Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
2562
54
30 Seconds to Mars
62
50 Cent
71
AC/DC
70
The Album Leaf
52
Kris Allen
68
Tori Amos
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective![]()
77
Annie
57
Apse
63
Asobi Seksu
59
Bad Lieutenant
83
Julianna Barwick![]()
82
Beach House![]()
72
Beak>
72
Bibio
65
Justin Bieber
76
Biffy Clyro
74
Blakroc
75
Mary J. Blige
78
Blockhead
52
Bon Jovi
54
Susan Boyle
57
The Bravery
39
Chris Brown
64
V.V. Brown
70
Basia Bulat
79
Chew Lips
74
Citay
65
Clipse
66
Cold War Kids
75
The Cribs
58
Dashboard Confessional
81
Dave Rawlings Machine![]()
70
Delphic
78
The Doors
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
73
Edan
59
Editors
69
Eels
80
Felt
74
First Aid Kit
69
Flyleaf
83
Four Tet![]()
82
Ben Frost![]()
82
Fucked Up![]()
83
Charlotte Gainsbourg![]()
63
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
68
Githead
65
Joe Goddard
58
Good Shoes
72
Gucci Mane
75
Holopaw
82
Jesca Hoop![]()
79
Hot Chip
72
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard![]()
54
Hurricane Chris
66
Allison Iraheta
59
Jay Sean
82
Freedy Johnston![]()
57
Nick Jonas And The Administration
73
Norah Jones
49
Juvenile
58
Ke$ha
62
R. Kelly
66
Alicia Keys
68
Kid Sister
81
King Midas Sound![]()
63
Lady Antebellum
76
Lady GaGa
71
Adam Lambert
78
Lawrence Arabia
61
Leona Lewis
74
Lightspeed Champion
36
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle![]()
77
Lissie
78
Los Campesinos!
70
Lostprophets
73
Magnetic Fields
72
Massive Attack
64
John Mayer
71
Paul McCartney
58
Katherine McPhee
86
Memory Tapes![]()
72
Midlake
88
Motion City Soundtrack![]()
63
Mr. Hudson
53
Mudvayne
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
72
Ola Podrida
61
OneRepublic
80
Owen Pallett
80
Pantha du Prince
90
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers![]()
80
Phantogram
60
Pit Er Pat
63
Priestess
70
Radian
79
Corinne Bailey Rae
54
Rakim
79
Real Estate
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
76
Rihanna
64
Rjd2
65
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
77
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
72
Shakira
82
Shining![]()
61
Snoop Dogg
62
Snow Patrol
71
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
64
Ringo Starr
59
Stereophonics
76
Angie Stone
79
Surfer Blood
74
Switchfoot
75
Them Crooked Vultures
74
Robin Thicke
50
Timbaland
79
tUnE-YaRDs
80
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Tom Waits
78
Wale
65
The Watson Twins
66
Kanye West
76
The Whitefield Brothers
64
Robbie Williams
80
Yeasayer
62
Young Money
75
Neil Young
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Love And Theft

Universal acclaim
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 128 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Sony/Columbia
Release Date: 11 September 2001
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock
Summary
Picking up where 1997's resurgent 'Time Out of Mind' left off, 'Love And Theft' finds the 60-year-old Dylan self-producing the album's 12 tracks.
Also By This Artist: Christmas In The Heart Modern Times Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 Together Through Life
Also On Metacritic
TV: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
PopMatters
"Love and Theft" sees Dylan roaring back from Highway 61 at full bore, reminding us -- as he did on Blonde on Blonde, The Basement Tapes, and Blood on the Tracks -- that, like him or not, there isn't anybody else who can do his job.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
The remarkable achievement of Love and Theft is that Dylan makes the past sound as strange, haunted and alluring as the future...
Read Full Review >Blender
Not since 1966's Blonde on Blonde has Dylan sounded so happy and alert. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.102]
Entertainment Weekly
It may not be a better album than ''Time Out of Mind,'' but it glides from genre to genre with a sprightly glee, as if Dylan were traversing the American musical landscape in search of thrills, revenge, and reparation.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine
"Love and Theft" showcases the gloriously sloppy spontaneity he's displayed onstage but only rarely captured on record.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
The voice you hear on "Love and Theft" is not that of the cocky young rock star who wrecked folk by simply strapping on an electric guitar, nor is it the vengeful and crotchety man who dripped Blood on the Tracks. This Dylan is older, wiser, and grousier, but sweeter, more sanguine if still unsettled too.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Not just his best album since Blood on the Tracks, but the loosest, funniest, warmest record he's made since The Basement Tapes.
Read Full Review >Mojo
An album virtually bereft of fluff and filler. [Album Of The Month] [Oct 2001, p.104]
Spin
Where [Time Out Of Mind] stared down heartbreak and mortality with somber melancholy, Love and Theft finds Dylan taking on those same themes loaded up with piss and vinegar. [Nov 2001, p.127]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Love seems to come from a far more freewheeling Bob Dylan than the one on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, or virtually any other album he's recorded.
Read Full Review >Spin Cycle
It doesn't really break any new ground, but that's not the point. This record is about Dylan cutting loose and celebrating the richness of American music.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
This is little short of a treat: a rambunctious dance through the more sepia-tinted corners of US musical history. [Oct 2001, p.122]
Launch.com
No one--and I mean, no one, not even people paid to say such things--is going to confuse this with Highway 61 Revisited or even Nashville Skyline, but when the official Bob Dylan bubblegum card is issued, Love And Theft will certainly rank ahead of Knocked Out Loaded and Saved.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
'Love And Theft' is a much tricksier, elusive and - important, this - entertaining beast, one that mingles reflections on ageing with a host of jokes, both good and bad, and some wickedly limber music.
Read Full Review >Sonicnet
It's been a good three decades since Dylan has sounded as footloose and, er, freewheeling as he does on much of Love and Theft. That it comes on the heels of '97's haunted, hellhound-on-my-trail-vibed Time Out of Mind makes it all the more remarkable.
Read Full Review >CDNow
Love and Theft is a strange trip through Dylan's personal relationship with the blues, whether it's the silly story-song "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum," the mandolin lament "Mississippi," or the solid blues-rock of "Lonesome Days Blues" and "Summer Days."
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
He's a thief, a con, a 60-year-old with nothing to say. And he continues saying it.
Read Full Review >Shredding Paper
Doesn't come together as a cohesive effort, as a number of songs just don't fit in. [#11]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 128 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
James D. gave it a10:
It smells like dust and sweat. Dylan's rocky voice takes us along road 66. With a raw sound and a bluesy, rock and folk orchestration that lead the great man's poetry and humour on the winding and sunny roads of lucid hope. A great album !
Alan B. gave it a10:
This album was released on September 11, 2001. Bod Dylan may not be a prophet but he is a poet and poetry and prophecy go hand in hand. Listen to each track several times and you will be rewarded with beauty, insight and truth.
Jack H. gave it a10:
A mosaic, a masterpiece. Album of the decade thus far.
Russell F gave it a10:
The critics are right on this one - a truly great CD.
Jack S gave it a6:
One song was enough for me. I have tried many, many times to like Bob Dylan, but I never understood the appeal of vocals that sound his testes are in vice grips. Maybe it is an acquired taste. Maybe I do not have good taste. It does not matter. Dylan to me sounds like crap.
James B gave it a9:
Yes, if you DON'T like Bob, you won't like this. But if you are a fan (and you SHOULD be), this is a GREAT album musically and lyrically. There are some very funny lines in a few songs that you really need to pay attention to.
wayne t gave it a10:
I have been a Dylan fan for over 25 years and 6 years after the release of the album, I still find myself having to play it. Every track is Dylan at is best. This is the best of his recent trilogy
