"Paid my time and now I'm as good as new," sings veteran jester Bob Dylan in his new song, "The Levee's Gonna Break." Though he never mentions Hurricane Katrina by name, he warns that along with the big bust, "some people gonna strip you for all they can take."

After all the roles Bob Dylan has played over the years, he's still oracular, but lately he's grown almost avuncular. His latest CD, Modern Times (much like Love and Theft, which preceded it) is made of exquisitely crafted yet playful songs that prove he's still a master poet and troubadour - if you can get past the old man's voice.

"I look into your eyes and see everything I am and hope to be," he croons, sounding like Clint Eastwood wincing in a spaghetti Western.

In "Someday Baby," Dylan says you ain't gonna have to worry about him no more: "When all else fails, I'm gonna make it a matter of self-respect." He's decided that living this way ain't a natural thing to do. In "Rollin'and Tumblin'," he says he's got so many troubles he can't stand up straight, but promises not to stand in anybody's way.

"Spirit on the Water," a wistful but upbeat ode to someone who's more than a friend, has Dylan openly admitting he can't resist his companion's voice, "calling from an old familiar shrine." He says he's going away, and won't be back till the fall. But, "think I'm over the hill?" he asks. "Tell me what you got and we could have a whompin' good time."

  Most of the songs are performed in a feisty, driving, sort of Bonnie Raitt R&B style, and Dylan has said this is the best band that's ever backed him up. Considering he's stood in front of bands like the Grateful Dead and The Band, that's major props.

  When he's in a more reflective mood, Dylan settles into the old soft-shoe with tunes like "In the Still of the Night," "Working Man's Blues," and "Nettie Moore." His slow, cracking voice often sounds outright morose, and listeners under 60 might do well to save these waltzes for last. The wisdom there is hard-won, and hard to listen to.

However, Dylan delivers far more than he drags. "Remember this, I'm your servant both night and day," he pledges.

In the last song, "Ain't Talkin'," Dylan predicts, "someday you'll be glad to have me around."

"I'm burnin', still yearnin'," he says, "walkin' with a toothache in my heel." With Dylan, that means he's got at least one more rabbit to pull out of the his like-new leopard-skin pillbox hat.

Copyright 2006 Metropolitan Community College