Parsing the Riddles of Bob Dylan's 'Modern Times'

Lyrically, though, "Modern Times" may be more interesting and profound than either "Time Out of Mind" or "Love and Theft." (It's certainly darker.) Thus, it's a great album for devotees of Dylan's word puzzles, maybe not so much for folks who are new or somehow immune to his lyrical genius.

Dylan can still turn a phrase with the best of them (which is to say, himself), even if he has the increasing tendency to ramble on. And on. And on. Though it's just 10 tracks deep, "Modern Times" runs for more than an hour.

The loping, tender love song "Spirit on the Water," for one, seems to shuffle on with no end in sight. But the impetuous listener who hits the skip button as the words pile up risks missing the gem Dylan drops on the song's backstretch. Flashing a quick wit, he sings: "I won't be with you in paradise / And it seems so unfair / I can't go to paradise no more / I killed a man back there."

The album's finest songs seem to come in the second half, with "Workingman's Blues #2" a particular standout. The piano ballad is Dylan on (we think) the hard realities of a global economy. But it's also Dylan on the more localized topic of relationships and regret, as he sings: "My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf, come sit down on my knees / You are dearer to me than myself / As you yourself can see."

The album closes with its most striking song, the spare, apocalyptic "Ain't Talkin,' " on which Dylan plays the role of weary man. "I am a-tryin' to love my neighbor and do good unto others / But oh, mother, things ain't going well," he sighs. Dylan is on a long and lonesome road, somewhere at the world's end. It is not a great place to be, particularly not with the singer "walkin' with a toothache in my heel."

What, exactly, he means by that isn't really clear. But it's one of Dylan's parting shots on "Modern Times," which is only appropriate.

Yet if Dylan remains inscrutable as a musician, he has been revealing more of himself elsewhere. Lately, the erstwhile recluse has shown a willingness to open the museum of his mind to the public: He's published a memoir, "Chronicles Vol. 1," and participated in Martin Scorsese's epic documentary project, "No Direction Home," and he's even offering a weekly window into his influences and observations via a satellite radio show on XM.

His "Theme Time Radio Hour" has Dylan discussing everything from baseball to divorce. And who knows -- maybe one day soon he'll explain that whole Alicia Keys thing to us, too.

DOWNLOAD THESE : "Thunder on the Mountain," "Workingman's Blues #2," "Ain't Talkin' "