At this late date in the troubadour's career (this marks his 33rd studio album in almost 50 years of recording) Bob Dylan seems content to enjoy himself a little bit with this collection of new tracks.
Written in conjunction with a lyricist (a rare event for Dylan) the song's lyrics aren't engulfed in the fire and brimstone or the legendary wordplay of Dylan's best work. Instead, the songs fill a lusty void in Dylan's canon - both sensual and savage, romantic and enraged, the album crackles with the vintage warmth of a tube-fired guitar amp set to 11.
Dylan is backed by his top-notch touring band on the album, plus guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on accordion. Hidalgo's accordion moves fluidly in and out of the melody on most of the album's 10 tracks, much the way Scarlet Rivera's violin enhanced the songs on Dylan's mid-70's masterpiece Desire.
Perhaps not a masterpiece, but a fun and slightly funky entry into Dylan's canon, Together Through Life probably won't win any new converts to the Dylan camp (although the album did debut at Number One on the Billboard charts - officially making Dylan the oldest artist to ever achieve such a feat) but for those who have been there with him during the long, strange trip of his epic career, the new album's rewards are plenty.
(Together Through Life is available in the library's audio CD collection)
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