Dylan's Visions of Sin: Dylan - a critical appreciation - Tapa dura

Bob Dylan's ways with words are a wonder, matched as they are with his music and verified by those voices of his. In response to the whole range of Dylan early and late (his songs of social conscience, of earthly love, of divine love, and of contemplation), this critical appreciation listens to Dylan's attentive genius, to his apprehension of deadly sins and his comprehension of living virtues, all alive in the very words and their rewards.

The New Yorker recently granted that 'Ricks on Dylan is the best there is '. Some of Dylan's countless listeners (and even the artist himself, who knows?) may agree with W.H. Auden that Ricks 'is exactly the kind of critic every poet dreams of finding'.