Bob Dylan is on a roll. After taking seven years to pen "Time Out Of Mind," another four to make "Love and Theft," and then touring for half a decade while musing on "Modern Times," he is delivering a follow-up album of new material faster than at any point since 1990. Back then, critics were hardly on tenterhooks waiting for the man's latest tunes, either. But what a difference a good decade-plus of career rehabilitation can make. News of Dylan's newest long-player, "Together Through Life," spread across blogs like a viral video last month, its announcement almost universally regarded as a welcome surprise--especially since Columbia had released a fine multi-disc set of recent outtakes only last winter. Hardly anyone expected another batch of Bob this soon.

The evident speed and enthusiasm of the record's creation is, in the end, justified. You can listen to the album's penultimate tune, "Feel A Change Comin' On," exclusively here at Newsweek.com and judge for yourself. At one point, a romantic-sounding electric guitar break, coupled with accordion, comes before a verse in which Dylan reveals: "I've been listening to Billy Joe Shaver / and I'm reading James Joyce / some people, they tell me / I've got the blood of the land in my voice." The album's rollicking closer, "It's All Good," is a contrarian's slap at that unthinking mantra: "Buildings are crumbling / in the neighborhood / but it's nothing to worry about / 'cause it's all good ... whoo!" Compare that track to the finales of Dylan's last two records, and you'll get a fair idea of the new material. Whereas "Love and Theft" and "Modern Times" each featured dolorous climaxes after their wild times, this album is a more straightforward affair--rocking and swaying across a narrower range of blues, balladry and border swing. Nothing on the new disc struts as hard as "Summer Days" or gets dark like "Ain't Talkin'." But this time around, the sadder songs--like "Forgetful Heart" or "This Dream of You"--are leavened by the addition of an accordion to Dylan's reliable backing band. At a comparatively brief 45 minutes, this is Dylan at his breeziest, with the man plainly comfortable in the sound of his own muscular production (executed under the nom de studio Jack Frost).

Besides the mark of high quality overall, Dylan also maintains another streak that has raised eyebrows from time to time. Just as the song "Someday Baby" was a revision of the Muddy Waters/Willie Dixon blues tune "Trouble No More" (itself a theft from a Sleepy John Estes composition), so does the new album lust hard after that early Chess Records magic. "My Wife's Home Town" is another Dixon imitation, this time based on the song "I Just Want to Make Love to You." Appropriately, the album's liner notes list the music as being written by "Bob Dylan & Willie Dixon."  As far as tracings go, this one is wittily executed, with the descending, lascivious melodic line of the chorus marching Dylan's new lyric down into hell.

As with all things Dylan, such issues will be thrashed out in full by the community of scholars after the album's release. Until then, Dylan has been engaged in a wide-ranging Q&A with Bill Flanagan over at his website. You can read the first two installments at Dylan.com, here. And, starting today, you can read the next chapter on PopVox. In this section, Dylan talks about his mysticism, and offers his take on President Obama. Hang on Dylanphiles, you've only got another three weeks to wait before the new album is street legal.