For me the album lives and dies by the mood created by Daniel Lanois' production, from the first carnival keyboard pulses in "Love Sick"****. Ghostly melodies and percussion flirt in the shadows until thundering chords introduce each chorus. Even on rockabilly "Dirt Road Blues"**** the "96 tears" carnival organ hoots out of the darkness. The beginning of "Cold Irons Bound"**** is practically goth as are the lines:
I went to church on Sunday as she passed by
And my love for her has taken such a long time to die
It doesn't seem to have anything to do with "I'm twenty miles out of town and Cold Irons bound" but it works with the sweaty sound.
Dylan is more obvious on "Can't Wait", which sounds equally desperate, but the talent that produced "Visions of Johanna" and "Idiot Wind" is not evident - he must not have it anymore. Lines as cliche as "The air burns and I'm tryin' to think straight An' I don't know how much longer I can wait" are best ignored as the atmosphere created by the band is so thick it eats like a meal. But things get worse on the 16-1/2 minute closer "Highlands":
I'm in Boston town, in some restaurant
I got no idea what I want
Or maybe I do but, I'm just really not sure
Waitress comes over, nobody in the place but me and her
Make sure you keep listening and see if it gets better.
A couple songs do actually shine past the impressive though heavy-handed production. "Make You Feel My Love"**** successfully skirts the line of comic earnestness and is memorably pretty even in Dylan's nasal-y croak, as "Trying To Get To Heaven"**** is forlorn until the winking "I've been to sugar town, I shook the sugar down rounds out the tale of a long, tiring life. The warm, tweedy blues atmosphere saves otherwise generic "'Til I Fell In Love With You"****, as sometimes this comfort proves to be be enough.
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