Bob Dylan "Time Out of Mind" (1997)
Dylan had been some 6-7 years without any original material, existing
instead on cover songs and revisiting his past glories. He reunited with
producer Daniel Lanois, regular producer for U2, and Peter Gabriel, and who
had also produced Dylan's own "Oh Mercy" album.
By all accounts the sessions seem to have been cluttered with two
drummers and a multitude of other musicians on the sessions.... I'm
sure Phil Spector would have approved.
Dylan later expressed mixed feelings about the recording, and one critic
described it as Lanois' CV... well if that's the case, I'd hire him. I
really enjoyed the album.
I'm typically 50/50 on Bob Dylan as I don't focus much on lyrics and
that's obviously known to be his main strength. I'm more interested in
what he's doing musically and how the words fit around that
sound-wise. From opener "Love Sick"
this is a murky blues album, one of those ones that sounds like it'd
make a great soundtrack for driving (maybe through a desert night). The
dense sound eases up temporarily for piano ballad "Make you feel my love" then back onto the highway for the last couple of tracks, including the epic 16+ minute closing track "Highlands".
Dylan's nasal voice had settled into a weary, gravelly drawl which suits this music nicely.
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