5th December:

I recently heard a review of Bob Dylan’s latest album on BBC Radio 4. Almost ten minutes of airtime on a serious radio station were devoted to a journalist who was getting unnaturally frothy at the prospect of Dylan’s latest offering. “Seminal work and probably the most influential in twenty years”, he exclaimed. “This is not the Dylan of the cocktail lounge or the Dylan of the pulpit. This is the Dylan of the highway diner on Route 66”. Erm, right. Any good though?

The journalist was clearly a fan but I am intrigued as to how anyone can honestly and impartially review an album such as this. Dylan has clearly been around a while and has recorded a lot of stuff. How does one decide whether his latest album is any good or not without being influenced by (or referring to) his vast body of work to date? Would the resident hack have thought the album so great if it had been brought out by an unknown artist?

What makes the legend? Paul McCartney probably lives on the same rarefied plane as Dylan. He did some great, great stuff with The Beatles. In the intervening years since he has also, if we’re being honest, produced some mince. However, those formative years sealed the deal and he has spent the last twenty years doing what wants to safe in the knowledge that he has nothing left to prove. Albums have been a success and albums have bombed but the reputation has remained untarnished either way. Jammy sod.

The actor Daniel Day Lewis decided to throw in the acting towel a few years ago, upped sticks and took his family to Florence. Why? He wanted to learn how to make shoes. The cynics would argue that he was already a rich man and so could follow this passion (or flight of fancy) without actually have to care about whether or not he would be successful. Perhaps this is a fair point - maybe the people we should fete are those who take the risk and follow their hearts when their livelihoods actually do depend on making it work.

I can't help but feel slightly envious of the Dylans, the McCartneys and the Day-Lewis's of this world, though. Imagine having the freedom to produce literature, art, music or shoes just because you want to, without having to worry about sales - to express yourself as fully and openly as you wish without having to care about the public's perception or reaction.

Sounds liberating, doesn't it? And just a little scary...