View source for Love and Theft (Bob Dylan album)

{{Short description|2001 album by Bob Dylan}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Love and Theft
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Bob Dylan]]
| cover      = Bob Dylan - Love and Theft.jpg
| alt        = A greyscale photograph of Dylan's face with the text "BOB DYLAN" at the top left
| released   = {{Start date|2001|9|11}}
| recorded   = May 2001
| venue      =
| studio     = Clinton Recording, New York City
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Roots rock]]<ref name="Shapiro2019">{{cite book|author=Harry Shapiro|title=Bob Dylan: His Life in Pictures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0XnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA223|date=10 September 2019|publisher=Book Sales|isbn=978-0-7858-3760-2|page=223}}</ref>|[[Americana (music)|Americana]]<ref name="Sawyers2011">{{cite book|author=June Skinner Sawyers|title=Bob Dylan: New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KQIwgaI3-8C&pg=PA109|date=1 May 2011|publisher=Roaring Forties Press|isbn=978-0-9846254-4-4|page=109}}</ref>|[[blues]]<ref name="AV Club">{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/bob-dylan-love-and-theft-1798192751|title=Bob Dylan: "Love And Theft"
|author=Phipps, Keith|date=September 11, 2001|publisher=AV Club|access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref>|[[Country music|country]]<ref name="AV Club" />|[[jazz]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.postbulletin.com/dylan-is-the-song-and-dance-man/article_4556f179-4522-505a-a4bb-596bed2e2a86.html|title=Dylan is the song and dance man|author=Walsh, Jim|date=September 13, 2001|newspaper=The Post-Bulletin|accessdate=March 25, 2021}}</ref>
}}
| length     = {{Duration|m=57|s=25}}
| label      = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]
| producer   = [[Bob Dylan|Jack Frost]] (Bob Dylan's pseudonym)
| prev_title = [[Live 1961–2000: Thirty-Nine Years of Great Concert Performances]]
| prev_year  = 2001
| next_title = [[The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue]]
| next_year  = 2002
}}
'''''"Love and Theft"''''' is the thirty-first studio album by American singer-songwriter [[Bob Dylan]], released on September 11, 2001, by [[Columbia Records]]. It featured backing by his touring band of the time, with keyboardist [[Augie Meyers]] added for the [[recording session|sessions]]. It peaked at No. 5 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], and has been certified [[gold album|Gold]] by the [[RIAA]]. The album's highest chart positions worldwide were in Norway and Sweden, where it peaked at No. 1, giving Dylan his first No. 1 album in Norway since ''[[Infidels (Bob Dylan album)|Infidels]]'', and his first No. 1 album ever in Sweden.<ref>[https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS RIAA website retrieved 03-12-10].  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626051113/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS |date=June 26, 2007 }}</ref> A limited edition release included two [[bonus tracks]] on a separate [[compact disc|disc]] recorded in the early 1960s, and two years later, on September 16, 2003, this album was remixed into 5.1 [[surround sound]] and became one of 15 Dylan titles reissued and [[remastered]] for [[Super Audio CD|SACD]] playback.
==Background and recording==
''Love and Theft'' was the first album Dylan recorded with his [[Never Ending Tour]] road band. This is a trend that would continue with his subsequent eight studio albums. Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist [[Larry Campbell (musician)|Larry Campbell]] recalls Dylan showing him the chord changes for the new song “[[Po' Boy (Bob Dylan song)|Po' Boy]]” shortly after the band had recorded Dylan's [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Oscar]]-winning original song "[[Things Have Changed]]" in 1999: “They were relatively sophisticated changes for a Bob Dylan song […] That was the first inkling of what the material might be like—taking elements from the jazz era and adding a folk sensibility to it".<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Browne|first1=David|date=2016-09-11|title=How Bob Dylan Made a Pre-Rock Masterpiece With 'Love and Theft'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/how-bob-dylan-made-a-pre-rock-masterpiece-with-love-and-theft-121212/|access-date=2021-05-09|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>
[[David Kemper]], Dylan's drummer at the time, described in an interview how the sound of ''Love and Theft'' arose from lessons the band had absorbed from Dylan: "I didn't realise we were actually headed somewhere. I wasn't smart enough to realise: you are in the School of Bob. But when we went in to record ''Love And Theft'', I realised then, because the influences were really so old on that record. It comes from really early Americana, way back at the turn of the century, and the 1920s. And not everybody in the band was familiar with that style of playing. And I know that the songs that he would bring in would be these amazing examples of early Americana. Nobody that I know, knows as much about American music as Bob Dylan. He has spent so much time trying to understand, and collecting these songs—it was like a never stopping resource. He was always coming up with these songs or artists that I had never heard of. And then when we went in and recorded ''Love And Theft'' it was like, oh my God, he's been teaching us this music—not literally these songs, but these styles. And as a band, we’re familiar with every one of these. That's why we could cut a song a day […] and the album was done".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-10-24|title=Bob Dylan; Behind The Scenes of Tell Tale Signs , Part 12!|url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/bob-dylan-behind-the-scenes-of-tell-tale-signs-part-12-37864/|access-date=2021-05-06|website=UNCUT|language=en-GB}}</ref>
As Kemper indicated, the twelve songs on ''"Love and Theft"'' were recorded in just 12 days in May 2001 at Clinton Recording in [[Midtown Manhattan]]. The recording sessions were notable for their spontaneity. According to engineer Chris Shaw, “What surprised me was how quickly [Dylan] would abandon an arrangement when he was working. He'd say, ‘What's the tempo? Let's do it in F and drop the tempo down and do it like a Western swing tune, and I want the drummer to play brushes, not drums.’ And suddenly the song was completely different. Nothing was set in stone until he found that key, tempo and style that fit that vocal and that lyric”.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Browne|first=David|date=2016-09-11|title=How Bob Dylan Made a Pre-Rock Masterpiece With 'Love and Theft'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/how-bob-dylan-made-a-pre-rock-masterpiece-with-love-and-theft-121212/|access-date=2020-12-17|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>
For his part, Dylan had been interested in working with Chris Shaw when he heard Shaw had gotten his start on [[Public Enemy]]'s early records.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-10-27|title=Recording With Bob Dylan, Chris Shaw Tells All!|url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/recording-with-bob-dylan-chris-shaw-tells-all-37854/|access-date=2021-02-18|website=UNCUT|language=en-GB}}</ref> Dylan praised Shaw's work as an engineer during a press conference in Rome to promote ''"Love and Theft"'' in 2001: After complaining that previous producers had botched the recording of his vocals, he was asked if he felt it was difficult to record his voice in the studio. Dylan referenced Shaw when he responded, "I don't think so […] On this particular record we had a young guy who understood how to do it."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dylan|first=Bob|title=Bob Dylan - The Rome Press Conference|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7MMfU-_bv4|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> Dylan would subsequently employ Shaw to engineer and mix his albums [[Modern Times (Bob Dylan album)|''Modern Times'']] (2006) and ''[[Rough and Rowdy Ways]]'' (2020) as well as various non-album tracks.
==Content==
The album continued Dylan's artistic comeback following 1997's ''[[Time Out of Mind (Bob Dylan album)|Time Out of Mind]]'' and was given an even more enthusiastic reception. The title of the album was apparently inspired by historian [[Eric Lott]]'s book ''Love & Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class,'' which was published in 1993. "''Love and Theft'' becomes his ''[[Fables of the Reconstruction]]'', to borrow an [[R.E.M.]] album title", writes [[Greg Kot]] in the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' (published September 11, 2001), "the myths, mysteries and folklore of the South as a backdrop for one of the finest [[roots rock]] albums ever made".
The opening track, "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum", includes many references to parades in Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where participants are masked, and "determined to go all the way" of the parade route, in spite of being intoxicated. "It rolls in like a storm, drums galloping over the horizon into ear shot, guitar riffs slicing with terse dexterity while a tale about a pair of vagabonds unfolds," writes Kot. "It ends in death, and sets the stage for an album populated by rogues, con men, outcasts, gamblers, gunfighters and desperados, many of them with nothing to lose, some of them out of their minds, all of them quintessentially American.
{{blockquote|They're the kind of twisted, instantly memorable characters one meets in [[John Ford]]'s westerns, [[Jack Kerouac]]'s road novels, but, most of all, in the blues and country songs of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. This is a tour of American music—jump blues, slow blues, rockabilly, [[Tin Pan Alley]] ballads, Country Swing—that evokes the sprawl, fatalism and subversive humor of Dylan's sacred text, [[Harry Everett Smith]]'s ''Anthology of American Folk Music,'' the pre-rock voicings of [[Hank Williams]] [Sr.], [[Charley Patton]] and [[Johnnie Ray]], among others, and the ultradry humor of [[Groucho Marx]].}}
Offered the song by Dylan, [[Sheryl Crow]] later recorded an up-tempo cover of "[[Mississippi (Bob Dylan song)|Mississippi]]" for her ''[[The Globe Sessions]]'', released in 1998, before Dylan revisited it for ''Love and Theft''. Subsequently, the [[Dixie Chicks]] made it a mainstay of their [[Top of the World Tour|Top of the World]], [[Vote for Change]], and [[Accidents & Accusations Tour]]s.
As music critic [[Tim Riley (music critic)|Tim Riley]] notes, "[Dylan's] singing [on ''Love and Theft''] shifts artfully between humble and ironic...'I'm not quite as cool or forgiving as I sound,' he sings in 'Floater,' which is either hilarious or horrifying, and probably a little of both".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrni/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=4&pid=1&id=306241|title=Lay Down Your Weary Tune|first=Tim|last=Riley|date=September 13, 2001|website=publicbroadcasting.net|access-date=June 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629074312/http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrni/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=4&pid=1&id=306241|archive-date=June 29, 2018}}</ref>
"''Love and Theft'' is, as the title implies, a kind of homage," writes Kot, "[and] never more so than on '[[High Water (For Charley Patton)|High Water]] (for [[Charley Patton]]),' in which Dylan draws a sweeping portrait of the South's racial history, with the unsung blues singer as a symbol of the region's cultural richness and ingrained social cruelties. Rumbling drums and moaning backing vocals suggest that things are going from bad to worse. 'It's tough out there,' Dylan rasps. 'High water everywhere.' Death and dementia shadow the album, tempered by tenderness and wicked gallows humor".
"'[[Po' Boy (Bob Dylan song)|Po' Boy]]', scored for guitar with lounge chord jazz patterns, 'almost sounds as if it could have been recorded around 1920", says Riley. "He leaves you dangling at the end of each bridge, lets the band punctuate the trail of words he's squeezed into his lines, which gives it a reluctant soft-shoe charm".
The album closes with "[[Sugar Baby (Bob Dylan song)|Sugar Baby]]", a lengthy, dirge-like ballad, noted for its evocative, apocalyptic imagery and sparse production drenched in echo. Praising it as "a finale to be proud of", Riley notes that "Sugar Baby" is "built on a disarmingly simple riff that turns foreboding".
In a ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' interview with [[Mikal Gilmore]], Dylan himself summarized the album's themes as dealing with "business, politics and war, and maybe love interest on the side".<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Gilmore|first1=Mikal|date=2001-11-22|title=Bob Dylan, at 60, Unearths New Revelations|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bob-dylan-at-60-unearths-new-revelations-86631/|access-date=2021-05-09|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Release and promotion==
[[File:LoveandTheftcommercial.png|thumb|right|Bob Dylan in the poker-themed "Love and Theft" commercial]]
Although no singles were released from the album, Dylan appeared in a 30-second commercial featuring the song "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" that appeared online on August 28, 2001, and on network television beginning on September 3, 2001. The spot, directed by [[Kinka Usher]], shows Dylan in a tense poker game with magician [[Ricky Jay]], actress [[Francine York]] and ''[[Dharma & Greg]]'' writer [[Eddie Gorodetsky]]. The poker setting was Dylan's idea and, according to Usher, he only made one request of the director: "He said, `You know, I just don't want it to be corporate'. And I assured him that I wasn't going to do that, I was going to shoot it like a little film. I know he's very happy with it".<ref>{{Cite web|first=Robert K.|last= Elder|title=Bob Dylan tips his hand in 30-second commercial|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-09-11-0109110287-story.html|access-date=2021-03-01|website=chicagotribune.com|date= September 11, 2001|language=en-US}}</ref>
Dylan also consented to what, for him, was an unusual number of interviews with press to promote the album. On July 23, 2001, he participated in a press conference at the Hotel de la Ville in [[Rome]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dylan|first=Bob|title=Rome Press Conference|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7MMfU-_bv4|website=YouTube}}</ref> with reporters from Austria, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=My Heart Is Not Weary chapter 1 - 4|url=http://www.bjorner.com/2001%201-4.htm#_Toc4045894|access-date=2021-03-01|website=www.bjorner.com}}</ref> He was also interviewed by [[Edna Gundersen]] for ''[[USA Today]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum: the Italian job {{!}} Untold Dylan|url=https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/10503|access-date=2021-03-01|language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Robert Hilburn]] for the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''<ref>{{Cite web|date=2001-09-16|title=How Does It Feel? Don't Ask|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-16-ca-46189-story.html|access-date=2021-03-01|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Mikal Gilmore]] for ''[[Rolling Stone]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Gilmore|first=Mikal|date=2001-11-22|title=Bob Dylan, at 60, Unearths New Revelations|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bob-dylan-at-60-unearths-new-revelations-86631/|access-date=2021-03-01|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref> All of these interviews appeared shortly before or shortly after the album's release on September 11, 2001.
==Packaging==
The album's cover features a black-and-white photograph of Dylan, sporting a then-new pencil-thin mustache, which was taken in the studio by Kevin Mazur. The back cover features a black-and-white portrait of Dylan taken by photographer [[David Gahr]]. Mazur also took the album's inside cover photo of Dylan and the ''Love and Theft'' band (including organist [[Augie Meyers]]). The album's art direction is credited to Geoff Gans.<ref>{{Citation|title=Love and Theft - Bob Dylan {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-and-theft-mw0000012576/credits|language=en|access-date=2021-05-23}}</ref>
==Reception and legacy==
{{Music ratings
| MC = 93/100<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/love-and-theft/bob-dylan |title=Love And Theft by Bob Dylan Reviews and Tracks |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref>
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-and-theft-mw0000012576 |title=Love and Theft – Bob Dylan |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?ID=3372 |title=Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft' |magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]] |volume=4 |issue=6 |date=July 2005 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Wolk |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Wolk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630075539/http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?ID=3372 |archive-date=June 30, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.jimdero.com/News2001/Sept10Dylan.htm |title=Dylan's labor of 'Love' |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=September 10, 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=DeRogatis |first=Jim |author-link=Jim DeRogatis}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
| rev4score = A−<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2001/09/14/love-and-theft-2/ |title=Grand 'Theft' |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |issue=614 |date=September 14, 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Browne |first=David |author-link=David Browne (journalist) |page=89 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923062244/https://ew.com/article/2001/09/14/love-and-theft-2/ |archive-date=September 23, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Guardian]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/sep/07/artsfeatures3 |title=One for the Bobcats |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=September 7, 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Petridis |first=Alex |author-link=Alexis Petridis}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-09-ca-43694-story.html |title=This Year's Dylan Is a Sonic Dynamo |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=September 9, 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Hilburn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112071949/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/09/entertainment/ca-43694 |archive-date=November 12, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft' |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |issue=182 |date=October 2001 |last=Harris |first=John |author-link=John Harris (critic) |page=122}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev8score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/love-and-theft-252644/ |title=Love and Theft |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=878 |date=September 27, 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |pages=65–66 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707001143/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/love-and-theft-252644/ |archive-date=July 7, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''
| rev9score = 9/10<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-qexhnZaukC&pg=PA127 |title=The Jack of Hearts |magazine=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |volume=17 |issue=11 |date=November 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Light |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Light |pages=127–128}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev10score = A+<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news |url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv901-01.php |title=Consumer Guide: Minstrels All |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=September 18, 2001 |access-date=October 31, 2015 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}</ref>
}}
The album won the [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album]] at the [[44th Annual Grammy Awards]]. It was nominated for Album of the Year and the track "Honest with Me" was nominated for [[Best Male Rock Vocal Performance]].
In a glowing review for his "Consumer Guide" column published by ''[[The Village Voice]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] wrote: "If ''[[Time Out of Mind (Bob Dylan album)|Time Out of Mind]]'' was his death album—it wasn't, but you know how people talk—this is his immortality album".<ref name="Christgau" /> Later, when ''The Village Voice'' conducted its annual [[Pazz & Jop]] critics' poll, ''Love and Theft'' topped the list, the third Dylan album to accomplish this.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres01.php |title=Pazz & Jop 2001: Album Winners |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=October 7, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234415/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres01.php |archive-date=December 2, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/01/22/pazz-jop-top-10-albums-by-year-1971-2016/ |title=Pazz & Jop: Top 10 Albums By Year, 1971–2016 |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816025450/https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/01/22/pazz-jop-top-10-albums-by-year-1971-2016/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> It also topped ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s list.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31233826/the_year_in_recordings_the_top_10_albums_of_the_year_2001/5 |title=The Year in Recordings: The Top 10 Albums of the Year 2001 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=December 27, 2001 |access-date=March 28, 2014 |author=Fricke, David |author-link=David Fricke |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208035801/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31233826/the_year_in_recordings_the_top_10_albums_of_the_year_2001/5 |archive-date=February 8, 2010 }}</ref> ''[[Q magazine|Q]]'' listed ''Love and Theft'' as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Best 50 Albums of 2001|magazine=Q|date=December 2001|pages=60–65}}</ref> ''[[Kludge (magazine)|Kludge]]'' ranked it at number eight on their list of best albums of 2001.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Perez|first1=Arturo|title=Top 10 Albums of 2001|url=http://www.kludgemagazine.com/articles.php?id=88|website=[[Kludge (magazine)|Kludge]]|access-date=November 25, 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20040722004951/http://www.kludgemagazine.com/articles.php?id=88 |archive-date=July 22, 2004}}</ref>
In 2003, the album was ranked number 467 on [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]], climbing to number 385 in the 2012 update and dropping to number 411 in the 2020 update of the list.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/bob-dylan-love-and-theft-3-1062822/|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=September 22, 2020}}</ref> ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine pronounced it the second best album of its decade.<ref>{{cite news | url =http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/best-albums/love-and-theft-bob-dylan.html| title = #2 'Love and Theft' Bob Dylan | access-date = December 27, 2009| work = Newsweek | date = December 11, 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100106200749/http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/best-albums/love-and-theft-bob-dylan.html| archive-date=January 6, 2010}}</ref> In 2009, ''Glide Magazine'' ranked it as the No. 1 Album of the Decade.<ref>[http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/55436/glides-best-albums-of-the-decade.html "Glide's Best Albums of the Decade"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509180104/http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/55436/glides-best-albums-of-the-decade.html |date=May 9, 2013 }}</ref> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "The predictably unpredictable rock poet greeted the new millennium with a folksy, bluesy instant classic".<ref>Geier, Thom; Jensen, Jeff; Jordan, Tina; Lyons, Margaret; Markovitz, Adam; Nashawaty, Chris; Pastorek, Whitney; Rice, Lynette; Rottenberg, Josh; Schwartz, Missy; Slezak, Michael; Snierson, Dan; Stack, Tim; Stroup, Kate; Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B.; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books, Characters, Scenes, Episodes, Songs, Dresses, Music Videos, and Trends That Entertained Us over the Past 10 Years". ''Entertainment Weekly''. (1079/1080):74-84</ref>
In a 2020 list of "Bob Dylan's 10 greatest albums" in ''Far Out'' magazine, ''Love and Theft'' was ranked seventh. An article accompanying the list characterized the album as one in which "Dylan turns into a historian and showcases the music which moves him. It is another rootsy affair and one which feels capable of stirring up the ghosts of music past all on its own".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bob Dylan's 10 greatest albums of all time|date=November 11, 2020|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bob-dylan-10-best-albums/|access-date=2021-05-23|language=en-US}}</ref> A 2020 article at the [[Townsquare Media|''Ultimate Classic Rock'']] website also placed ''Love and Theft'' seventh in the Dylan pantheon, noting that it "plays like an attic-sweeping of songs and themes Dylan and others left behind over the years" and that it evokes "long-gone musical spirits from the other turn of the century".<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 30, 2015|first=Michael|last=Gallucci|title=Bob Dylan Albums Ranked Worst to Best|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bob-dylan-albums-ranked/|access-date=2021-05-23|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|language=en}}</ref> Finally, ''Glide Magazine'' likewise placed ''Love and Theft'' seventh in a comprehensive list ranking all of Dylan's albums, writing that "Dylan here pulls readers through a bevy of American song traditions" and that "each song recaptures and renews a sub-genre that influenced Dylan's career".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ranking Bob Dylan's Albums|url=https://glidemagazine.com/175830/ranking-bob-dylans-albums-comprehensive-selected-track-list/|access-date=2021-05-23|website=glidemagazine.com|date=November 22, 2016 }}</ref> Ian O'Riordan, in a 2021 article in the [[The Irish Times|''Irish Times'']], ranked the album sixth out of the 39, praising [[David Kemper]]'s drumming and citing "[[Lonesome Day Blues]]" as his favourite track.<ref>{{Cite news|last=O'Riordan|first=Ian|title=Bob Dylan at 80: The master musician's 39 albums, ranked|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/bob-dylan-at-80-the-master-musician-s-39-albums-ranked-1.4571312|access-date=2021-06-10|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref>
[[Johnny Cash]], in a 2001 interview with ''[[The New York Times]]'', named it as Dylan's best album.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Decurtis|first=Anthony|date=2002-02-24|title=Music; An American Original Returns|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/24/arts/music-an-american-original-returns.html|access-date=2021-03-20|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Critic Jake Cole, in a 2021 ''Spectrum Culture'' article celebrating the album's 20th anniversary, referred to it as Dylan's most eclectic work "from the storming rock of 'Lonesome Day Blues' to the gorgeous slow-dance lounge number 'Moonlight', which points straight at Dylan's later Great American Songbook phase of the 2010s. In that sense, '<nowiki/>''Love and Theft''' might be the closest that Dylan ever came to capturing the spirit of his lauded Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the studio. If that roadshow was conceived as a way to rummage through folk tradition and feeding it into some kind of interpretive revivalism, this album codifies that approach into a freewheeling tour of blues, jazz, country and folk, all of it wrangled into a form of rock so rustic that even roots rock sounds modern compared to it".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-16|title=Holy Hell! "Love and Theft" Turns 20|url=https://spectrumculture.com/2021/09/15/holy-hell-love-and-theft-turns-20/|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Spectrum Culture|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Allegations of plagiarism==
''Love and Theft'' generated controversy when some similarities between the album's lyrics and Japanese writer [[Junichi Saga]]'s book ''[[Confessions of a Yakuza]]'' were pointed out.<ref>This is a reprint of an article from ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' as cited in next footnote. {{cite news| url = http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/plagiarbk010.htm| title = Did Bob Dylan Lift Lines From Dr Saga? | access-date = September 7, 2008 | publisher = California State University, Dear Habermas | date = July 8, 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080724053350/http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/plagiarbk010.htm| archive-date=July 24, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10576176194220600?mod=home_page_one_us
| title = Did Bob Dylan Lift Lines From Dr Saga?| access-date = September 7, 2008| newspaper = [[The Wall Street Journal]]
| date = July 8, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=ボブ･ディランの歌詞に見る引用とエスニック･アイデンティティ|trans-chapter=Quotations in Bob Dylan's lyrics and his ethnic identity|last=長畑明利|title=20世紀ポピュラー音楽の青葉:その文学的および社会的文脈の解明|editor=田所光男|date=2006|publisher=名古屋大学大学院国际言語文化研究科|url=https://nagoya.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/11268/files/16520205.pdf|series=平成16年一平成17年度科学研究兼補助金基盤研究(C) (2)研究成果報告書課題番号16520205|page=81}}</ref> Translated to English by [[John Bester]], the book is a biography of one of the last traditional [[yakuza]] bosses in Japan. In the article published in the ''Journal'', a line from "Floater" ("I'm not quite as cool or forgiving as I sound") was traced to a line in the book, which said "I'm not as cool or forgiving as I might have sounded." Another line from "Floater" is "My old man, he's like some feudal lord". One line in the book's first chapter is, "My old man would sit there like a feudal lord." However, when informed of this, author Saga's reaction was one of having been honored rather than abused from Dylan's use of lines from his work.<ref>[[Sean Wilentz|Wilentz, Sean]]. ''Bob Dylan in America''. {{ISBN|978-0-385-52988-4}}, p. 310.</ref> Similarly, in defense of Dylan, [[Robert Christgau]] wrote: "All pop music is love and theft, and in 40 years of records whose sources have inspired volumes of scholastic exegesis, Dylan has never embraced that truth so warmly."<ref name="Christgau"/>
==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| all_writing = [[Bob Dylan]]
| extra_column = Recorded
| title1 = Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
| length1 = 4:46
| extra1 = May 8, 2001
| title2 = [[Mississippi (Bob Dylan song)|Mississippi]]
| length2 = 5:21
| extra2 = May 21, 2001
| title3 = [[Summer Days (Bob Dylan song)|Summer Days]]
| length3 = 4:52
| extra3 = May 8, 2001
| title4 = [[Bye and Bye]]
| length4 = 3:16
| extra4 = May 12, 2001
| title5 = [[Lonesome Day Blues]]
| length5 = 6:05
| extra5 = May 11, 2001
| title6 = Floater (Too Much to Ask)
| length6 = 5:00
| extra6 = May 12, 2001
| title7 = [[High Water (For Charley Patton)]]
| length7 = 4:04
| extra7 = May 17, 2001
| title8 = [[Moonlight (Bob Dylan song)|Moonlight]]
| length8 = 3:23
| extra8 = May 16, 2001
| title9 = Honest with Me
| length9 = 5:50
| extra9 = May 9, 2001
| title10 = [[Po' Boy (Bob Dylan song)|Po' Boy]]
| length10 = 3:04
| extra10 = May 16, 2001
| title11 = Cry a While
| length11 = 5:04
| extra11 = May 18, 2001
| title12 = [[Sugar Baby (song)|Sugar Baby]]
| length12 = 6:40
| extra12 = May 19, 2001
| total_length = 57:25
}}
{{Track listing
| total_length = 8:20 65:45
| headline = Limited edition bonus disc [[digipak]] release
| title1 = I Was Young When I Left Home
| note1 = Recorded December 22, 1961
| length1 = 5:24
| title2 = [[The Times They Are a-Changin' (song)|The Times They Are a-Changin{{'-}}]]
| note2 = Alternate version, recorded October 23, 1963<ref>{{cite web |author=Olof Björner |title=Still on the Road: 1963 Concerts and Recording Sessions: Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York City, 23 October 1963, The 4th The Times They Are A-Changin' session, produced by Tom Wilson |url=http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00340%201963.htm#DSN00590 |access-date=August 27, 2010}}</ref>
| length2 = 2:56
}}
==Personnel==
* [[Bob Dylan]] – vocals, guitar, piano, [[producer (music)|record production]]
* [[Larry Campbell (musician)|Larry Campbell]] – guitar, [[banjo]], [[mandolin]], violin
* [[Charlie Sexton]] – guitar
* [[Augie Meyers]] – [[accordion]], Hammond B3 organ, Vox organ
* [[Tony Garnier (musician)|Tony Garnier]] – bass guitar and upright bass
* [[David Kemper]] – drums
* Clay Meyers – [[bongos]]
* Chris Shaw – [[recording engineer|engineering]]
==Charts==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
===Weekly charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2001)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
{{Album chart|Australia|6|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Austria|2|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Flanders|7|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Wallonia|9|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Denmark|1|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Netherlands|16|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Finland|16|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|France|13|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Germany|4|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{album chart|Ireland2|3|artist=Bob Dylan|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Italy|2|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|New Zealand|3|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Norway|1|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
!scope="row"|Spanish Albums ([[Productores de Música de España|PROMUSICAE]])<ref>{{cite book|last=Salaverri|first=Fernando|title=Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002|edition=1st |date=September 2005|publisher=Fundación Autor-SGAE|location=Spain|isbn=84-8048-639-2}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|21
|-
{{Album chart|Sweden|1|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Switzerland|3|artist=Bob Dylan|album=Love And Theft|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|UK|3|artist=Bob Dylan|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{Album chart|Billboard200|5|artist=Bob Dylan|rowheader=true}}
|}
{{col-2}}
=== Year-end charts ===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Year-end chart performance for ''Love and Theft'' by Bob Dylan
! scope="col"| Chart (2001)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Albums ([[Nielsen SoundScan]])<ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20031106085719/http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/200-2_2001.html|archivedate= November 6, 2003|url=http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/200-2_2001.html|title=Top 200 Albums of 2001 (based on sales)|website=[[Jam!]]|accessdate=March 26, 2022}}</ref>
| 148
|-
! scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sverigetopplistan.se/chart/83?dspy=2001&dspp=1|title=Årslista Album – År 2001|publisher=Sverigetopplistan|language=sv|accessdate=July 22, 2021}}</ref>
| 84
|-
! scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hitparade.ch/charts/jahreshitparade/2001/alben|title=Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2001|website=hitparade.ch|accessdate=July 22, 2021}}</ref>
| 91
|-
! scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2001/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2001|magazine=Billboard|date=January 2, 2013|accessdate=July 22, 2021}}</ref>
| 200
|}
{{col-end}}
==Certifications==
{{certification Table Top}}
{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=New Zealand|artist=Bob Dylan|title=Love and Theft|award=Gold|id=2001-10-19|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|relyear=2001}}
{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Sweden|artist=Bob Dylan|title=Love and Theft|award=Gold|certyear=2001|relyear=2001}}
{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Switzerland|artist=Bob Dylan|title=Love and Theft|award=Gold|certyear=2001|relyear=2001}}
{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|artist=Bob Dylan|title=Love and Theft|award=Gold|certyear=2013|relyear=2001|id=10242-3101-2|access-date=August 27, 2022}}
{{certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=Bob Dylan|title=Love and Theft|award=Gold|salesamount=757,000 |salesref=<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=93649|title=New Dylan Album : 'Modern Times'|first=Max|last=Spiegel}}</ref>|certyear=2001|relyear=2001}}
{{certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==External links==
*[https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=342051386610410 Love and Theft commercial] at Bob Dylan's official Facebook page
*[http://www.bobdylan.com/albums/love-and-theft/ Lyrics] at Bob Dylan's official site
*[http://dylanchords.com/41_lat Chords] at Dylanchords
{{Bob Dylan}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love And Theft}}
[[Category:2001 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Bob Dylan]]
[[Category:Bob Dylan albums]]
[[Category:Columbia Records albums]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album]]
[[Category:Albums involved in plagiarism controversies]]