Comments for Dylan, Bob, Time Out Of Mind

How many comebacks does this make? Bob Dylan has released a remarkable and important album in 1997. Some people may disagree with me, but I think that from song to song this is as strong an album as Dylan's classic works of the sixties and Blood on the Tracks. I'm not saying it is better, but every song has a lyric or a vibe that affects you in some way. It certainly is unlike any other Dylan album we've ever heard, and that is a good thing. Personally, I think Bob Dylan and Daniel Lanois have come up with an album that defies categorization, which is what Dylan's best music has always done.

This is a terriffic album. Everytime you think he's finished studiowise a-la "Under The Red Sky", we get something like this. Let's just hope it doesn't take another 7 years to come up with another batch of original songs like this................Avoid Highlands? I'm going to play it again. Everything this man ever did over 10 minutes long is a classic.

Waited way too long for this. I think I've worn out Not Dark Yet. "Haunting" is definitely the word.

This is the best album since Blood On Tracks. Every Song on here is awesome, and the lyrics(like most dylan albums) are excellent. A must for the avid Dylan fan.

My wife came up to my office where i was building a website and asked me how the album was....err, after i cleared the lump in my throat, i told her... Bloody great album.... anyone got the tabs for this so i can play it? Jay in London

Cold Irons Bound!

a journey through the ten levels of hell by an ancient prohet who longs for the heaven he knows must exist. like all true wisdom it provides no real answers, only offers the essential questions. prooves that the most spiritual man is also the most human.

It''s become a cliche to say that Time Out of Mind is a haunting record but it''s absolutely true. It is also Dylan''s darkest, saddest album. To the extent that it may be autobiographical, one can only wonder what went wrong to find Dylan sounding so lost, lonely, sad, disheartened, nearly despairing. It is one of his more accessable records, and it IS painful to really listen to the singer/narrator walking, walking, crawling, bleeding, walking some more, crying, having lost everything but realizing he can always lose a little more, with a soul that has turned into steel, unable to even hear a murmur of a prayer. It is, however, one powerful record for the honesty of the emotion conveyed, the raw quality of the vocals which match perfectly yje painful tales told without artifice or embroidery. It is a very bluesy record and the playing is superb. It probably is the best Dylan album in 20 years, the best since Desire. "To Make You Feel My Love" sounds like a rough take, an unpolished demo but it is a very fine song. "Not Dark Yet" is a lovely, sad melody but it is a bit too defeated sounding for me. The real gem on the album is "Trying to Get to Heaven" which just about breaks my heart every time I hear it. Some of the verses are a enigmatic: what happened in Missouri? Why was he riding in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane? and sleeping in the parlor? But there is no mistaking the heartrending hope against hope for deliverance, for salvation. It is one of Dylan''s greatest songs, I believe, ever. There seems to be a real identifying with the plight of African-American slaves throughout this album. That''s what I hear. Maybe it''s just a chronicle of an enslaved spirit. Maybe Dylan means it as a metaphor for an enslaved society. I don''t know, but it touches that place where "martyrs weep and angels play with sin" and it longs to go beyond that to place of real rest. A powerful album!

A superb album. There`s a unity of sound here that Oh Mercy was lacking. This is ragged electric blues. The lyrics are deceptively simple--really quite poetic when they come together, too. The standout tracks are Dirt Road Blues, Tryin` To Get To Heaven, and To Make You Feel My Love. If you were always irked by the length of Desolation Row and Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, then avoid Highlands--it`s 16.5 minutes long! Bring it on home, Bobby. A haunting record.