A to Z galaxy

The following are the quick responses for the 10-song set.

"Beyond Here Lies Nothin' ": Hidalgo's accordion is Dylan's muse throughout this album. The instrument turns what would be Jimmy Reed-style blues into something more wide-ranging: a celebration of the Latin influence that also shaped early rock. There's something Leonard Cohen-esque about Dylan's lyric, which is deeply existential and exceedingly debonair.

"Life is Hard": Dylan apparently loved Dahan's Edith Piaf story "La Vie en Rose," and agreed to pen this song for the filmmaker's "My Own Love Song." It has a French feel, with a guitar line redolent of le jazz hot and sly references to a boulevard of broken dreams. Dylan's sad "Sea of Love," it represents him as a slightly cracked crooner.

"My Wife's Home Town": Enter the Devil Woman, a dangerous central character of the blues. The wifey is from down under, and I don't mean Australia. This one is pure Howlin' Wolf. Dylan's chuckle at the end might be the best part.

"If You Ever Go to Houston": It's not that this circular walking blues sounds like Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry," but there's a similar feeling in that 1965 composition. Hidalgo's accordion shines sunlight on everything. The lyric has a Wild West feel, with oblique references to the history of the town in its name.

"Forgetful Heart": The album's most mystical cut could have fit on 1997's "Time Out of Mind," with a somewhat muted atmosphere and a last line that recalls Edgar Allan Poe -- "the door has closed forevermore / if there ever was a door." A banjo plaintively calls out from deep in the mix.

"Jolene": This bar-band romp imagines the "other woman" immortalized in Dolly Parton's 1973 hit as a street-strutting queen for whom any man would leave any wife. "You're something nice, I"m gonna grab my dice," chortles the satyr as a down-home double-guitar riff propels him forward.

"This Dream of You": Dylan does mariachi! The most obviously Latin-flavored track on an album that testifies to Mexican America's right to sing the blues. Is that a slack-key guitar in there, too?

"Shake, Shake Mama": This one does just what the title says. A loud, abrupt blues with a little bit of gospel in the lyric, it brings to mind one of Chicago's last men standing, Otis Rush.

"I Feel a Change Coming On": The title seems to nod at the Obama era, but this country-tinged song is at once more universal and more personal -- a meditation on sunsets, both real and imagined. Dylan sings in a honking baritone that celebrates the rips in his vocal cords. And there's harmonica.

"It's All Good": "Throw on the dust! Pile on the dust!" Dylan shouts in this apocalypse party of a song. Sharp guitar lines and one of the album's fastest tempos gives the band a chance to fade out on a high note. Dylan's final word: Enjoy this world, even as it descends into chaos. In fact, especially enjoy the chaos.