I wonder if your views of TOoM have changed in time. And if the subsequent release that de-Lenois's the original release has changed your mind. Thanks for sharing, maestro.
See what you make of the 2022 remix of Time Out of Mind. It sounds amazing to me. I liked Time Out of Mind especially Standing in the Doorway but I think the new version cleans up some production issues.
Good article, thanks for digging it up! Not really about the article itself, but I kept noticing you using the vertical bar sign -- "|" -- instead of the capital letter "I" when referring to yourself. For some reason I found this a little jarring and dehumanizing, but I'm assuming it probably came about via some kind of OCR misread, if you scanned a print copy of this into type. Anyway..
A while back, I downloaded something that had a bunch (if not all?) of those Blood On The Tracks outtakes, and yeah, I found them fascinating. Especially the various lyrical shifts in "Tangled Up In Blue," one of my alltime favorite songs of his -- it seems so odd to hear those verses scrambled up, given different points of view, different chronologies, than how he happened to sing them on the final album. I've read stuff about that, his approach to that song and how it differs in pretty much every recording of it. It's hard not to think of the final BOTT "official" version as the definitive, authoritative one, and the story arc in it seems to make sense to me, anyway, but after hearing all the other versions, it seems like it was probably just random that that particular arrangement of it was the one that made the final cut!
After reading Marcus’ book I just had to have a copy of “The Genuine Basement Tapes”. Found them (all 5 CDs) in some upstairs record store in downtown Manhattan.
I could offer a comment on almost every sentence of this wonderful essay, but I'll restrain myself to just a couple of observations. First, re: "Dylan makes absolutely no sense." In a favorite section of Dave Van Ronk's "The Mayor of McDougal Street" (assembled by Elijah Wald), Van Ronk excoriates Dylan for the title metaphor of "All Along the Watchtower" as "making no sense." Nothing is ALONG a watchtower, Dave insists.... Along (!) those lines, I remember wondering at the turn of the '90s if Dylan no longer made any sense even to himself. His voice was a raspy nub, and his live singing was unintelligible ("Masters of War," Grammys, 1991). Flipping through "Behind the Shades," it looked like even his own band found his musical intentions unintelligible. And then came an interview with the LA Times's Robert Hilburn in which he made total insightful sense, and "Good As I Been To You," which featured (IMO) great interpretations of old songs, and even fancy guitar picking (I had begun to wonder if he could even play guitar). Yes, he "missed" a lot of the chords, but as a jazz-guitar playing friend explained, "Yeah, but those grooves!" ... And then "Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3" (hey "Blind Willie McTell" is pretty damned good) and the rest of it...... OK, too much already, sorry. This essay was a Phoenix cover story? I don't remember it. Glad to have finally caught up with it. What's the date of publication? I'll look in the archives.
As for subpar lyrics, anytime I hear one of Bob’s that may not be up to snuff, I remind myself of that gawdowful song about man naming the animals. Ooof!
It’s amazing to think that nearly everything you mentioned here has been officially released. As a fan, it is wonderful to have high fidelity versions of all of this, but there is something about the hunt that we miss. I guarantee I have spent less time with the official boxes for the Basement Tapes or Blood on the Tracks than I did with the bootlegs I was able to track down from those same sessions 20 years ago. The entire exercise lacks that furtive urgency that made all of this seem more vital back then.
I wonder if your views of TOoM have changed in time. And if the subsequent release that de-Lenois's the original release has changed your mind. Thanks for sharing, maestro.
I have to confess my first impression back then has kept me from delving into it since - overdue for a fresh listen!
See what you make of the 2022 remix of Time Out of Mind. It sounds amazing to me. I liked Time Out of Mind especially Standing in the Doorway but I think the new version cleans up some production issues.
This sounds contrary - I guess it is! - but the production was something I liked about the record when it came out. It was the lyrics that stopped me.
LOVE the lyrics... but also I'm a ridiculous fan. NQB - never question Bob. Its silly but we all have our tastes! Loved the article!
Good article, thanks for digging it up! Not really about the article itself, but I kept noticing you using the vertical bar sign -- "|" -- instead of the capital letter "I" when referring to yourself. For some reason I found this a little jarring and dehumanizing, but I'm assuming it probably came about via some kind of OCR misread, if you scanned a print copy of this into type. Anyway..
A while back, I downloaded something that had a bunch (if not all?) of those Blood On The Tracks outtakes, and yeah, I found them fascinating. Especially the various lyrical shifts in "Tangled Up In Blue," one of my alltime favorite songs of his -- it seems so odd to hear those verses scrambled up, given different points of view, different chronologies, than how he happened to sing them on the final album. I've read stuff about that, his approach to that song and how it differs in pretty much every recording of it. It's hard not to think of the final BOTT "official" version as the definitive, authoritative one, and the story arc in it seems to make sense to me, anyway, but after hearing all the other versions, it seems like it was probably just random that that particular arrangement of it was the one that made the final cut!
Thank you for that proofreading catch! Fixing now…
After reading Marcus’ book I just had to have a copy of “The Genuine Basement Tapes”. Found them (all 5 CDs) in some upstairs record store in downtown Manhattan.
I could offer a comment on almost every sentence of this wonderful essay, but I'll restrain myself to just a couple of observations. First, re: "Dylan makes absolutely no sense." In a favorite section of Dave Van Ronk's "The Mayor of McDougal Street" (assembled by Elijah Wald), Van Ronk excoriates Dylan for the title metaphor of "All Along the Watchtower" as "making no sense." Nothing is ALONG a watchtower, Dave insists.... Along (!) those lines, I remember wondering at the turn of the '90s if Dylan no longer made any sense even to himself. His voice was a raspy nub, and his live singing was unintelligible ("Masters of War," Grammys, 1991). Flipping through "Behind the Shades," it looked like even his own band found his musical intentions unintelligible. And then came an interview with the LA Times's Robert Hilburn in which he made total insightful sense, and "Good As I Been To You," which featured (IMO) great interpretations of old songs, and even fancy guitar picking (I had begun to wonder if he could even play guitar). Yes, he "missed" a lot of the chords, but as a jazz-guitar playing friend explained, "Yeah, but those grooves!" ... And then "Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3" (hey "Blind Willie McTell" is pretty damned good) and the rest of it...... OK, too much already, sorry. This essay was a Phoenix cover story? I don't remember it. Glad to have finally caught up with it. What's the date of publication? I'll look in the archives.
March 27 1998! I think the only time I made the cover…?
Dang, I miss The Phoenix.
As for subpar lyrics, anytime I hear one of Bob’s that may not be up to snuff, I remind myself of that gawdowful song about man naming the animals. Ooof!
It’s amazing to think that nearly everything you mentioned here has been officially released. As a fan, it is wonderful to have high fidelity versions of all of this, but there is something about the hunt that we miss. I guarantee I have spent less time with the official boxes for the Basement Tapes or Blood on the Tracks than I did with the bootlegs I was able to track down from those same sessions 20 years ago. The entire exercise lacks that furtive urgency that made all of this seem more vital back then.
Wonderful, thank you for sharing.