Much of the myth that surrounds Bob Dylan’s discography is that he is mysterious. That is a lie peddled by those not listening to his lyrics, his music or reading up on the basic fabric that often makes his tracks. It is not what Dylan delivers to his audience through the intonation or background but through the literal movement of his tone and style. For Modern Times, a continuation of that blues rock treatment which served well on Time Out of Mind, comes a roots rock spectacle that declines to comment with openness. Instead, Dylan follows in the footsteps of his hero Woody Guthrie and lifts what he likes the sound of. Somewhere down the line, he forms that into his own, convincing style.
Chuck Berry-like guitar workings open first track Thunder on the Mountain to that Americana rocking style. Dylan engages this period as a producer also, packed full of homage to poet Henry Timrod. An odd choice of influence but an even stranger choice to lift from. Dylan works that into his own writings with much respect not just for where it should fall in the context of the song but for how it should shape the rest of it. Lounge music stylings for Spirit on the Water give Dylan that blues style but his vocals take a turn. If that is what Dylan believes are the modern times then he finds himself stumbling further and further away from the contemporary needs and hunger of his audience. Modern Times shows little grasp on those eponymous times and instead hopes to revitalise the crooner genre under the guise of present-day inspirations.
Consistency is key but Modern Times is confident in all the wrong spots. Rollin’ and Tumblin’, if it were not for the heavy and consistent guitar workings that sound close to the Time Out of Mind recordings, would slot into his debut album. Lyrically they feel like throwbacks, the opposite of his hopeful approach to a new decade. But this is the sweet spot Dylan keeps heading back to. He draws from the blues well time and time again, Modern Times is a sloppy consideration of blues and influence. “Most bands are gangs,” Dylan said at the time of recording. Ganging up on the blues never sounded so complacent. Stretches of mediocrity hit Modern Times from the withering concepts on Beyond the Horizon to the lengthy, unremarkable closer Ain’t Talkin’. Dylan becomes a liability to his own concepts.
Sharing similarities and perspectives found on Love and Theft but without the continuity or the scope for it, Modern Times has rounded itself out as a wandering piece that travels the world, reflects in that Dylan-oriented way and struggles on through. Nettie Moore notes that well, but an unremarkable spread leaves this ballad collection of Dylan clawing at the hope of being a cowboy as an underwhelming stretch. Elton John remarked that this album inspired him, because of the age of the artist at the heart of it. More and more, further down the line especially, Dylan and other artists of a similar pedigree, John Cale for instance, have cranked out better works the older they get. Modern Times may have been monumental at the time, but its sporadic notes of grace and quality are drowned out by simpler constructs, lifted lyrics and standard playing styles. Perhaps it comes from Dylan stepping into the studio to mix and produce, one of the earliest Jack Frost-produced pieces in his history.
