Bringing Down the Horse

iTunes Review

As the son of a legend, Jakob Dylan has defied the odds. After a promising, if uneven and commercially ignored, debut album, Dylan reconfigured his band, refocused his sound and refined his songwriting. Masterfully produced by T-Bone Burnett, Bringing Down the Horse is a definitive singer-songwriter album for the 1990s. Taking a page or three from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (whose guitarist Mike Campbell guests on “6th Avenue Heartache”) with a smooth, purring mix of Rami Jaffee’s Hammond B-3 organ and Dylan’s and Michael Ward’s dueling overdriven guitars, the Wallflowers reinvigorated classic rock radio. Their tunes seamlessly weaved their way into the traditional rock sound vaunted by elder Dylan, the Band and fellow foot soldiers Counting Crows. Though “One Headlight” and “6th Avenue Heartache” became heavy rotation hits, the album features many more highlights of similar vintage and quality. The swirling organ of “Bleeders,” Dylan’s sandpaper growl on “Three Marlenas” and the wall of sound of “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls” and “Angel on My Bike,” where you can hear the family connection loud and clear, make this second generation Dylan much more than a footnote in rock history.