Planet Waves in Bloomington, MN

Reteaming with
the Band
,
Bob Dylan
winds up with an album that recalls
New Morning
more than
The Basement Tapes
, since
Planet Waves
is given to a relaxed intimate tone -- all the more appropriate for a collection of modest songs about domestic life. As such, it may seem a little anticlimactic since it has none of the wildness of the best
Dylan
and
Band
music of the '60s -- just an approximation of the homespun rusticness. Considering that the record was knocked out in the course of three days, its unassuming nature shouldn't be a surprise, and sometimes it's as much a flaw as a virtue, since there are several cuts that float into the ether. Still, it is a virtue in places, as there are moments --
"On a Night Like This,"
"Something There Is About You,"
the lovely
"Forever Young"
-- where it just gels, almost making the diffuse nature of the rest of the record acceptable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine