Bob Dylan just came back with an old record.
I eat? Yes: belonging to his already classic Bootleg series -started in 1991-, volume 17 has arrived, Fragments, Time Out Mind Sessionsa review of that gem published in 1997, with production of Daniel (U2’s big partner) lanois.
The record marked a pivotal point in the singer-songwriter’s career, possibly launching his sound and ethos for the modern era. Awarded Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 1998, Time Out of Mind (TOM)continues to be a fan favorite for dealing with love, aging, and the passage of time. Curiously, the project will also feature a new mix.
Featuring a new 2022 remix by Michael H. Brauer of the original eleven recordings, which is more like what the songs sounded like when the musicians originally played them in the room.
In Fragments… are also included 12 previously unreleased outtakes and alternate versions of songs written for Crazy time.
Also collected are previously unreleased recordings, including studio outtakes and alternate versions, as well as live versions recorded between 1997 and 2001. Also includes a new remix of Crazy time.
The release comes in a 5 CD or 10 LP box set or abridged versions -not yet available in the country-, but can be listened to via Spotify.
Among the rarities there are early versions of TOM’s songs from the 1996 stage sessions with Daniel Lanois, Tony Garnier and Tony Mangurian.
Final recording then moved to Criteria Studio in Miami the following year, Bucky Baxter, Duke Robillard, Cindy Cashdollar and many more have joined the process, with much of their previously unseen footage appearing here. The Complete Work won the 1998 Grammy for Album of the Year.
the year of rebirth
As an artist who had already reinvented himself several times over the years, the 1997 Bob Dylan revival proved to be not only his best comeback, but also the greatest third act in rock ‘n’ roll history.
Partly inspired by his own mortality, partly inspired by his own mythology and partly inspired by whatever is going on in Bob Dylan’s head, TOM it is a milestone in a career that has seen many of them over the past fifty years. But it’s not like the 56-year-old singer-songwriter was at a standstill at the time.
After spending most of the 80s with one mediocre record after another, Dylan collaborated with producer Daniel Lanois on oh mercy since 1989; their best album in at least a decade.
followed with Under the red sky the following year, a bizarre but not entirely unpleasant detour, and a couple of albums; As good as I was with you Y World gone wrongcomposed of traditional songs arranged by Dylan.
He also released his own Round to no end around this time, which ignited his live performances and, in turn, inspired him in the studio. In early 1997, he reunited with Lanois and they worked with a few studio veterans on more than a dozen songs, 11 of which ended up in Crazy time (outtakes are coming soon The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Signs of history: rare and unpublished 1989-2006).
Prior to the album’s release, Dylan was hospitalized with a serious heart condition. when it finally came out TOM on September 30, 1997, the centerpiece of the album, Not dark yetas well as a few other tracks, they suddenly felt like an old master’s musings on his near-death experience, despite the fact that the songs were written and recorded before he fell ill.
among the best
In any case, TOM it was Dylan’s best album in decades. It was immediately praised by both critics and fans, reached the Top 10 and won a Grammy for Album of the Year.
Since the opening of sick love (bringing the atmospheric output of Lanois) a Cold irons bound (Dylan’s hardest song in years) until closing 16 minutes highlands (a meaningless interior monologue).
TOM it was the work of an artist who still seemed to have something to prove to the growing list of cynics. The album’s legacy continues today. It spurred a creative renaissance in Dylan that produced solid, if sometimes overblown, works such as Love and theft, modern times Y Storm.
These last few years have been Dylan’s most fertile period since his mid-1960s heyday, a streak no other comeback artist has been able to maintain. Also, Crazy time gave us another one of his ever-evolving vocal quirks. This was influenced by both dark and desperate music and age.
In a way, Dylan’s hoarse, worn voice it’s the near-perfect symbol of her near-perfect album.
Source: Futuro.cl
Source: Clarin
