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I )eath is certain, “the
truly distinguished
thin^,“ as Henry James
observed at his own last
. breath. “It’s not dark
L yet,** goes Dylan’s
H| refrain, “hut it’s
get tin* there.**
The cover is so muted and low-key I didn’t
recognize it at first as the new Bob Dylan
album. The detail that really got my attention
and imprinted itself on my consciousness came
when I turned the CD box cover over and
noticed the striped shirt Bob is wearing in the
color photo on back. Buttoned at the neck, it
looks much like the shirt he’s wearing in the
cover photo on Bringing It Ah Back Hume On
closer inspection, the collar is much too large
for that era. but the older man's piercing blue
eyes confront the viewer in the same challeng
ing way the did back in 1965.
The trick my eyes played on me might be
explained by the kinds of expectations I bring
to a new Dylan album. Old habits die hard for
boomer Dylanophiles. There was certainly a
time when each new release seemed a crucial
bulletin from the counter-cultural front, not to
mention an oracular pronouncement Adding to
the anticipation, at least as lar back as "My
Back Pages,' was the fact that Bob Dylan tend
ed to reinvent himself and, as he would later
sing at the beginning of his Christian phase,
“find myself a different set of rules.” Qui etes-
vous, Bub Dylan\ Jean-Pierre Leaud's character
asked repeatedly during Jean-Luc Godard s
1967 film Masculin/feminin . We still want to
know.
But for the last decade or so, during which
time he has become Bob Dylan the Tireless
Performing Artist. Dylan has made a point of
releasing albums that have no particular point
to make; certainly no statement or pronounce
ment. He did his thing with the Grateful Dead,
then with the Traveling Wilburys, and then
deviated from a string of embarrassingly
mediocre albums by successfully playing folk
archivist with two albums of acoustic versions
of traditional songs and ballads. Now. in the
same year in which he survived a potentially
fatal illness, comes Time Out of Mind and. like
the albums of original compositions that pre
ceded it during the last ten years or so. it too
has no over-arching theme or new definitive
statement to bestow on the public. The differ
ence this time is that this record is good, with
songs listeners will continue to care about.
Because of such a long career with so many
artistic high points, a new Dylan album this
good invites comparisons with earlier works of
note. But what makes this recording succeed is
not its return to a previous style The songs
seem new. with new themes, a new-found,
relaxed style and an emphasis on impeccable
musicianship. Maybe that's why it's called Time
Out of Mind for some time Dylan has been out
of our minds. But is also seems that the singer
who once proclaimed times a-changin' has now
put the times out of his mind In part, time is
something that exists independently of mind,
and the artist must go about creating without
regard for time or the times.
Here. then, is a new Bob Dylan record.
Instead of all the effort (check out the new
Newsweek, for example) to explain the work in
relation to 1997. just listen and settle into the
groove. This time, pay it no mind.
Survivor of the Highlands
s of Dylan’s new Time Out of Mind
And yet it certainly seems to be an impor
tant contribution to an often baffling and com
plicated career, and a new major Dylan work
behaves in the way T.S. Eliot described the
admission of a new item into the literary canon:
jostling the others about and creating a
rearrangement and reassessment of the relative
worth of the others.
It’s a new Dylan now: seemingly more
approachable, performing more, playing better
guitar (he was never bad at it), caring more
about the sound of his recordings. The constant
touring of the last several years has sharpened
his playing and interaction with other musi
cians. and he seems relaxed in ways he never
seemed to be before. He could often appear
flinty and ill-at-ease both in the studio and on
stage in the past. In these new songs. Dylan
achieves a directness, a kind of matter-of-fact
ness. that shies away from grandiose pro
nouncements but ends up being that mu :h
more effective because of the all-too-human
subject matter found in them.
There’s nothing all that earth-shaking here.
Rather. Dylan explores the regrets and disap
pointments of love, spiritual yearning, realiza
tions of mortality, and the acknowledgment of
aging. “Standing in the Doorway" is in the com
pany of songs like “To Ramona" or “Boots of
Spanish Leather." with its mood of ambivalence
over a doomed love affair to which there is still
some thought of returning. But. sings Dylan in
the album's opening number (“Love Sick"). “I'm
sick of love “ It's just too painful sometimes, but
the narrator is not tempted to end it all. He's
not going gentle into that good night. As he
sings in the brooding “Not Dark Yet," “I was
born here and I’ll die here against my will."
Death is certain, "the truly distinguished thing."
as Henry James observed at his own last
breath. “It’s not dark vet." goes Dylan’s refrain,
"but it's gettin' there."
Meanwhile there is plenty of good music to
enjoy. Producer Daniel Lanois makes this one of
the best-sounding Dylan albums ever Recorded
at Miami's Criteria Studios. Time Out of Mind
features fine Southern studio musicians lik**
Memphis session veteran Jim Dickinson and
organist Augie Meyers, whose Farfisa was once
the glory of Austin's Sir Douglas Quintet Blues
guitarist Duke Robillard lends a hand, but he in
no way overwhelms Dylan's own playing, which
has become much more confident of late. Tony
Gamier. Dylan’s bass player for many years,
anchors everything along with Jim Keltner (has
he played on more albums than anyone in the
history of the world ?) and other drummers.
These musicians find a groove on “Dirt Road
Blues" that recalls "Maggie's Farm." while Augie
Meyers' organ part has the flavor of "It Takes a
Lot to Laugh. It Takes a Train to Cry " Perhaps
not surprisingly for the guy who first "plugged
in" publicly with the Paul Butterfield Blues
Band. Dylan turns those assembled into a great
blues combo on several of these tunes, espe
cially “'Til I fell In Love With You." where
Dickinson's low-down Wurlitzer piano docs the
nasty with a droning pump-organ part he also
plays, all against a jittery “You Can’t Catch Me"
guitar riff.
But the loosest, most swinging sound comes
on the amazing “Highlands." the longest song
(at 16 1/2 minutes) Dylan has ever recorded. It's
practically a novella, and the title instantly
evokes Blonde On Blonde's “Sad-Eyed Lady of
the Lowlands." which was shockingly long in its
day. Unlike that and other epic-length Dylan
songs like “Desolation Row" or “Lily. Rosemary,
and the Jack of Hearts." “Highlands" displays an
attitude of gentle resignation and a fairly
bemused stance toward music, creativity, aging
and the clash of generations.
Mundane details of such preoccupations are
presented with uncharacteristic mention of
Dylan’s own contemporaries: “I'm listenin' to
Neil Young/ Gotta turn up the sound/
Someone's always yellin'/ ‘Turn it down!’"
Several stanzas are devoted to an uncom
fortable encounter in a mostly deserted restau
rant with odd conversational non sequtlurs
exchanged on a variety of topics, including
"women authors." The only name mentioned
for this category is “Erica Jong." a wry joke if
there ever was one. In this and other episodes,
an older man observes those much younger
than himself, like the carefree people in the
park "with the young women lookin' so good."
But Dylan also captures the random disor-
derliness ol everyday life “Crossing the street
to get away from a major dog/ Talking to myself
in a monologue/ I think what I need might be a
full-length leather coat/ Somebody just asked
me if I've registered to vote."
It's a vision of a life than can be agreeable
and alienating at the same time, in which often
times “everything looks far away." The song's
refrain says that the singer's “heart’s in the
highlands." which suggests both hope and
escape: "There's a way to get there/ And I'll fig
ure it out somehow/ Well I'm already there in
my mind/ And that's good enough for now.
For now. Time Out of Mind is more than good
enough.
Jim Winders
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