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Title: another disappointment
Review: I agree with Mr. Chickeneater (see review)--Love & Theft was overhyped by the critics (as was Time Out of Mind). It sounds a lot like 1990's Under the Red Sky, which, a few cuts excepted, isn't very good either. And I know it's lame to complain about Dylan's voice, but it's more grating than usual here. In an interview, the poet David Berman (also of the great band Silver Jews) talked about how he had only recently started listening to Dylan's catalog and was pretty disappointed, saying that "there should be someone better." I think Berman's right on target. For all the acclaim Dylan's garnered over the years, even his best records are marred by clunkers or rewrites of older songs. The critical pendulum may have swung back in Dylan's favor, but that doesn't mean his records have gotten any better.
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