Bob Dylan: Planet Waves (Asylum 7E-1003)
Arthur Levy, Zoo World, 28 February 1974
LIKE THE reformed gunslinger-turned-family man, who's barely kept his pistol from rusting by occasionally battling some tin cans in his backyard — Dylan's been called upon to strap on his gun 'n holster once more. The wolves have been at the door for a long time now, though, and Mr. Dylan just may have to reload and let 'em have both barrels again if Planet Waves doesn't do the job. Messiahs and renaissance men are like that, even the ones with five kids and a wife to love. Thirteen years ago Bob Dylan's alarm clock was anguish and hypocrisy — it still is today, tempered by age, stability, responsibility, love, trust, compassion — exactly the kind of virtues that tend to smother anguish and hypocrisy through feeling and emotion, not jingle-jangle rhetoric.
Total word count of piece: 1742
