I'm working to catch up on some back reviews that I've been meaning to get to in the past month. First up is Jakob Dylan's first solo album, entitled Seeing Things.
Dylan has a big shadow to get out from under, that of his father's, the legendary Bob Dylan. He's been with his own group, the Wallflowers, since 1989, of which I had a lot of fond memories of from High School. This new album offers a similar, but not identical sound and feel. Dylan has a lot of strengths as a songwriter, and it really comes through in this album, which is coupled by a great acoustic/folk sound.
Seeing things is a sparse album - it feels very stripped down, somewhat melancholy (starting off with Evil is Alive and Well, for example). While there are most likely some parallels between the songwriting and current events, I never got the feeling that there's anything that's a target here beyond broad themes in American culture and politics, which I applaud - there's nothing worse than taking a medium that can be an art with subtlety and being as blunt as a bad with it.
This is a solid, although not perfect album for Dylan. While most of the tracks don't stand out from the album as a whole, it does represent a good collection of well-written and well played songs that have quite a bit of weight to them.
Something Good This Way Comes - Jakob Dylan
Evil is Alive and Well - Jakob Dylan
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