Bob Dylan released Love and Theft

Love and Theft Bob Dylan

Released: September 11, 2001 Charted: September 29, 2001 Peak: 5 US, 3 UK, 3 CN, 6 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.1 UK, 1.1 world (includes US and UK) Genre: folk rock

Tracks: Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum Mississippi Summer Days Bye and Bye Lonesome Day Blues Floater (Too Much to Ask) High Water (For Charley Patton) Moonlight Honest with Me Po’ Boy Cry a While Sugar Baby Total Running Time: 57:25

Rating: 3.882 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “The blood and glory of 1997’s Time Out of Mind” RS’20 “was a legitimate comeback, Bob Dylan's first collection of original songs in nearly ten years and a risky rumination on mortality.” AMG It “was the first Dylan album in years that had to live up to fans’ expectations. He didn’t just exceed them – he blew them up. Dylan sang in the voice of a grizzled drifter who’d visited every nook and cranny of America and gotten chased out of them all.” RS’20 “Its sequel, Love and Theft, is his true return to form, not just his best album since Blood on the Tracks, but the loosest, funniest, warmest record he’s made since The Basement Tapes.” AMG It “was full of corny vaudeville jokes and apocalyptic floods, from the guitar rave” RS’20 of “the fabulously swinging Summer Days” AMG “to the country lilt of Po’ Boy.” RS’20 “There are none of the foreboding, apocalyptic warnings that permeated Time Out of Mind and even underpinned ‘Things Have Changed,’ his Oscar-winning theme to Curtis Hanson's 2000 film Wonder Boys.” AMG “Just as important, Daniel Lanois’ deliberately arty, diffuse production has retreated into the mist, replaced by an uncluttered, resonant production that gives Dylan and his ace backing band room to breathe. And they run wild with that liberty, rocking the house with the grinding Lonesome Day Blues…They’re equally captivating on the slower songs, whether it's the breezily romantic Bye and Bye, the torch song Moonlight, or the epic reflective closer, Sugar Baby.” AMG “Musically, Dylan hasn’t been this natural or vital since he was with the Band, and even then, those records were never as relaxed and easy or even as hard-rocking as these. That alone would make Love and Theft a remarkable achievement, but they're supported by a tremendous set of songs that fully synthesize all the strands in his music, from the folksinger of the early ‘60s, through the absurdist storyteller of the mid-‘60s, through the traditionalist of the early ‘70s, to the grizzled professional of the ‘90s.” AMG “None of this is conscious, it’s all natural. There's an ease to his writing and a swagger to his performance unheard in years – he’s cracking jokes and murmuring wry asides, telling stories, crooning, and swinging. It’s reminiscent of his classic records, but he’s never made a record that’s been such sheer, giddy fun as this, and it stands proudly among his very best albums.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bob Dylan AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RS’20 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/30/2008; last updated 4/27/2022.

U2 hit #1 with “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For U2

Writer(s): Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen (see lyrics here) Released: May 25, 1987 First Charted: March 28, 1987 Peak: 12 US, 12 CB, 12 GR, 11 RR, 16 AC, 2 AR, 1 CO, 6 UK, 6 CN, 17 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.4 UK, 0.43 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 100.0 video, 545.63 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: U2 built a loyal following with their first four albums in the 1980s, but had little success on the pop charts, having only graced the top 40 once with 1984’s “Pride (In the Name of Love).” However, a career-making performance at Live Aid in 1985 and a slot on the Amnesty International 25th anniversary tour in 1986 launched them on to the “impossibly long list of ‘Greatest Rock Band Ever.’” LW Their multi-platinum 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, cemented that status in some people’s minds with “a heady mix of rock anthems and great musicianship.” LW Within weeks of the album’s release, five songs landed on the mainstream rock chart and the lead single, “With Or Without You,” topped the Billboard Hot 100. One of the tracks to hit the mainstream rock chart was “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” In May, it was released as the second single from the album and followed its predecessor to #1. The song grew out of a demo initially called “The Weather Girls,” also known as “Desert of Our Love.” The Edge, U2’s guitarist, compared it to “’Eye of the Tiger’ played by a reggae band.’” WK The band did, however, like the original drum part played by Larry Mullen Jr. As Daniel Lanois, one of the album’s producers, said, “We always look for those beats that would qualify as a signature for the song. And that certainly was one of those.” WK Lyrically, Bono, the band’s lead singer, wanted to explore spiritual doubt. The Edge had written the phrase “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for,” inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Idiot Wind,” as a possible song title. Bono had been listening to classic gospel recordings by Blind Willie Johnson, the Swan Silvertones, and the Staple Singers SS which led U2 to go for a gospel vibe with the Edge, Lanois, and Brian Eno (the album’s other producer) providing choir-like backing vocals. WK It signalled a change from “the raw anger of their earlier work to a more sophisticated sound.” LW It “epitomizes all that is great about U2.” LW Bill Graham of Hot Press called the song a “smart job of pop handwork” WK and The Sunday Independent said the song proved the band could be commercially accessible without resorting to rock clichés. WK The Rocket called it a “unique marriage of American gospel and Gaelic Soul…[that] rings far truer than the rantings of, say, the born-again Bob Dylan.” WK Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called it U2’s “Let It Be,” in reference to the Beatles’ song. WK The song was nominated for Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for U2 FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 673. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Pages 158-9. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 798. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 120. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/28/2020; last updated 3/31/2023.