These last couple years have been very good to Bob Dylan fans. In spite of his private and standoffish reputation, Dylan published a book (Chronicles: Vol. 1), was the subject of a Martin Scorcese documentary (No Direction Home), began hosting his own satellite radio show (Theme Time Radio Hour), and has now released the third in a series of remarkable albums. 1996’s Time Out of Mind was released after a two decade long artistic decline – a stark, haunting collection of songs that is now regarded as one of the greatest comeback records in the history of popular music. 2001’s Love and Theft was an equally as rewarding collection of songs, replacing the previous record’s gloomy atmosphere with an upbeat swing. His newest recording, Modern Times, shows that the previous two albums were not flukes and that the inconsistency of the 20 year slump is a thing of the past.

Modern Times is the middle ground between its two predecessors. Time Out of Mind’s intimate feel is present while Love and Theft’s explorations of pre-rock sounds (country, blues, and rockabilly) continues. Though he borrows from the past, everything on this record sounds strikingly fresh and original. The centerpiece of the album, “Workingman’s Blues #2,” is apparently intended to be a sequel of a Merle Haggard song. What may have started as a continuation of another songwriter’s idea is not only the best Dylan song in years, but one of the best contemporary songs of recent memory.

That’s what makes Modern Times so unique – it’s firmly entrenched in music of the past but sounds remarkably fresh among the other releases of 2006. Had he not mentioned Alicia Keys in the lyrics, the bluesy shuffle of “Thunder On the Mountain” could easily be from the 50’s. “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” is an update of a traditional blues popularized by Muddy Waters, but Dylan’s portrayal of a hypnotic “lazy young slut” is just as relevant to modern music as it was since when bluesmen were hollerin’ the same woes. The final track on the album, “Ain’t Talkin’,” follows in the tradition of Highway 61 Revisited’s “Desolation Row” and Time Out of Mind’s “Highlands” – a lyrically mindblowing epic that ends everything on a haunting note.

In a time when what’s hip changes with the season, Dylan finds himself completely uninterested in pandering to what’s fashionable. Oddly enough, he recorded an album that’s easily as fresh as anything covered by SPIN magazine; an album unsurpassed by every hipster act of 2006 combined. Records like this make you wonder why anyone even bothers with trendiness.

- Alan Smithee