Bob Dylan - Modern Times

I'm not sure I'm buying into this whole Bob Dylan renaissance that, supposedly, started with Time Out Of Mind, the first in the trilogy that Modern Times brings to a close (Love & Theft being the piggy in the middle).
Time Out Of Mind was more than good and, for me, it brought to mind his last truly great album Blood On The Tracks, such was Dylan's willingness to actually reveal something about himself.
But Modern Times? For starters, I don't wanna know that this old man spends his downtime thinking about Alicia Keys (on the 12-bar opener, Thunder On The Mountain). For seconds, why doesn't Bobby give a shit about the music? Once again, it sounds like he's accompanied by a lacklustre bunch of musical journeymen, that he's standing in front of them, tapping his feet and shouting out what key he'd like them to play in, before heading to the booth to knob twiddle his vocals right out of the mix.
And, thirdly, it's time to admit that we're never going to get another Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited or Bringing It All Back Home. Yes, his greatest days are long behind him. And it's no use saying "he's back". Because he isn't; he's been, he's gone, he's conquered and he's got nothing left to say. I want another Don't Think Twice, Zimmerman will dribble out the tepid Spirit On The Water, I desire Desolation Row, what I get is the throwaway Rollin' And Tumblin', I'd enjoy something on a par with Just Like A Woman, but Workingman's Blues 2 stutters out of the speakers.
A good Dylan album - which this is - is a disappointment. We want him back, but we can't have him back cos that was then and this is now, and the times, like Bob, have changed.

TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

Art rock? I dunno, mate. But I love the fuzzy guitars, the whacky rhythms, Tunde Adebimpe's off-kilter vocals and the intelligence of all this. It's a bright, outstanding button in a New York box full of dull sameness. Refreshingly atmospheric, these are tracks to wallow in, to deconstruct (loops and samples aplenty), to chew on, lovingly. It's a nice place to go and well worth the journey, although you might not want to come out the other side.

Kasabian - Empire

The good looking lads from Leicester follow-up to an eponymous debut that carved out a trademark sound of resonating bass lines lashed to a driving beat.
If anything, rather than demonstrating that they're about to build an empire, Empire shows Kasabian's limitations. There's nothing really wrong with this offering but neither does it advance the cause. Indeed, this could all be a regressive move. There are still tunes that make you want to dance (Shoot The Runner, which is unmistakably Spirit in the Sky for a new generation), there's still a hint of Primal Scream, Ian Brown and overdriven Oasis on several tunes, there's still a lot of promise. Yet the tunes are even more derivative than the last batch - every song has a hint of something else about it (Sunrise is Tomorrow Never Knows, Doberman is, rather disappointingly, All You Good Good People mashed with Back Off Boogaloo). Meanwhile, the ballad British Legion, which at least is an attempt at changing pace rather dramatically, sounds like a demo recorded in a dustbin. Decent, then, but far from great.