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...

100

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 >

100

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 >

100

E! Online

[Dylan's] most cohesive work in over a decade...

Read Full Review >

100

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 >

Neumu.net

A work of real substance, brimming with honesty, humor and beauty.

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

Music

Upcoming &Recent Releases

Love And Theft

Album Info

Summary

Also On Metacritic

What The Critics Said

What Our Users Said

Upcoming &
Recent Releases