My ninth blog post of Dylan's albums sees me stuck in the 90's! By gum, it's been a little while. Almost a year or so! Not really been looking forward to listening to some of these, but hey, let's get down to business!
33. GOOD AS I BEEN TO YOU (1992) (9/2/24)
Consisting of Dylan performing solo on a acoustic guitar (with the odd burst of harmonica), this album of covers is pleasant background listening, but nothing earth-shattering. I'd not heard track one from this album before giving it its maiden spin, and I wasn't very familiar with the songs he'd chosen to include. Of the thirteen tracks, I only knew Hard Times and Froggie Went a Courtin', and a couple of songs I think I had heard of, like Sittin' on the Top of the World. Most of the tracks are old folk tunes from the UK and now reside in the public domain. These are the songs that must have been a big influence on Dylan as he rose up through the folk scene in the early 1960s. So, from that point of view, it's interesting to listen to him offer up songs that made a mark on him, but it's not why most of us choose to put on a Bob Dylan album. His next album would be a similar offering, but it's this period in time that gives Dylan a bit of a reset as he ponders what his next original album will be like. Similar to his burst of inspiration that gave birth to Oh Mercy's Political World, another well of songwriting was about to gush through the surface. However, that album is still five years away.
I can't see me ever spinning this record again, and I don't think I'll ever spend enough time with it to have any real favourite tracks. It's nice to listen to, but not an album I'd turn to. Feels like you're eavesdropping on him in his hotel room or backstage somewhere as he rips through some of his favourite songs to play. It's kind of cool, but kind of not at the same time.
34. WORLD GONE WRONG (1993) (13/2/24)
Okay, so here we are again with another album of acoustic covers. Interestingly, in between these last two records, Columbia honoured Dylan with The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, which was recorded in Madison Square Gardens during October 1992, and released in August 1993. Earlier, in 1991, the Recording Academy also chose to honour His Bobness with their Lifetime Achievement Award. These are the sorts of events that usually occur at the end of someone's musical career. Dylan may have thought that the cards were stacked against him as far as releasing new original material went, and that might have been another reason behind his choice to issue two covers albums. Was he expected to just quietly bow out? Yes, the eighties were a difficult period for him, but he still managed to deliver two great albums in 1983's Infidels and 1989's Oh Mercy.
But, back to the album in question. I actually enjoyed this much more than the former offering. Same concept, it's just Dylan playing acoustic covers, but the vibe seems so different. I knew even less of the songs on this one, having only heard various versions of Stagger Lee (here titled Stack a Lee) before and his go at Blood In My Eyes, which was included on the bonus DVD that accompanied the special edition of Modern Times. I'm not sure if the rawness that permeates this album is due to it being produced by Dylan himself or if the song choice is the defining factor of difference. Good As I Been To You was produced by Debbie Gold and seemed a little sterile in comparison. Arguably, his performances are just as good on both albums, but this one seems so much more listenable. I really dug the title track, Delia and Love Henry as well, the former seeming very similar to Nick Cave's Henry Lee.
I think these albums were a bit of a reset for Dylan. Rather than thinking about what he should be doing and releasing, he just went back to the songs that inspired him. In doing so, he probably planted the seeds of what would lead to an output of outstanding albums starting with 1997's Time Out Of Mind. However, before we get to that offering, we need to talk a look at...
35. MTV UNPLUGGED (1995) (19/2/24)
Recorded over two nights in November 1994, this live album captures much of Dylan's performance on the MTV Unplugged television series. Back in the day, anyone who was anyone had an Unplugged record out or had at least appeared on the TV show. I have vague memories of giving this a spin when it came into stock at Southern Sound in Albany while I still worked there. Only being schooled in the more well-known material of Dylan at the time, I was not very familiar with His Bobness' song selection, who was 53 at the time of the recording. Indeed, two of the tracks weren't officially released at the time, John Brown and Dignity. The latter I know now from the Tell Tale Signs (The Bootleg Series Vol. 8) collection that spanned 1989-2006. The demo version, which is just Dylan on piano is included on that set, as well as a band recording from sessions in 1989. It wouldn't see an official release until 1994 when it became a single from his Greatest Hits Volume 3 album.
The former, John Brown, was actually written by Dylan in 1962 and recorded in early 1963 and released on a folk compilation under the pseudonym Blind Boy Grunt. A protest song about a young man injured during the war, it hasn't been officially released on a Dylan album, except for live recordings and a demo that was included on The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9) in 2010. An interesting choice for Dylan to include, but perhaps he wanted to share a deep cut or two with his more hardcore fans. Apparently, it was a regular track at his live shows until around 2012.
Back to the rest of the album, I was also unaware at the time of his tendency to re-work his older songs and give them new arrangements. The first of these to arrive on the album is The Times They Are A-Changin', which has a full band performance married with a swing feel. It's something that probably annoyed 19-year-old me, but I'm down with how Dylan approaches his live shows and early catalogue now. I quite like this arrangement, and in the four times I've seen him live between 2007 and 2018, he's not dusted it off.
On further reflection, it's pretty safe to say that none of his live performances here sound that much like their studio recordings. Except for maybe, Shooting Star, which is the newest track on this set, coming off 1989's Oh Mercy album. Desolation Row shares a similar instrumental arrangement of just two guitars, an upright bass and Dylan's vocal, but the feel is different. It's a little livelier or something. The bass comes courtesy of Tony Garnier, who joined Dylan's live band in 1989, and still plays with him today (at the time of writing). Other notable musicians in Dylan's ensemble include Bucky Baxter on many stringed instruments (a member of Steve Earle and the Dukes), and producer Brendan O'Brien on the Hammond organ, who has helmed recordings by acts such as Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
In all, I found this to be quite an enjoyable listen. Other standouts for me include the opening track Tombstone Blues and final song With God On Our Side, although I feel it's an unusual choice to close the album, and not one that probably ended either night's set. The latter shows him singing the track in its original key, and doing a pretty good job despite the grizzled quality seeping into his voice. His performance on this album seems a little more enthusiastic than his appearance at his 30th Anniversary concert, but maybe that's because he was being pushed by other forces into a career swansong that he wasn't ready for. Indeed, 2022 marked 60 years since his first solo release for Columbia, so that concert can now be seen as a halfway point, in hindsight. He certainly wasn't ready to hit the oldies concert circuit and just play the 'hits'. He had more to say, and he had just found his voice.
36. TIME OUT OF MIND (1997) (21/2/2024)
A very strong contender for my favourite Bob Dylan album, I still have a vivid memory of my first encounter with this mid-career masterpiece. It was shortly after its release that I found myself in the now-defunct store 78 Records in the Perth CBD. They had a big red display stand that was actually a listening station. It had multiple copies of six different albums, each of which were able to be piped through the attached headphones. I noticed that Time Out of Mind was one of them, and thought "Hmmm...the new Bob Dylan album". With that, I grabbed the headphones and dialed up the opening track Love Sick.
I was greeted by a low hum of amps and a little bit of guitar noodling, so I turned up the volume. Then the short bursts of the opening organ chord assaulted my right ear before Dylan's croaky, distorted voice came in: "I'm walking/Through streets that are dead..." I'm not sure how long I listened, but I think I got through most of the song. It was unlike anything else I'd heard him do, which was fairly limited at that time. I still remember that first moment every time I hear that track.
I don't remember when I actually took the plunge and bought the album. I think before I grabbed a copy of it, I only owned 1997's The Best of Bob Dylan and the triple CD compilation Masterpieces, originally issued in 1978. I remember one of my school friends in Albany had a copy of the latter, which belonged to his dad. We thrashed some songs off it. So, my knowledge of Dylan was fairly limited at that time. I think I'm correct in recalling that this album is the first full studio Dylan I ever owned or listened to, this being his thirtieth effort. That may have a hand in the reason I hold it in such high esteem.
After the killer opening of Love Sick, the mood is broken by Old Dirt Road Blues. The dark and swampy angst of the former is almost hypnotic in its slow pace and accented lines, so when the jaunty second track kicks up, it's a bit of a shock. Arguably one of the album's weakest moments, Old Dirt Road Blues still a pleasant listen and serves a definite purpose in the tracklisting. I think because Love Sick is such a strong track, and such an excellent statement for what the album will be, it was always going to be hard to follow. It also has the distinction of being one of only a few tracks that doesn't rely on a fade out, and actually ends. The feel returns to a sense of melancholy with Standing in the Doorway which at nearly eight minutes long is the second longest track here. Mourning the loss of a relationship, the song has its narrator (Dylan himself maybe?) pining for someone who left him "standing in the doorway crying/Suffering like a fool". Rather than wanting the person back, Dylan seems to be coming to terms with the finality of it all, and moving towards acceptance. Despite its length, it doesn't outstay its welcome, and I used to always get surprised when I noticed the CD time display tick over seven minutes. I think it's just one of many instances on this album where Dylan's peak songwriting and Daniel Lanois' production come together to make something very special.
While I've mentioned that the album has a melancholy feel in places, there's also a bit of desire simmering under the surface. The next track, Million Miles, has its narrator trying his best to court or return to the object of his affection. The distance between them can be taken either as a physical barrier or a mental one, as not all journeys are completed by traveling. There were a lot of critics who called Time Out of Mind the 'mortality album', as some songs appear to show Dylan contemplating the end of his life. Indeed, after Dylan completed his work on this album he became quite ill, and had a battle with a near-fatal infection of histoplasmosis (Google it). He spent much of June 1997 in serious pain and had to cancel a tour he had scheduled for that time period. Despite the album being pretty much completed before he was hospitalised, critics thought the experience has caused Dylan to become more aware of his time on Earth.
The first track to feel like it looks death in the eyes has a refrain stolen from an old blues track. Tryin' To Get To Heaven sees its protagonist trying the enter the holy gates before they close the door. This could imply that Dylan felt he had some amends to make before he enters his twilight years, or that he is experiencing something of a rebirth. It wasn't written in the aftermath of his near-death illness, so Dylan's motivations remain his own. The song is another album highlight for me in an album full of them, and it doesn't fade out.
Connecting a thread from Love Sick to Million Miles is the following song, 'Til I Fell in Love With You, which makes the case that while this love was not exactly planned, it's not the worst thing in the world either. Dylan returns to the matter of life and death with the hauntingly beautiful Not Dark Yet. A gorgeous layered soundscape with a gentle riff that's repeated throughout the track, this is one of my favourite Dylan songs. As the narrator takes stock of his life he finishes each verse with the line "It's not dark yet/But it's gettin' there". It's just sublime and it is one of those tracks that takes me out of wherever I am and drops me into the images and emotions of the song. I don't think I actually listen to it; I experience it. Oooh, and it doesn't fade out either!
The next track is Cold Irons Bound, which was one of my least favourite tracks on the album for a long while. It wasn't until I heard the version from the 2003 movie Masked & Anonymous that I started to dig it. The clip of that performance was included on the DVD that accompanied the special edition of the Modern Times CD. It's got a rollicking and rambling vibe that the version on Time Out of Mind just doesn't have, and it got its hooks into me. During my first listen of that performance it took me a bit to realise it was the same song! Again, the song has a sense of impending doom, as Dylan ends each verse with "I'm 20 miles out of town/Cold irons bound". Rather than death awaiting him, it is consequences of some sort of action taken. Producer Lanois and Dylan butted heads several times during the recording of this album, which saw initial sessions begin in Lanois' studio Teatro. Dylan made the decision to move to the Criteria Studio in Miami in January 1997, as he felt Lanois' studio was too close to his home in Malibu and he was getting distracted. Apparently their clash of opinion regarding Cold Irons Bound ended with Lanois smashing a guitar and declaring this song would not make the final album. Ironically, the track would win Dylan the Grammy award for Male Performance of the Year. Another interesting fact to note is that this album is the last time Dylan used a producer. From 2001’s Love And Theft, he would self produce his records under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
The ninth song on the album is also the shortest, and one of the greatest love songs Dylan has ever written. Make You Feel My Love was covered by Billy Joel on his Greatest Hits Volume III in August 1997, a month or so before Time Out of Mind was released. That was the first of what would become many covers of this song, sometimes titled To Make You Feel My Love for some reason. I think a lot of people are familiar with Adele's cover, but other artists who have given it a stab include Neil Diamond, Garth Brooks, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, and um, Michael Bolton. It's another one of my favourite Dylan songs, and I quite like performing it on occasion myself. I didn't hear him perform it live until we saw him for the fourth time at RAC Arena in 2018.
Returning to theme of lust or longing comes the album's penultimate track, Can't Wait. This has a great murky stomp to it, which is a little bit bluesy and a little bit shuffle-y. So, yeah, with the tracks of desire outnumbering those that deal with death, I'm surprised by the reputation this album had when critics sunk their teeth into it. Again, Dylan's illness might have pushed that theme to the fore. It would be interesting to see how the legacy of Time Out of Mind would differ if Dylan hadn't become so ill just before its release.
The record ends with its longest track, Highlands. With a staggering length of sixteen minutes and thirty-one seconds it would have the title of Dylan's longest studio recording until 2020's Murder Most Foul, which nearly hits the seventeen minute mark. For a long time, I would end the album here. It was sixteen odd minutes of Dylan delivering a long monologue with a musical backing that has a riff playing continuously throughout. There's no chorus, there's no bridge and there's no ending, it just fades out. There's nothing you can really sing along to, except the repeated line "Well, my heart's in the Highlands..." and the odd lyric that sticks in your brain. For the most part, Dylan sort of speak-sings his way through the song. Over time I've become a little fonder of it, and I don't skip it anymore. One of the big turning points was when Rolling Stone magazine published an online article that ranked 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs and included Highlands at No. 94! That made me think that there may be more to this song that I gave it credit for, and it was possibly worth my time to get to know it a little better. While I don't think I hold it in such high esteem as that, I certainly like it more now. But seriously, after sixteen minutes and thirty-one seconds, could you not think of an ending? I hate fade outs. You might have noticed. That fact does certainly not diminish my serious love for this album. I've thoroughly enjoyed revisiting it, and I'm very excited for the next song of offerings my subsequent Dylan blog post will bring!
BONUS: THE BOOTLEG SERIES Vol. 17: FRAGMENTS - TIME OUT OF MIND SESSIONS (1996-1997)
I was lucky enough to receive this amazing collection from my lovely family for my birthday this year! So, I've been thrashing it a bit. Amazing timing that I'm revisiting Time Out of Mind now after soaking up the alternate versions, outtakes and live performances from the album. This set also has a 2022 remix of the original record, which is a little closer to Dylan's vision for the album, and softens some of Daniel Lanois' swampy production. Apparently there was a murkiness on Time Out of Mind that Dylan was never really happy with. While I like the remix in that the drums have more presence and the vocals are higher in the mix, and I think it's possibly louder as well, the original is highly revered and loved for a reason.
There were 15 songs in contention for Time Out of Mind, and 11 made the final album. The second and third discs document how the songs shaped up. Starting in a Malibu studio in 1996 before heading to Florida in 1997, these recording sessions reveal how the songs evolved in the studio. One track that missed the cut, Mississippi, shows up in several renditions here, with a live recording on the fourth disc and three outtakes on the fifth. Thankfully, it would make Dylan’s 2001 follow-up album Love and Theft, but I wonder why it didn’t land on TOOM. I think if it had been swapped out for Dirt Road Blues the album would have been even stronger. But which version? For me, the LAT version is the best, but that incarnation wouldn’t fit on TOOM. I think Version 1 on the second disc would fit nicely…with its repeated (but pilfered) refrain of “Only one thing I did wrong/I stayed in Mississippi a day too long”. Be a good fit, methinks!
Two other songs recorded, but apparently never really in contention were The Water Is Wide (an old Scottish folk tune that Dylan had played live numerous times) and Red River Shore. The latter is quite a sweet song that is reminiscent of Girl From the North Country, which really feels a bit out of place here. I can see why it was left of the album, but I think it’s a shame it never surfaced on another.
Some songs evolved into other songs, like Too Late becoming Foot of Pride during the Infidels sessions, but ultimately not being rehearsed unfortunately. Dreamin’ Of You was released as a single in 2008 before the issue of the excellent Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 (The Bootleg Series Vol 8). It would eventually morph into Standing In The Doorway, but the unreleased version included on this set has a great swagger and a fab vocal track and clocks up two extra minutes! Rather than being a better incarnation of a song we’ve heard before, it’s a fascinating insight into Dylan’s creative process. The same can be said for Marchin’ to the City, which also popped on TTS:RAU 1989-2006, but this version is a bit jauntier and shorter. This would soon be reworked into Not Dark Yet, but it’s nearly unrecognisable in this iteration.
It’s great to have such a collection of different versions, live performances and outtakes from one of my favourite Dylan albums. It lends itself well to casual listening as well as zealous study. I like the journey of seeing how Not Dark Yet became the haunting, hypnotic masterpiece on the finished album and the changes in feel and production along the way. Each track from the original album appears at least once either as a live performance or an unreleased outtake. It’s a feast and a very tasty one. What’s the next Bootleg Series release, Bob?!?
