Bob is back in town

Bob is back in town

Lyssnar på Modern Times, 10 mjuka, harmoniska och lättsamma stycken i en form av all American music mix. Ballader, rock, rhytm and blues, jazz, country och boogie. Bob och hans turnéband blandar friskt men över albumet vilar en ton av easygoing - ett möte - 10 goda gig och en välinspelad skiva.
Bob som i Chronicles skriver I´d come from a long way off and started a long ways down – A series of dreams - återknyter här till sin tidiga ungdoms musik.
- Femtiotal när det moderna samhället är på väg att växa fram.
Har inte riktigt lyssnat in, noterat, texterna än kanske finns bråddjup där mellan raderna men mest verkar det vara ett feelgood musikprojekt i Bobs nyenkla anda.
Bob som i Chronicles berörde sina konstnärliga källor och skapandets rötter på ett så poetiskt sätt när han i kapitlet Oh Mersey - nåden att skapa? – Hittade den konstnärliga vägen att gå vidare.
Under en repetition med Grateful Dead i San Rafael flyr han från spelningen och hamnar på en musikbar.

"I heard the sound of a jazz combo playing up ahead. Walking past the door of a tiny bar, I looked in and saw that the mucisians were playing at the opposite end of the room. It was raining and there were few people inside. One of them was laughing at something. It looked like the last stop on the train to nowhere and the air was filled with cigarette smoke. Something was calling me to come in and I entered, walked along the long, narrow bar to where the jazz cats were playing in the back on a raised platformin front of a brick wall. I got in four feet of the stage and just stood there against the bar, ordered a gin and tonic and faced the singer. An older man, he wore a mohair suit, flat cap with a little brim and shiny necktie. The drummer had a ranchers Stetson on and the basist and pianist were neatly dressed. They played jazz ballads like Time on my hands and Gloomy Sundays. The singer reminded me of Billy Eckstine. He wasn´t very forceful, but he didn´t have to be; he was relaxed, but he sang with natural power. Suddenly and without warning, it was like the guy had an open window to my soul. It was like he was saying, "you should do it this way." All of sudden, I understood something faster than I ever did before. I could feel how he worked at getting his power, what he was doing to get at it. I know where the power was coming from and it wasn´t his voice, though the voice brought me sharply back to myself. I used to do this thing, I´m thinking. It was a long time ago and it had been automatic. No one had ever taught me. This technique was so elemental, so simple and I´d forgotten. It was like I´d forgotten how to button my own pants. I wondered if I could still do it. I wanted at least a chance to try it. If I could in any way get close to handling this technique, I could get off this marathon stunt ride.

Man får säga att visst har Bob lyckats med att plocka fram det ursprungliga i sin senaste skiva men även kommit vidare i en nyenkel anda med amerikansk folkmusik som grund.
Härlig, kul och svängig feel good skiva.
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