Bob Dylan "Love And Theft"

MTV-Unplugged(4 stars)
Time Out of Mind(5 stars)
Love and Theft(4 1/2 stars)
Modern Times(4 stars)
Together Through Life(3 stars)
Tempest(5 stars)
Triplicate (4 stars)

As a 60s Dylanite for him to remain this prolific&relative this late in his career is to me,well......astonishing.

 

Yes The MFSL has a great sound

 

Great songs. Mediocre voice at best. An acquired taste, then. A taste that I have acquired. Like a fine aged whisky. I find it comforting on a dark winter night. Sounds like the soul of America (well, to me as a Brit.) I really enjoy TOOM too. Maybe overlong at the end. Still, an enduring player.

 

So, have you ever listened to a Tom Waits album?

 

I didn't say that I have or had a problem with Bob's voice on this album. It's the processed sound that bugs me. If you do not hear it, I would not try to hear it, you may as well stay happy with what you do hear.

 

I listened out for it after reading your earlier post. There is an effect on his voice but it sounds like nothing more than a bit of reverb and/or compression to me. Nothing more than you'd hear on many other records. His voice does sound knackered by this stage however, but to my ears he makes it work on this one.

 

I love every moment of this album: playing it now!

 

My first Dylan show was November, 2001 in Detroit with that lineup, and Bob opened with “Somebody Touched Me”. One of my all time rememberable concert moments!

 

I recently posted my L&T shootout, and the MoFi came out on top. The Sony is also real nice, but for me, the MoFi is my new definitive.

 

Lonesome Day Blues is the one that always really stood out to me in the context of the release day. I remember getting the album that afternoon, putting it on...then BOOM....the infectious intro, then Bob’s grizzled voice comes through loud and clear....”Today has been....a saaaaaaad and lonesome daaay!” - Unreal.

 

I wondered the same. It is an interesting thing p, because what we do know is that Love and Theft was recorded analog. It makes me speculate that for the SACD release, they were not given analog master tape, but perhaps high resolution digital files. It seems like if MoFi were in possession of original analog master tapes, a vinyl release would be a no brainer. All that aside, the MoFi SACD sounds fantastic.

 

There is a Music On Vinyl version isn't there? I've not heard it. Anyone?

 

I have it, and as others mentioned, the MOV seems to be the source for the latest vinyl reissue from Sony/Legacy. To me, the MOV sounds good, but like it is basically the original CD pressed to vinyl.

The Sony SACD is more dynamic, and the new MoFi SACD even more so.

 

Aaaah ok, thanks. I have the standard CD and it sounds decent through my system. I was wondering whether to get the vinyl MOV or Sony Legacy, can't remember which one I've seen. I don't have a SACD player so that's a no-go.

 

If I'm remembering this correctly: Love & Theft was the only release from the original SACD series that wasn't remastered, when played back on regular CD equipment. All of the other Bob Dylan SACDs have an additional remastered CD-layer, that you can hear on any standard CD players.

For Love & Theft, and Love & Theft only, the SACD and the CD sound exactly the same when played on CD equipment.

Contrary to what this site states, when you scroll down...
Bob Dylan - "Love And Theft"

So.. I'm not trying to be confusing right now... but I'm saying if you play the Love & Theft SACD and the official release Love & Theft CD, on a regular CD player, they both sound exactly the same - there's no remaster.

Are people going to get mad about this post? Do you know what I'm saying? Has Love & Theft ever really been remastered?

 

Precisely.

 

I seem to remember reading that too, but I am not positive. That would be good to know. One thing is certain, MoFi remastered it, and one will benefit from the remastering on both the redbook and DSD layers

 

It's a Blonde On Blonde for the "pensioner years". It is every bit as astute, funny, provocative, profound, sarcastic, witty, intelligent, life affirming, pessimistic, worldly, dark, sombre, terrifying, affectionate or wise as his earlier masterpiece. I think of it as the Blonde On Blonde for the mature audience. It's quintessential Dylan for grown-ups confronting their mid-to-late years. Lyrically, just like any great Dylan work, it's utterly unique. Musically, it's a beautifully rounded record with diverse content whilst it simultaneously pays tribute to the plethora of great pre-rock American music and fuses those elements into a cohesive, original but eclectic whole.

I honestly believe it's his best album by a country mile since Blood On The Tracks.

 

The MOV / Legacy LP I have sounds nothing at all like the original CD - the remastered LP is a lot more dynamic with far more detail and depth to it. The original CD is as much use as a drinks coaster by comparison. I don't get the "CD pressed to vinyl" comment, although the recording might presumably have been done at 16 bit/44.1 kHz?

 

It's the one Bob Dylan CD that really needs a remastering, like badly.

 

Goddam you - I may now have to buy the vinyl!
But I enjoy the sound of the CD, it really sounds fine, not badly compressed or anything and fairly dynamic sounding.
Decisions, decisions....

 

Lonesome Day Blues is musically a reboot of Leopardskin Pillbox Hat too!

 

I love this quote from Dylan, cited from 2001 around the time of this albums release:

Dylan said "these so-called connoisseurs of Bob Dylan music... I don't feel they know a thing, or have any inkling of who I am and what I'm about. I know they think they do, and yet it's ludicrous, it's humorous, and sad. That such people have spent so much of their time thinking about who? Me? Get a life, please. It's not something any one person should do about another. You're not serving your own life well. You’re wasting your life."

In all honesty I've always thought exactly the same thing whenever I've seen another bulky tome detailing the minutiae of some incredibly short period of his career. Heylin, are you listening?

 

That's what I want to say to him about my posts..

 

The Sony Legacy is just the MOV repressed.