With Love and Theft, Bob Dylan's return to the land of the living is complete. By the mid-'90s, his concerts had, for all but the faithful, degenerated into sullen, static affairs; even when he tried to avoid malaise his usual way -- by rearranging his classics -- Dylan seemed bored. Then came his 1997 health scare, the result of a heart condition. His performances after that incident (like the one I saw in New York City in 1998) were genuinely startling, even for him: At various points, a clearly animated Dylan danced a little jig, smiled, and in general seemed thrilled... Grade: A-
2001 
