Bob Dylan’s latest album, “Together Through Life” (Columbia), marks his third self-produced (under the name of Jack Frost) studio release in a row recorded with members of his current touring band.Absent are guitar players Denny Freeman and Stu Kimbal, while drummer George Recile, bass player Tony Garnier (Tony has played more live shows with Dylan than anyone else) are joined by guitarist Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) and David Hidalgo (of Los Lobos) on accordion.
Dylan himself shares the song writing credits with Robert Hunter, who was Jerry Garcia’s longtime lyricist in the Grateful Dead.
Bob Dylan LiveThe news of a new Dylan album came as a surprise to many.
Director Olivier Dahan (who directed La Vie En Rose - a film about the life of the legendary French chanteuse Édith Piaf) asked Dylan if he would write a song for the soundtrack of his forthcoming film My Own Love Song.
Dylan wrote Life Is Hard and then nine more songs, which were quickly recorded late last year.
The cover photograph, by Bruce Davidson, is an image of a young couple kissing desperately in the back seat of a car.
Josef Koudelka’s back-cover photograph is much more to the point: five hardened Romanians around a table, with accordion, trumpet and drums, some playing, some smoking, in a state between making music and killing time.
The cover art of Together Through LifeBob Dylan's music has always drawn from the blues and on this record his creaky brand blues harks back to an America that may or may not have ever existed.
On “My Wife’s Home Town,” Dylan recalls the Chess Studios of 1954 and Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, indeed Dylan rightly credits Dixon in the sleeve notes.
The 12-bar shuffles come in slow, midtempo, or jaunty; and the ever present accordion adds a layer of dusty antiquity.
As a follow up to Modern Times, it is a difficult record.
As a young folk singer Dylan strained to sound older and more sorely tested than he was but Dylan, who turns 68 in May, has never sounded as ravaged, pissed off and lusty (all at once) as he does on Together Through Life.
The success and critical acclaim of 1997's Time Out of Mind, 2001's Love and Theft and 2006's Modern Times, may have rejuvenated him artistically and although hardcore Dylan fans will probably love it Together Through Life may very well be an acquired taste for most.
Check out the offical Bob Dylan web site for full details.
