Bob Dylan has released his first original work in eight years. The message accompanying the release of Murder Most Foul thanked his fans for their loyalty across the years, and urged them to ‘stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you’

We’ve been here before, and sat and listened; maybe even nodded at the lyrics as they swerved between the plain and the proverbial, the right-on and the riddlesome. Some winced when he went electric, and despaired all over again when he went Country. What to make of him now with this “song” so long that it makes his “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”, which took up the whole side of an LP, seem to flash past like a three-minute single. As ever, the situation is both comedic and weighty as he takes self-parody beyond the reach of his countless imitators