Eargasm
BOB DYLAN >> MODERN TIMES. COLUMBIA 2006 

At 65, you'd think Bob Dylan would be more at peace. But his latest release, Modern Times, is every bit as rebellious as his '60s counterculture anthems. Yet the world he depicts these days is even more dark, more apocalyptic. "The Times They Are A-Changin'" was filled with hope and a sense of moving forward, but with Modern Times, we've taken a step backwards, and there's even more trouble brewing.

The CD's title itself is an ironic twist -- there's nothing modern about it. Instead, the album peers through a sepia-toned window into the roots of American song. Blues, rockabilly, swing, and prewar jazz back Dylan's poetic verse, which is steeped in ruminations on yesteryear. Broken levees, crumbling tombs, and mystic gardens are hardly modern images, but this isn't just a collection of oldies. "Thunder On The Mountain" speaks mostly of God's impending wrath, but you'll also find Dylan looking for Alicia Keys in Tennessee's mountains. And though "The Levee's Gonna Break" is a take on "When The Levee Breaks" about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, it's impossible not to recall Hurricane Katrina. Using the past to examine the present, Dylan deftly shows how closely the two are intertwined.  

Like today's era, when Bob burst on the scene in the '60s, there was war, a malevolent president, and a fight for civil rights, but those struggles brought a new dawn. Modern Times offers little light. In the closer, the haunting "Ain't Talkin'," the protagonist walks tearfully through "cities of the plague." During its final moments, when you'd expect a hopeful sign that everything's going to be alright, the narrator simply strolls "around the bend... in the last outback at the world's end." Like the cowboy he often portrays in dress and song, we find Dylan riding off into the sunset. But in this case, there's no indication the sun is coming back up. By Chris Towery