As Bill Flanagan points out in his new interview with Bob Dylan, whenever Dylan hits a career high, such as hitting number one on the charts with 2006’s Modern Times, the legendary singer/songwriter likes to shakes things up a bit. On his forthcoming album Together Through Life, Dylan is doing just that. “All the Modern Times songs were written and performed in the widest range possible so they had a little bit of everything,” he said in an interview on his website. “These new songs have more of a romantic edge.”
“These songs don’t need to cover the same ground,” Dylan added. “The songs on Modern Times songs brought my repertoire up to date, and the light was directed in a certain way. You have to have somebody in mind as an audience otherwise there’s no point.”
The transcription of the interview uses a lower case “r” for romantic, but Dylanologists will surely dig through the word’s other possible reference to Romanticism, especially after Dylan adds this choice bit: “Some people preferred my first period songs. Some, the second. Some, the Christian period. Some, the post Colombian. Some, the Pre-Raphaelite. Some people prefer my songs from the nineties. I see that my audience now doesn’t particular care what period the songs are from.”
As with most Dylan interviews, it’s a fun and interesting read, so click here for the full exchange, including what appears to be a teaser for the album cover.