From an online reviewer about the new Bob Dylan CD released on April 28:

Sixty-eight years and 33 albums in and Bob Dylan seems bigger than ever.
Dylan's 33rd studio album comes packaged with a CD of tracks from his delightful radio show, "Theme Time Radio Hour" -- an appropriate union given that his latest has a similar old-time feel and would fit in perfectly the next time he turns DJ.

The CD has reignited interest in Dylan as a relevant artist of our times, as opposed to a legendary antiquity.

"Together Through Life" is characterised by a loose swing and prominent accordion. He has assemble here his warmest, most unforced, set of songs in recent memory.

The album is a beautifully played collection of antique, urban blues pop.The ghosts of the great Chicago bluesmen haunt these song structures.

The results have been compared to the vintage Chicago blues sound of Chess Records.

A warm, wheezy accordion (played by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos) lends a borderline Tex Mex flavor.

At least half of the songs are wry, even slightly comic tales of ordinary American lives of desire, heartbreak and remorse.

For sure,the lyrics, co-written with poet Robert Hunter, a "non-performing" member of The Grateful Dead, won't intrigue the academics but the head-nodding grooves of "It's All Good" and "If You Ever Go to Houston" will appeal to more basic instincts.

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If you're a Dylan fan, it's another stage in his ever-changing career.

If you're not a Dylan fan, you'll probably think, "How can anyone listen to the scraggly voice?"

The answer to the latter might be that he's a generational musician; a poet; a man of magic whose charisma and lyrics triumph over a mangy voice that wins you over with its personality, charm and mystery.