'Love and Theft' latest in Dylan's return to relevance

"LOVE AND THEFT" (COLUMBIA) -- BOB DYLAN

For 20 years, Bob Dylan mattered as little more than a museum piece. It's nice to have him back.

So nice, in fact, that some critics have given his new album, "Love and Theft," a rapturous reception out of proportion to reality. Be warned: It has more to do with Dylan's return to relevance and the absence of music like it today than with the disc's quality.

"Love and Theft" is an enjoyable ride, and a shrewd left turn after the moody atmospherics of "Time Out of Mind," but ultimately stands in the second tier of Dylan's canon.

Dylan sounds like a cranky old uncle who leavens his grumblings with wit. The character he inhabits is an aging troubadour and ladies' man who lives much of the time out of a suitcase -- not, if you believe what you read, unlike his own life.

One of his funniest lines won't be included on any New York City tourism board poster: "I'm standing in the city that never sleeps," he sings. "Some of these women just give me the creeps."

His voice, always sandpaper to his critics, now is like sandpaper with a few holes. Yet his phrasing and timing have improved with age; the way he says things brings life to his lyrics.

Dylan doesn't even bother acknowledging a contemporary music scene where even his son Jakob is considered over the hill. Much of the music, blues-based with some 1940s-style swing, predates his own peak period in the 1960s.

The album's heart is revealed in four songs, starting with the one-two opening punch of "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum," a parable about two aging con artists, and "Mississippi," a lost-love story that rates with his own classic "Tangled up in Blue."

"Lonesome Day Blues" has Dylan tossing off observations, usually apropos of nothing, often perceptive: "Funny the things you have the hardest time parting with are the things you need the least." Dylan, whose mother died last year, also sings, "I wish my mother was still alive." The song is a blues-rock workout for his band, led by guitarist Charlie Sexton, and will likely grow and take different shapes onstage in years to come.

The album's poignant closer, "Sugar Baby," with an effectively simple repeating melody, could have fit neatly on "Time Out of Mind."

The rest of "Love and Theft" can't approach these impressive peaks. That's no criminal offense, of course. But there were greater possibilities.

-- David Bauder

The Associated Press

"GLITTER" (VIRGIN) -- MARIAH CAREY

It's no fun kicking someone when she's down, and Mariah Carey has certainly been down of late; her recent breakdown has put her out of the public arena indefinitely.

So you want to find something nice to say about her latest project -- anything. But it's hard to find anything encouraging about "Glitter," the soundtrack to the upcoming movie that marks her starring-role debut.

Carey had creative control over this disc, and unfortunately, she made plenty of bad decisions. The first may have been her decision to borrow so heavily from music from the oversynthesized '80s, remaking so-so songs like "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" without any originality or flair.

The second mistake was loading so many guest rappers on the disc; Carey actually sounds like an afterthought on her own songs, cooing halfheartedly as rappers such as Mystikal, Da Brat, Busta Rhymes and Ja Rule try and create at least a little energy.

And thirdly -- well, we could go on for a while, but we'll just leave it at that, and hope for better next time.

-- Nekesa Mumbi Moody

The Associated Press

"THE BLUEPRINT" (ISLAND DEF JAM) -- JAY-Z

A few years ago Jay-Z turned a snippet from the musical "Annie" into "Hard Knock Life," a rap anthem few have matched since. This time out Jay-Z confirms our suspicions that he could make an instant classic out of almost anything.

Covering well-worn themes like the opposite sex and rivalries with other rappers, "The Blueprint" doesn't let pretension or overplotting get in the way of Jay-Z's knack for ear candy that doesn't sacrifice wit or ingenuity.

"Girls, Girls, Girls," a braggadocio-laced love song, offers a sweetly singsong hook and some observations on models, flight attendants and every ethnicity that are certain to offend people who don't know how to laugh.

-- Tim Molloy

The Associated Press

"Funk Odyssey" (Epic) -- Jamiroquai

Nine years have passed since Englishman Jay Kay, aka Jamiroquai, surfaced from London's acid jazz underground and issued his debut, "Emergency on Planet Earth," helping spark a resurgence in jazz-funk.

So where has Jamiroquai's funk odyssey taken him? Not very far it seems. The band's fifth release, "Funk Odyssey," is fundamentally not very different from the first, a fact that is not necessarily disappointing. Certainly the looping housey base lines and infectious beats are there on tracks like "Little L." Kay's vocals are as soulful as ever.

The bossa nova flavorings on "Corner of the Earth" and "Picture of My Life" indicate Jamiroquai's funk can be extended in some different directions. Had the band's wanderings taken them in this direction more often, perhaps a richer, more diversely textured record would have followed.

-- Jim Collins, AP Writer

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"Chase the Cat" (Jive) -- Too Short

Too Short, one of rap's original dirty rhymers, returns after a five-year layoff to serve his fans with 19 new foul-mouthed tracks on "Chase the Cat."

From the opening track, "Can I Get it Real Quick," a rap ode to sexual brevity, Too Short dishes out the same racy lyrics that made him a favorite in drop-top Caddies on the Oakland streets in California 15 years ago.

There's little nuance on tracks like "I Love." It's just a sex-tales swap-meet, but the song's fun tempo makes it guilty pleasure listening.

"Rap Dirty" displays Too Short's favorite pastime of blending bad words, one after another, for no apparent reason other than they rhyme. It's silly and dated, but it's Too Short's signature style.

Young rap fans might believe Too Short sounds a little too old school, considering the lyrical pyrotechnics of new artists such as OutKast and Eminem. But Too Short owes his longevity to simple, dependable beats that you can jam with while rolling in your car.

Also, kudos to Too Short for bringing aboard rap heavies E-40 and Eric Sermon on two tracks.

-- Ron Harris, AP Writer

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"Becky Taylor: A Dream Come True" (EMI) -- Becky Taylor

Becky Taylor, age 12, is the latest signing by EMI, no doubt seeking to follow up on the success of Charlotte Church, who has sold millions of records and is just 15.

While Church goes for an operatic style, Taylor's is more Broadway in this debut recording, "Becky Taylor: A Dream Come True," with arrangements by Simon Hale. Her "Over the Rainbow," by Yip Harberg and Harold Arlen, obviously recalls Judy Garland, another child star.

Taylor's choices range from "Whistle Down the Wind" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman to "I Could Have Danced All Night" by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe to "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Hale and Claire Moore even wrote a tune for her to premiere, "Song of Dreams."

She has a light, sweet soprano, extremely pleasing on some tunes, but her phrasing on a complicated song such as "Not While I'm Around" from Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" is just not there, showing her lack of life experience. In "Raindrops," some phrases are convincing, others come off as read, not felt.

Let's hope EMI allows her to gain the proper technique and she's not pushed to an operatic career without one, as Decca's Andrea Bocelli is attempting to do to popular acclaim and critical disdain.

-- Ronald Blum, AP Writer