"Bob Dylan - New Morning"

New Morning found Bob Dylan following the same mellow, laid-back muse as John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. On the album, he sounds comfortable and content, and the feeling you get from the record is that a new morning is something should indeed be welcome.

The album starts out with the classic "If Not for You," a song also found on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass (in a fairly similar if slightly smoother version). From there, Dylan ambles through another set of laid-back country tunes that extol the virtues of the simple life, simple pleasures, and the mythic America he'd crafted over the past couple of albums.

Lyrically, Dylan is loose and warm. The words craft a domestic atmosphere, a sense of the country and easy living. Dylan's vocal delivery hits halfway between his usual rasp and the throaty croon he'd used to such great effect on Nashville Skyline. A couple of the songs, such as "If Dogs Run Free" and "Three Angels," are more spoken than sung. The lyrics are nothing exceptional for Dylan: there's none of the manic apocalyptic imagery of his mid-60s electric work, none of the social consciousness of his early albums. What you have instead are lyrics which suggest a feeling of contentment and happiness and convey the notion that Dylan is comfortable with himself.

New Morning really shines musically. Dylan takes the country and Americana styles from John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline and injects them with a hint of jazz on tunes like "If Dogs Run Free" and "Sign on the Window." The title track is one of Dylan's most joyous musical expressions ever, and his vocal delivery rises to match the enthusiasm of the musicians.

New Morning may not be the most defining album in Dylan's career. It may not even be his best record. But it is a good record, a collection of songs that set out to establish a mood and a feeling and accomplish exactly that. New Morning displays Dylan's songwriting at its most playful and warm, and that alone makes this record worth picking up. That it also features such memorable and entertaining tunes is an excellent bonus.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "New Morning"