I did not go see Bob Dylan this past week when he came to visit Happy Valley, mostly because I am a poor college kid, but also because I saw him a few years back.

Time had turned his always-gravelly voice into an unintelligible mess, and he sat behind a keyboard for the whole show, seemingly sleepwalking through a short, uninspiring set.

"He should just hang it up," I thought. "It's sad to see a great talent end up like this."

Accordingly, my expectations for his new album, Modern Times, were low.

But I was as amazed at how well Dylan held up on the record, since I was disappointed at his live show.

His deteriorated voice and lowered energy aside, the album sounds remarkably close to vintage Dylan.

The lyrics come as close to poetry as rock singers can get. Blues, country and folk are mixed into Dylan's signature ramshackle style. The result is surprisingly pleasing to the listener.

Sure, Dylan might not hit all the high notes anymore, but the extra roughness helps the softer numbers.

Songs like "Spirit on the Water" and "Nettie Moore," with lyrics about love lost, the trials of life, travel and redemption are well suited by this weariness.

Maybe nothing here will become a classic alongside "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Tangled up in Blue," and the songs tend to be a little long (ten tracks stretched over more than an hour), but these are minor complaints when a talent like Dylan is still shining so brightly in his fifth decade as a songwriter.

On "Spirit on the Water," Dylan sings, "You think I'm over the hill/You think I'm past my prime/Let me see what you got/We can have a whoppin' good time."

The song may be about a woman, but it serves as a good retort to anyone who thinks he's lost his touch.

Modern Times might not displace any of his classics, but it can sit comfortably among them.

For someone in his fifth decade of recording and whose classics are some of rock's all-time best, that is not too bad. Grade: B

-- Reviewed by Dustin Pangonis