Dylan silenced his critics and thrilled his fans and Grammy voters in 1997 with Time Out Of Mind, showing that not only did he still "have it," but that he still had more rock and roll in his pinky than all his would be successors had combined. Four years older, four more years of being foolishly dismissed as archaic, and Dylan brought another album to show the kids how it's done. With deft, masterful, warmly produced songs like "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum," "Cry A While" (which he performed at this year's Grammy Awards, banging out those frantic tempo shifts with steel eyes and the most ambiguous scowl ever seen), and "High Water," Love And Theft can, at times, even surpass the cathartic glory of Time Out Of Mind's shivering tones. One has to wonder whether Dylan's onetime collaborator and spiritual mentor Keith Green would have ever reached this level of songwriting, story-telling, and performance. It is speculated that Green had it in him, and would have released it as he matured. But that's neither here nor there. Thank God that He left one of them behind.
Editors' ratings - Doug 3/5, Jason 4.5/5
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Steve StockmanWhat will he do next? It is always the question, and--in the past fifteen years, at least--always the fear. Dylan fans have gotten used to inconsistency in his output, after Oh Mercy, 1989's great return to form, was followed by the pathetic Under the Red Sky. So there was trepidation that Love and Theft, the follow-up to the great return to form of the nineties, Time Out of Mind, would be a…The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Megan LenzNot too many 60-year-old guys can turn out what may very well be the best album of the year. But then again, Bob Dylan isn't most 60-year-old guys. The unconquerable Dylan's Love and Theft is the first studio album he has released since his Grammy-winner Time Out of Mind. The unpretentious sort of bluesy folk-driven rock/rock-driven folk (though neither designation can really contain this album)…Similar sounding releases
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