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Jakob Dylan, 'Seeing Things'

Bob Dylan's son again proves he shouldn't just be known as Bob Dylan's son

By Matt Pais

Metromix
June 9, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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Backstory: Despite five albums, a few Grammys and nearly two decades with his underrated band the Wallflowers, Jakob Dylan has never fully emerged from his father’s shadow. Why? Because when your dad is Bob Dylan, it's pretty much always worth mentioning. Now 38, Dylan (who's also been compared to Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp) arrives with his first solo album, an intimately acoustic folk record produced by Rick Rubin and committed to topical themes of responsibility and accountability.

Why you should care: "Seeing Things" makes you feel like you're sitting with Dylan on his porch, admiring his sense of craft with both words and even the most minimal finger-picked melodies. And his voice is comforting even when he's singing about things that are very distressing—such as when he croons, "I know that soldiers are not made to think," in "Valley of the Low Sun."

Verdict: The shuffle of working tune "All Day and All Night" is a welcome change of pace early on from some of the similar-sounding, gentler songs. And Dylan, a talented lyricist who's always introspective even when looking outward, offers fewer inspired turns of phrase when confined to concepts of war and survival. Yet even if many of the tunes sound like he's shaking his head while singing them, Dylan doesn't despair or judge so much as assess, regretfully, wishing things were different and that he had the power to do more. Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan flick "I'm Not There" was based on the notion of the fluid, unknowable genius; Jakob may not be the enigma that his father is, but "Seeing Things," without the studio polish and full band sound of Wallflowers records, sounds like a clearer picture of who the son really is. Even if it reminds you of Dad.

X-Factor: Wallflowers fans need not worry: Dylan insists that the band is simply on hiatus and that he intends to record more albums with them in the near future.

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