Bob Dylan: Time Out Of Mind - 1997
"There was a time when the songs would come three or four at the same time, but those days are long gone...Once in a while, the odd song will come to me like a bulldog at the garden gate and demand to be written. But most of them are rejected out of my mind right away. You get caught up in wondering if anyone really needs to hear it. Maybe a person gets to the point where they have written enough songs. Let someone else write them" - Bob Dylan
This is one of Bob Dylan's darkest albums. He had not released an album of new material in seven years, and 1990's Under The Red Sky contained largely good-time pieces of bluesy fun. Here, we have a Dylan accepting and expressing awareness of his own mortality.
He again uses Oh Mercy producer Daniel Lanois, who is a producer with a liking for a deep, sombre sound. This production seems to fit with Dylan's often reflective, deep lyrics. However, it has a bit of an intransigent feel to it. It doesn't breathe much. Critically, however, it was an album that had many purring and reclaiming Dylan as their Messiah after a long sojourn. The washed-out old has-been was now the wise old sage. The tracks seem to follow a slow track/upbeat blues track pattern, not necessarily a bad thing, ensuring the listener doesn't get too up or too down.
Let's set off down that dirt road....
We begin with the reflective, shuffling Love Sick - a track whose chunky guitar interjections reminds me of The Man's Too Strong from Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms album - is followed by the lively, infectious, almost rockabilly Dirt Road Blues and then we get the walking pace, dead slow, mournful and melancholic Standing In The Doorway, which sounds like Dylan is about to give up on it all. This was said to have been inspired by a serious illness he suffered at the time, but in fact the material on the album was written and recorded before Dylan's hospitalisation. Nevertheless, with lines like - "I can hear the church bells ringing in the yard, I wonder who they're ringing for...". He sounds tired and old. Ironically, many of the albums he has produced in the wake of this one have found him in a much livelier frame of mind.
Million Miles is a mysterious-sounding, steamy swampy blues, with an addictive bass sound and a convincing, croaky Dylan vocal. It was on this album that we saw that gruff old man's vocal appear that would dominate all his albums post this one. There was a different perception of Bob Dylan after this album' release - he was now credible again, viewed as a respected grandfather of music - a keeper of the lantern.
Trying To Get To Heaven is an update on Knocking' On Heaven's Door and is an incredibly moving, melodic slow burner with tones of the Oh Mercy material about it. "I'm trying to get to Heaven before they close the door..." sings a sad-sounding Dylan. It is a most evocative, emotional track. I feel sad whenever I hear it. For some reason, the guitar parts on it remind me of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight - a bit tenuous, I know. Maybe not, though.
Time for some more blues again in the grinding, insistent r 'n' b punch of Till I Fell In Love With You. As I said earlier, juxtaposing the yearning, sad songs with the more bluesy, upbeat ones is a good idea.
Not Dark Yet is the album's finest track, for me. A deeply moving, dignified, cornerstone of a song reflecting Dylan's feelings upon ageing. In this song lies the very essence of this album, for sure. "It's not dark yet, but I'm getting there...."
Cold Irons Bound is an electric, rocking blues full of intense atmosphere. Check out that throbbing, heavy bass that, merged with the resonant drums, sounds almost reggae-ish. It is a most underrated gem of a song - a true quality "deep cut".
Make You Feel My Love is now well known to many due its being covered by Adele. Dylan's original is a beautiful haunting love song and seems destined to be a much-covered classic. It does, however, sit somewhat incongruously with the rest of the album's material. Can't Wait, another blueser, has an appealing guitar underpinning its dead slow and enigmatic rhythm. Once more, it is one hell of a good deep cut.
The final track is the longest track ever recorded by Dylan, the sixteen minute Highlands. It is a slow, regular paced song with a reflective mood to it. It just keeps on going. There is no real story to it, though, unlike some of Dylan's other longer songs. Despite its length, I don't tire of it as it goes on its way, possibly because it is absolutely jam-packed with memorable couplets.
This album proved to be a real turning point into the final creative phase of Dylan's career. Strangely enough, despite its strong reputation among critics, it is not an album I return to as much as I do others. That doesn't mean it lacks quality, though. Far from it.
It is now 2023, some five years after the above review and I have found myself listening to it again, re-assessing it together with the Fragments box set of outtakes/alternative versions from the album's sessions and an excellent, deep, bassy remix of the original album. This remix has made up me re-listen to Time Out Of Mind through new ears, enjoying it much more, playing it over and over. I find the 2023 remix - as many such remixes have proved to be (witness The Beatles' Revolver, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass or David Bowie's Lodger) - a warm, punchy, weighty affair that lends far more oomph and accompanying gravitas to the songs. This improved sonic quality is a major contributor to my increased love for the album. Maybe it was a valedictory and before its time work of genius after all.
