thanks.

I think that this is Dylan's most interesting record in ages. I'm not sure it's a masterpiece (it's surely no Blood On The Tracks) but I find it more interesting than anything he's done in the last couple of decades. Weirdly, there seems to be a swinging, jazzy feel to much of this recording - almost a Louis Armstrong feel - that imparts a joyous feeling to what is, essentially, a blues record. Overall, I believe that this record is much more interesting than almost anything else in the lineup of recent pop/rock/country/blues releases.

It seems our definition of masterpiece as it applies to Dylan's catalogs follows no set path. Ben considers Oh Mercy to be "masterpiece" material and Rich sees New Morning as just a "good recording". While I enjoyed Time out of Mind It did not strike me as a user friendly album the way Modern Times does. As for Blood on the Tracks. We all agree it's a classic but not every track is up to the same standards as Tangled up in Blue or Idiot Wind. By the way, I rate New Morning as one of Dylan's best and most personal albums. But thats just me.