Seeing Things

iTunes Review

Jakob Dylan established himself as a legitimate singer, songwriter, and performer with his group the Wallflowers. But as early as his first LP with the touching acoustic “Asleep at the Wheel,” Dylan showed signs of being at his absolute best at his least encumbered. So, for his first solo album, 2008’s Seeing Things, he hired Rick Rubin to produce and strip it all down, keeping Dylan’s voice front and center and letting the songs spill out at their own pace. Without an extra flourish or note, Dylan goes to work, coming up with an entire album of extremely strong material. “Evil is Alive and Well” takes the temperature of modern times, while “Valley of the Low Sun,” “Everybody Pays As They Go,” “Something Good This Way Comes,” and “The End of the Telescope” specialize in a timeless folk tradition where new melodies carry a ring of the familiar, as if they’d been there all along. This unforced ease begs Dylan to continue in this vein. The kid’s a natural, following in the family tradition, adhering to standards that must seem at least a little daunting at times. Here, you’d never know it.