Bob Dylan's heavier and hookier than ever here, but as usual he's not one for the ol' restraint and every good thing he finds he rides until it's dead and rotten. Take the boy-girl country vocals, those molting strings, and whatever the fuck Joey is, which would have been a better song if it was literally a fifth as long. 2:12 would have been plenty. The sole survivor is Hurricane, which is just so damn strong it somehow stays interesting for its deeply-repetitive 8 minutes.
Look, the long message-driven songs might have been important at some point,
but they're a smokescreen for a lack of decent music. If you can't
deliver your message with some tunefulness, with some sense of listening
pleasure, maybe you shouldn't be delivering your message as a song. Take out a full page ad or something.
I get how Dylan was revolutionary in the 60's, but I don't know how this isn't seen as part of some late way-past-his-prime slump. This is How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb at best 1.5/5
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