|
Style: Hook-laden rock; compare to Crows, Elvis Costello, and Big Audio Dynamite
Top tracks: "Hospital for Sinners," "Love Is a Country," "Reboot the Mission"
Jakob Dylan has always seemed like a serious fellow, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as he sang po-faced songs about sin and salvation. He cut a couple of austere solo albums, and now he's back to The Wallflowers—sounding, almost shockingly, like he's ready to cut loose and have a good time. Aided by Clash luminary Mick Jones, the band has cut its most limber, most groove-centered album yet, and it's a roaring good time. Dylan is getting his feathers ruffled, but his songs still have a lot of weight: The opening song, "Hospital for Sinners," surveys an old church building, calling it a "museum of saints." Almost as good is "Love Is a Country," a shimmering paean to love's hardships—and to its capacity to endure.
Copyright © 2012 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
Read These Next
- From the MagazineMy Dreams Had Come True. But the Panic Attacks Remained.How I discovered God’s peace and found relief from debilitating anxiety.Português
- Editor's PickN.T. Wright: What Jesus Would Say to the ‘Empire’ TodayHow Jesus and the Powers, cowritten with Michael F. Bird, calls Christians into the political sphere.