‘Good’ to Hear Dylan Go Back to the Basics

BOB DYLAN “Good as I Been to You” Columbia * * *

Much has been made of the fact that this acoustic album of traditional songs comes in the 30th anniversary year of the singer’s first album, “Bob Dylan,” an acoustic album of mostly traditional songs. Then again, given his general disregard for pomp and circumstance, this may well be more a coincidence than a deliberated attempt at coming full circle.

Either way, long-term Dylanologists can’t help but delight at this inessential but fun chapter, the latest wrinkle in a career made up of surprises: the poet laureate as interpreter, paying tribute to all his antecedents in this, the year of (as Neil Young called it) the Bobfest.

Only two numbers--Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times” and “Froggy Went A-Courtin’ “--are likely to be known to most contemporary listeners, which provides the inherent element of discovery in this collection of obscure folk and blues chestnuts. And his spirited delivery belies the fact that “Step It Up and Go,” which predates rock ‘n’ roll by decades, is rock ‘n’ roll.

Dylan does sound as if he has a Froggy in his throat at times, but anyone dispirited by some of his lackadaisical recent TV appearances will be heartened by the vocal effort he puts in here, with no wall of sound to slur behind. The ruggedness of 30 years is apparent in his battered squeeze box of a voice, but it’s even more its own instrument now. Good as he’s been to us, Dylan continues to offer more.