The Old Battle Axe has done it again. Thirty-eight years and five months after he last claimed the top spot, sixty-seven year old Bob Dylan is at number one. His 33th studio album Together Through Life is at the top of in the UK album charts. Dylan now holds the record for the longest gap between number one albums – his previous one being New Morning in 1970.

It's Dylan's seventh time at the top, ever since he got there with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1964. "Sand and glue," as David Bowie has described Dylan's voice, is obviously still in demand.

Previous record holder Welsh crooner Tom Jones, a slightly lesser legend, has had to step aside: his comeback album, Reload, topped the UK charts in 1999, thirty-one years after Delilah reached the top in 1968.

Dylan's marmite voice has divided people since the beginning, when the 20-year-old began making a name for himself in New York. Bowie's description of this voice as "sand and glue" is spot on.

On Together Through Life the quantities of both have been upped. We are treated to huge vats of boiling glue, into which are emptied bag after bag of sand.

This is a good thing. In his recent albums, since 1997 Time out of Mind, Dylan seems finally to have grown into his voice. In his twenties, Dylan sometimes sounded alarmingly like an old woman. Just as I can understand why people might not like marmite, I guess this could be why some people just couldn't ever find a way into his music...and that's leaving out his often baffling use of the harmonica – discordant notes seemingly sprayed at random.

As a fan, I've always been oblivious to these concerns. In fact, it's one of the prerequisites of being a fan. Bob Dylan's unconventional voice has always given me hope that anything is possible. It's a kind of alchemy – turning sand and glue into wonderful sounds.