Music Review: Bob Dylan, Fallen Angels

July 25, 1965 is a date to bear in mind when you consider this is Bob Dylan's 37th solo album, not counting compilations and bootlegs.

That's the date when some of the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival shouted Judas as Bob introduced his "new" electric sound backed by members of the Band.

Until then Dylan had been viewed as a folk hero, but he showed he wasn't afraid to take his music in a new direction.

Looking back, how could we not admire what followed, with the likes of Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Blood on the Tracks, or later gems like Time Out of Mind.

In other words, given his contribution to the music of the last five decades or more, maybe we can cut Mr Zimmerman a little slack.

This is the second album in which Bob Dylan has once again asked us to take a leap of faith in a new direction.

Call it nostalgia or what you will as we get to hear his take on the genre called "the crooners", songs he would've heard on the radio when he was growing up in the 1940s and 50s in Duluth, Minnesota.

On Fallen Angels we're again taken on a trip through the Great American Songbook. Compared to Shadows in the Night, last year's moody and similar album, this one is more upbeat and we find Dylan taking in songs with a more positive message.

So, the interpretations include Young at Heart, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, That Old Black Magic and ends on a hard-to-dislike version of Come Rain or Shine.
His timing and the band's is spot on.

Probably Fallen Angels is for hardcore Dylan fans, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Rating: 3/5 stars.