Album Review: Rough and Rowdy Ways - Bob Dylan

One thing that is very important for any Bob Dylan fan is to always except the unexpected. After a trilogy of albums in which he covered old pop standards (his last album of original songs was 2012's Tempest), no one excepted him to unleash such an incredibly moving and haunting piece of songwriting on the world as Murder Most Foul with no prior notice and in a time where it seemed like the world had been put on hold. Before we knew it two more great original songs came out back to back and then we learned, this songs were going to be part of a new album of original songs coming out in no time of all. Truth is we didn't even have time to fully gather the excitement for this album that is so rightly deserves. This is not only an excellent album but one of Bob's finest in decades. He shows here that even 79 years old, he is still a master.

Truth be told this is a very dark album at times. This is of course best shown in the quickly infamous Murder Most Foul, which relates not only JFK's assassination but how America lost much more than one man with his death. Yet this album is far from a collection of dirges. Humor has been an important part of Bob's music as far back as his acoustic days in the early 1960's and it is seen all throughout this album. Black Rider even contians a penis joke relating to the grim reaper. Though a lot of these songs are slower paced blues songs, Bob still shows that he can still rock and roll with the best of them with such songs as False Prophet and Goodbye Jimmy Reed. The slower songs reflect much of the style Bob has embraced since the late 1990's. First off Bob has become very much a blues man since then, which is in no small part due to his aging voice having a true blues feeling to it. This is most shown in Crossing the Rubicon, an electric blues number with a real Muddy Waters feel to it. Secondly much of this album features very limited and sparse musical accompaniment which creates a real haunting feeling that stays with you long after the album is through. This causes you to reflect more on the lyrics and the mood of the songs. The lyrics certainly show Bob at his best. There are times when these songs give a straight forward but thought provoking message, while at other times they have the sense of mystery only Bob can do so well. In the later, one doesn't need to fully "get" the lyrics as what is important is the beautiful way they are constructed and how well Bob phrases each word (while Bob's voice has often been criticized, few singers can phrase words better). While you can listen to this album in the background while doing something else, you would be missing out on so much. If you give this album your full attention, it will reward you more than you could ever except.

-Michael J. Ruhland