Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Bob Dylan’s really been on a roll with his last few albums, each of them showing him exploring a no-nonsense blues-rock sound. His latest release, Together Through Life sees him pretty much exploring the same sound, but it’s still another enjoyable album from one of rock’s most prolific artists.
Dylan’s backing band sounds just as tight as ever bringing a mix country, blues, and rockabilly that’s very much in the same vein as his previous album, Modern Times. However, theres a bit of a Mexican sound (I’m not sure else how to describe it) to songs like “Beyond Here Lies Nothing” and “This Dream of You”, and I definitely dig it. Dylan also reworks the lyrics of another blues standard just like he did on Modern Times, this time Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want To Make Love To You” has been turned into Dylan’s “My Wife’s Home Town”.
Dylan’s lyrics on Together Through Life are just as playful as they’ve ever been and his raspy vocal delivery really works for the charmingly muddy sound of the album. You can really tell that Dylan and his band have had what seems like an almost endless touring schedule, because they really seem to be comfortable with each other as the instrumental work has a loose but nonetheless focused quality to it.
So Together Through Life doesn’t break a whole lot of new ground for Dylan but it still offers some solid tunes to an already astounding body of work and it’s certainly nice to see that Dylan’s been able to carve out such a consistent string of albums this late in his career.
Favorite Tracks: “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”, “If You Ever Go To Houston”, “I Feel A Change Comin’ On”