Time Out Of Mind - Bob Dylan

I bought this album, Time Out Of Mind, not long after it came out. Oh I see it was 1997, time flies! I cannot remember what possessed me to buy it, I have never been much of a Bob Dylan fan in the past. I made the seemingly obligatory purchase of Highway 61 Revisited at one point but for whatever reason he just never really spoke to me. Heresy to many, I know. I even recall a roommate in college going to see the man play not long after his heart ...
...he clearly spent so much time creating himself as an artist. He unquestionably has staying power, and is unafraid to risk losing his core audience as evidenced in his early dramatic rejection of folk. One of the most hilarious things I have seen in recent memory was in that folk documentary, where the memory of Dylan's infamous act, plugging in his electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, actually still brought tears to the eyes of a committed ... more

I bought this album, Time Out Of Mind, not long after it came out. Oh I see it was 1997, time flies! I cannot remember what possessed me to buy it, I have never been much of a Bob Dylan fan in the past. I made the seemingly obligatory purchase of Highway 61 Revisited at one point but for whatever reason he just never really spoke to me. Heresy to many, I know. I even recall a roommate in college going to see the man play not long after his heart attack and thinking "I really should see him, just to have seen him", but I just couldn't be bothered, lazy oaf that I am.

So I'm clearly not a reliable judge of the man's vast accomplishments. I watched a BBC documentary about folk music awhile back and Dylan's story is unquestionably intriguing. The former Robert Zimmerman really is a self-made creation. His roots were a combination of folk icon Woody Guthrie and traditional British folk music. I've always thought he was a bit overly precious about his mystique when he clearly spent so much time creating himself as an artist. He unquestionably has staying power, and is unafraid to risk losing his core audience as evidenced in his early dramatic rejection of folk. One of the most hilarious things I have seen in recent memory was in that folk documentary, where the memory of Dylan's infamous act, plugging in his electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, actually still brought tears to the eyes of a committed old folkie, recalling Pete Seeger being physically restrained, purportedly demanding an axe to cut the electricity. I couldn't help but laugh, Dylan himself is interviewed and says something like "I don't get what the big deal was" about it, and yet his impact is still so huge on others so many years later.

At any rate, this album is really pretty amazing and holds a strong place in my collection. It is a blues record, not a genre I am overly familiar with. I remember when Eric Clapton was doing his blues phase (or is he still in it?), I thought what a load of affected rubbish (apologies to any Clapton fans!). And yet something I read somewhere must have convinced me to buy this, Dylan's own foray into the blues. And as luck would have it I bought it at what is traditionally the best time to buy a blues record, after a bit of heartbreak. At that particular moment I was truly in the depths of self-pitying, woefully complete despair. I was incapable of much lucid thought at all. I sat around in my room a lot playing music. Mainly I played this record over and over again. Nothing else came close to my misery. Gin and tonics all around!

There is something incredibly soothing about music that truly wallows in misery, that refuses to offer hope or absolution at the end. When you are completely and utterly unhappy, "It's gonna be alright" just doesn't cut it when you know fine it's not and never will be again. There is a time for hope, yes, but you can't force it in the midst of heartbreak or other despair.

"I'm sick of love but I'm in the thick of it
This kind of love, I'm so sick of it."

The opening track, "Lovesick" is angry blues ranting at its best. It starts things off nicely. A droning organ and electric guitar back up the vocal, which is the most important lament and grabs your attention immediately. It seems honest and profound in its pure, dejected bitterness. It is joyfully miserable.

The lyrics unquestionably pay homage to traditional blues songs, with familiar themes running through; dirt roads, trains, nature's elements, abandonment, it all has a definite rural dustiness to it. And yet Dylan's songwriting elevates them to sound as though he was the first man ever to have the blues.

Unquestionably the saddest track, and for a long time my favourite, is "Standing In The Doorway". It combines blues-y organ with startling imagery in its lyrics:

"I can hear the church bells ringing in the yard, I wonder who they're ringing for. I know I can't win, but my heart just won't give in. Last night I danced with a stranger but she just reminded me you were the one. You left me standing in the doorway crying in the dark land of the sun."

It is hard to describe the pain in his voice on this one but it is so tangible, I can hardly even listen to it now without getting a wee tear in my eye. It's definitely not cheerer upper music. And at eight minutes long you've time to down a large one to help drown your sorrows further!

The album as a whole veers back and forth between the sad, slow blues and the disgruntled, driving blues, which is admittedly a bit more fun. Some of his rants are actually quite funny in their bleak, grudging way. Some of his rhyming is whimsical, in a nod to traditional blues I presume. Again speaking out of my depths here but from what little I know of the blues the importance of consistent rhyming/keeping up a rhythm seems something Dylan went out of his way to uphold on this album. He is also startling successful much of the time at coming up with beautiful/striking imagery - as in:

The light in this place is so bad
Makin' me sick in the head
All the laughter is just makin' me sad
The stars have turned cherry red.

At other times the rhymes are more obvious but still very effective in carrying the mood of the song (again consistent with traditional blues), and in a few instances perhaps intentionally funny? I would have to think yes - for instance, in one song he rhymes "white shiny legs" with "hard-boiled eggs". Maybe I read too much into it but some of it seems quite surreal. That said, it still comes across as having a basis in some organic emotional experience:

"I ain't lookin for nothin in anyone's eyes. Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear. It's not dark yet, But it's getting there"

Dylan's voice is far less nasally on this album than I am accustomed to, he attempts to sing "properly", which I quite like. He sounds more vulnerable in this guise, and is incredibly powerful at conveying emotions with each raspy inflection. I am sure it's something I just never noticed before, but the ability to tell a story in song is something he owns completely on this album. He is by turns wounded, irate, resigned, tender - you name it, he carries it clearly in his voice. I really do forget at times that I am listening to music, if that makes any sense at all. It just transports you to a different place, you're not aware of the music "trying" to be something, it just feels authentically distilled. Not having much comprehension of the man's body of work I don't know if this is a common experience.

The instrumentation includes largely subdued electric guitar, not to downplay that it is very affecting and has some lovely guitar solos, as well as driving bass and organ, and Dylan's trademark harmonica. Some of the more uptempo songs are more complex but largely the focus is on the lyric throughout. Storytelling is the most important thing here, although it is of course enhanced by the mournful organ and sloping slide guitar .

Oddly enough I turned on the television today to see Bryan Ferry of all people covering a ballad from this album, "Make You Feel My Love". It is unquestionably the most sweet and least bitter of the songs. I quite like Ferry, and am curious to hear his album re-working songs of Dylan -somewhat unrelated note, sorry!

In summary, this is a great album if you like traditional blues music, or maybe even if you don't. I myself was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. It's pretty diverse as far as it can be, there are many different styles/tempos within the album. That might be its only detraction for me. I could have happily sat and listened to the pained ballads for an entire album - then again, that may not have been healthy for some frames of mind! I find it quite a comforting album, like an old, tatty blanket. It's a bit rough 'round the edges, it's tarnished and dusty, it feels honest. It actually makes me kind of happy now, is it possible to feel sorrow and happiness at once? Well yes, I think so, it's what Dylan does best here. Without great joy the depths of sorrow would not be so profound, and he turns it into a beautiful and poetic exploration of life's ups and downs.

 

...less