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 Like a fine wine Aug 25, 2009
Mr. Dylan makes no effort to hide his most eclectic side in this new body of work. Each piece is contrasted by the next so that they all zing. In these originals, The Artist lets us know that he doesn't much care if we think he's cool or not, but he is cool. Massively cool. Are you a decades-long Dylan fan who has been less-than-delighted with some of his albums? Well, this makes up for it.
The extra CD in this Deluxe Edition is spectacular. Dylan zeroes in on extremely obscure but somehow extremely influential jewels of Americana -- grout that binds all sorts of odd pieces of music together and makes you want to learn more about each facet. I found myself driving 35 miles an hour so I could hear the whole thing in one gulp. Buy this. It's as good as anything he's ever done.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 It's OK, but the Radio Hour disc is a lot of fun Jun 29, 2009
"Together Through Life" didn't make much of an impression on me, even after repeated listening. It seems like a watered-down version of "Modern Times." The second disc was my first exposure to Bob's radio show. The theme is Friends and Neighbors, and from the first (uncredited) strains of Charlie Parker doing "Just Friends," you know you're in good hands. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Another Side of Bob Dylan Jun 26, 2009
Ever wonder what Dylan sounds like when he's in a good mood?
I thoroughly enjoyed this album - more and more each time I listened to it. What stands out here is the emotion in the songs. There is a sweetness in every track and a humour in most - it sounds as if the whole album is sung with a half-smile. I certainly smile and chuckle every time I listen.
I'd like to address some of the common critcisms of the album:
1. "Bob can't sing."
The songs are well-matched to what Bob's voice can do - the vocal style is an intimate, growling croon. None of these tunes demand soaring vocals, and I, for one, would be glad to have someone singing to me the way Bob sings to the beloved on this album.
2. "It ain't Blood on the Tracks. (or Blonde on Blonde, or Highway 61 Revisited)."
Actually, I feel the album is very closely related to Blood on the Tracks, with the difference being that Blood on the Tracks is about love lost, while this one is about love regained or renewed. If Blood on the Tracks is Let it Be, Together Through Life is A Hard Day's Night. (Well, a much older person's Hard Day's Night.) Pain tends to produce masterpieces like "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" or "Bridge Over Troubled Water," but I can't listen to those every day. Sometimes I'd rather hear a good joke or a double entendre with a catchy bass line. That's what you get here.
Don't miss this album. You will be rewarded with lines like:
From "I Feel a Change Coming On":
You are as coltish as ever, Baby you can start a fire.
I must be losing my mind, you the object of my desire.
From "Hell's My Wife's Hometown":
She can make things bad, she can make things worse,
She got stuff more potent than a gypsy curse!
Keep on walking, don't be hanging around.
I just want to say that Hell's my wife's hometown.
From "It's All Good":
I'm gonna pluck off your beard, and blow it in your face,
This time tomorrow, I'll be rolling in your place.
Take this album in the spirit it's offered, and enjoy it!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
wonderful Jun 16, 2009
This may very well be the best he's ever done.
I listen to it non-stop.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Dylan's most beguiling album, a real surprise... Jun 14, 2009
It takes its time, but Together Through Life is a great Dylan album. It's a bit strange, but the album is a bit off putting at first. The album was written and recorded very quickly, and has a deliberately unfinished feel to it. It feels like an unforced, natural jam session, music that you would have heard in honkytonks during the Depression, cantinas along the Mexico-Texas border, or down in a brothel in New Orleans during the jazz age. Eventually, these songs really stay in your head, and they keep haunting you. It's a remarkable achievement.
Every song here is really memorable. The opener, Beyond Here Lies Nothin', is really awesome. A great guitar riff, and the ubiquitous accordion (courtesy of David Hildago, from Los Lobos), really gives this song (and the whole album) a true Tex Mex feel. Dylan channels Tom Waits and Willie Dixon on My Wife's Home Town. Dylan is really pissed off on this song, growling each line with ferocity and passion. If You Ever Go To Houston is one of my favorite tracks off the whole album. It's a gentle, loving, beguiling song, with a simple but beautiful melody and great lyrics by Dylan and Robert Hunter (who co-wrote all but one song on this album). Shake Shake Mama has a booming guitar line, and also has some great lyrics. The most moving, loving song is This Dream of You (the only song Dylan wrote himself). It has the depth and sadness that Nettie Moore and Ain't Talkin' do off Dylan's previous album, Modern Times. The closer, It's All Good, really kicks ass, and it's awesome to hear Dylan laugh a bit during the song. Dylan rips the world a new one on it, and it's a great way to end the album.
Dylan is pushing 70, but he's still a vital artist. Together Through Life (a great title, by the way) is one of his most unique albums, and one of his most beguiling. It sounds a little like what's he done before, but it's completely different at the same time. Some have compared this album to New Morning, and that it's minor Dylan, good but not great. Together Through Life is much better than New Morning. Together has more passion and power than New Morning. This may be more along the lines of Desire, Dylan's 1975 album and one of his most unique albums as well. On Desire, 7 of the 9 tracks were co-written by Jacques Levy, and 9 out of the 10 tracks here are co-written by Robert Hunter, the Dead's long time lyricist who colloberated with Dylan on two songs from Down in the Groove, Ugliest Girl in the World (a bad song), and Silvio (the best song on the album and one Dylan still does in concerts). Desire also had a violinist, Scarlett Rivera, and she gave the album a unique sound, and David Hildago's accordion does the same here.
All Dylan fans have to pick this one up, and even minor Dylan fans should dig this one. Dylan still brings it, and brings it like nobody else.
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