Tell Tale Signs seems to be hitting the right notes with some of rock’s most distinguished journalists:

Rolling Stone’s Mikal Gilmore {complete review}:

…Tell Tale Signs is less an anthology than an album in its own right. It seems designed to tell a story that sharpens and expands the vista of mortal and cultural disintegration that has been the chief theme of 1997’s Time Out of Mind, 2001’s Love and Theft, and 2006’s Modern Times – perhaps the most daring music he’s ever made. Tell Tale Signs makes plain that Dylan knows the caprices of the world he lives in, now more than ever.

Los Angeles Times’ Robert Hilburn {complete review}

Bob Dylan’s latest collection of material from his musical back pages, “Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8,” is a rich, revealing look at how this master songwriter put together one of the most dramatic creative renaissances in pop history….”Tell Tale Signs” is not just “extra” Dylan. It’s essential Dylan.

Entertainment Weekly’s Chris Willman {complete review}

Only one set of archival releases can compare to Bob Dylan’s ”Bootleg Series” in the annals of popular music, and that would be the Beatles’ Anthology collections, which similarly gave the world a window onto a great recording act’s studio outtakes. But with the Fab Four, you always get the feeling that there was only one possible perfect version of each song; the fascination lies in hearing how certain numbers become classics due to some final, transcendent tweak. Listening to Dylan’s discards, though, there’s little sense of honing or averted near misses; his cuttingroom-floor takes are usually completely viable alternatives to the official renditions….The last two ”Bootleg” releases focused on Dylan’s mid-’60s heyday…but true fans already had a lot of it. (Shhh, don’t tell the feds.) Excitingly, Tell Tale Signs jumps decades ahead to offer an alternate history of a less leaky period: the creative renaissance that started at the end of the 1980s and has been bearing fruit ever since. A

The Independent’s Andy Gill {complete review}:

The eighth instalment of Dylan’s Bootleg Series covers the years spanning his 1989 return to form with Oh Mercy up to the present day, a period in which he managed to conquer a long-standing blight of writer’s block, establish himself as the pre-eminent repository of American roots-music forms, and ultimately find the route to the Indian summer of Time Out of Mind, “Love and Theft” and Modern Times….It’s a remarkable collection…

The Telegraph’s David Cheal {complete review}:

There’s stuff here that leaves the listener wondering: why have we never heard this before? What possessed him, for instance, to excise Red River Shore from his Time Out of Mind album? It’s a haunting classic. Ditto the wistful Born in Time (from the Oh Mercy sessions)…what’s captured here is the restless, questing creative spirit of the man. He never stops.

The BBC’s Chris Jones {complete review}:

If you love the trilogy of Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft and Modern Times you’re going to adore this. It lays bare the process that led Dylan to not only revisit the work that got him fired up in the first place but remake them in his own image: the Carter Family (Tell Ol’ Bill) amongst many others…As a companion to his best work from the period this is essential. It even stands as a fine album on its own—the work of a man obviously in love with his muse once more, and totally unafraid of fessin’ up to his roots. Beautiful, brave and beguiling.

The Guardian’s Dave Simpson {complete review}:

The eighth treasure trove in Dylan’s Bootleg Series of unreleased material and alternate takes further illustrates that there is no such thing as a definitive recording of a Dylan song, just a snapshot of the great man’s prevailing mood…reaffirms Dylan’s return to classic form. The extraordinary Red River Shore—already prompting feverish excitement among Bobcats—sounds like the produce of a broken heart, and has mystifyingly remained in the vaults for 11 years…Four Stars.

Associated Press’s David Bauder { complete review }

There had never been anything quite like Bob Dylan in the 1960s, and there’s nothing quite like him today…Once he burned with revolutionary fervor, songs spilling out of a man in a hurry. Now, at age 67, he’s a walking history book of the United States, keeping alive stories and musical styles that might otherwise be forgotten. His work has grace and majesty, and the breadth of his late-career resurgence is better illustrated in this collection than on any of his individual albums….For Bob Dylan, these are outtakes. Most musicians would call them their greatest hits.

LONDON TIMES: “…five stars out of 5”

THE INDEPENDENT, LONDON: “… it’s a remarkable collection, as racked with doubt and disillusion as one might expect, yet defiantly exposing the vulnerabilities and irritations that provoke pearls such as ‘High Water’ and ‘Ain’t Talkin’.”

VARIETY: ” … like its predecessors, the new bootleg series release is a collection of distinction — as essential to his canon as any release that preceded it.”

USA TODAY: “…less a time capsule of vault remnants than a fresh summation of Bob Dylan’s modern times, Tell Tale Signs reveals the 67-year-old legend at the peak of his powers, ruminating on lost love, pondering mortality and trying to make sense of a broken society…this is no museum archive. It’s another side of a master songwriter and spellbinding performer.”

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…there had never been anything quite like Bob Dylan in the 1960s, and there’s nothing quite like him today.”

LOS ANGELES TIMES: “Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 is a rich, revealing look at how this master songwriter put together one of the most dramatic creative renaissances in pop history. Tell Tale Signs is not just ‘extra’ Dylan. It’s essential Dylan.”

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: “Excitingly, Tell Tale Signs jumps decades ahead to offer an alternate history of … the creative renaissance that started at the end of the 1980s and has been bearing fruit ever since…the generally superb Tell Tale Signs repurposes known material in simple, languid, semi-acoustic settings that hark back to ’70s classics like Blood on the Tracks.”

BLENDER: “Genius…”

ROLLING STONE: “…Tell Tale Signs is less an anthology than an album in its own right. It seems designed to tell a story that sharpens and expands the vista of mortal and cultural disintegration that has been the chief theme of 1997’s Time Out of Mind, 2001’s ‘Love and Theft’, and 2006’s Modern Times – perhaps the most daring music he’s ever made. Tell Tale Signs makes plain that Dylan knows the caprices of the world he lives in, now more than ever.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “There had never been anything quite like Bob Dylan in the 1960s, and there’s nothing quite like him today. Once he burned with revolutionary fervor, songs spilling out of a man in a hurry. Now, he’s a walking history book of the United States, keeping alive stories and musical styles that might otherwise be forgotten. His work has grace and majesty, and the breadth of his late-career resurgence is better illustrated in this collection than on any of his individual albums. Tell Tale Signs is a two-disc set spanning the years 1989 to 2006, part of the ongoing official ‘bootleg’ series of alternate takes, unreleased tracks, random live recordings and overlooked soundtrack material. Songs are never quite done with Dylan. They’re living organisms, subject to rewriting and recasting. The ‘Time Out of Mind’ rocker ‘Mississippi’ is here in two versions, each dramatically different than the one eventually released — a solo acoustic take and one where the band sounds adrift on a Southern summer afternoon. Dylan also leaves you shaking your head at songs somehow left on the cutting room floor, like the gorgeous ‘Red River Shore’ or adventurous ‘Dreamin’ of You.’ The set closes with the stately beauty of ‘Cross the Green Mountain,’ a mostly-forgotten song written for the soundtrack of a Civil War movie. It sends shivers, both for the music and precisely written lyrics true to the times. For Bob Dylan, these are outtakes. Most musicians would call them their greatest hits.”