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What do you do when you're a top-selling rap-rock act and your genre has long since expired? The answer is simple: Evolve. In 2007, Linkin Park did just that. With the release of their polarizing third album, "Minutes to Midnight," they brought an unmistakable pop-rock element to the table, downplaying both the rap and the rock elements that made them such a hit in the first place. While it performed well enough commercially, it alienated a good chunk of their fanbase, paving the way for a predictable "return to their roots" album. Unfortunately for that chunk of fans, the band's latest offering, "A Thousand Suns" is anything but predictable or reminiscent of the Linkin Park of yesteryear. And believe it or not, it's a good thing.
Trading in the undeniable hooks and chunky guitar riffs that populated their earlier albums for synthesizers and hip-hop beats, "A Thousand Suns" is certainly a tough cookie to swallow. While the tasty licks of guitar-God Brad Delson (sarcasm) will forever be missed, the band more than makes up for it in ample amounts of ambience. A semi-concept album, "A Thousand Suns" brings to mind a more angsty version of "Year Zero," with its themes of war and humanity. You may wonder if a band like Linkin Park is up to the task of making such a bold artistic statement, but surprisingly enough, they pull it off rather competently. With Rick Rubin once again serving as co-producer, the band gives the set a centralized theme and sound, even if the songs themselves wander down different paths. Sure, if you strip away the various spoken word and instrumental interludes that fill out the record, you're only left with nine full-length songs, but within these tracks, the band runs the gamut from hip-hop and electronica to pop and even progressive. Somehow though, these songs manage to sound alien when placed outside of their element, thus ensuring that "A Thousand Suns" is an album that can only be appreciated in its proper form, from front to back.
While "A Thousand Suns" may not be exactly what everyone wants from Linkin Park, at the end of the day, no one can accuse them of repeating themselves or recording the same album twice. At this point in their career, it would be all too easy to rest on their laurels and keep churning out "One Step Closer" clones. It's an album that lacks commercial edge and takes more than a few listens to fully sink in, but when approached with an open mind, it reveals itself as one of the band's most inspiring and definitive pieces of music. If you're hoping to get your white-boy angst on with this record, you may feel Linkin Park owe you a thousand apologies for "A Thousand Suns," but in the end, they don't, and really, you should have grown out of it by now.
Journalists are fond of calling the last 3 Dylan albums a "trilogy". At the very least, Together Through Life should lay such notions to rest. By now, Dylan fans should have come to understand their avatar's impulsive & elusive nature. Something as premeditated & pretentious as a "trilogy" is not in the cards. So let's leave that at the door.
No, this isn't another "masterpiece". It casts any such expectations aside like a snake shedding its skin. Dylan mythologists will salivate & proclaim it genius & discerning critics might dismiss it in light of the acclaim Modern Times recieved. But without a doubt, Together is just as inspired as anything he's cut since 1997's Time Out of Mind.
A few things set Together apart. David Hidalgo's accordion lends a definite Tex Mex quality to the proceedings. Where Dylan's previous offerings seemed steeped in the mythology of the Old South, Together gives you the impression of being set in an endless string of Texas boarder towns.
Overall, the production is grittier & more intimate to the point of being nearly claustrophobic. Listen to it through ear phones & you're likely to come away with a different experience than on the stereo.
Another thing that characterizes Together is its obsessive focus on a single theme. These are all love songs. From the romantic abandon of Beyond Here Lies Nothing to the sarcastic resignation of It's All Good, herein lies a long, winding road from infatuation to betrayal, to bitterness to restless farewell.
Highlights include Beyond Here & It's All Good which bookend the album. Both are rollicking & upbeat while still holding on to a brooding intensity. Other standouts are the wistful Dream Of You and My Wife's Home Town which somehow manages to switch hats between humor & anguish. Listen closely & you can hear Dylan chuckle mid song.
Most notable is Life Is Hard. The fragility in Dylan's delivery is for lack of a better word, moving. When he rises from his signature rusty growl to wary heights of his upper register it's enough to put a lump in your throat. As for the likes of Shake Shake Mama, it might come off as filler, till the line, "I get the blues for you baby when I look up at the sun".
Together Through This Life may not be as sprawling & epic compared to what came before. Nor will it have the same milestone impact of Time Out Of Mind. But for this fan, "it's all good" even if it's not proclaimed a masterpiece. At the very least its a solid effort, proving he's still in the saddle & not quite ready to let go of the reigns. I do have the sense however, that on down the line, Together might just prove to be a unique gem in Dylan's formidable 46 album catalogue.
