Bob Dylan – Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 (Deluxe Edition) (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Bob Dylan – Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 (Deluxe Edition) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 06:13:12 minutes | 7,43 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The latest chapter in Columbia/Legacy’s highly acclaimed Bob Dylan Bootleg Series takes a fresh look at ‘Time Out of Mind’, Dylan’s mid-career masterpiece, celebrating the album and its enduring impact 25 years after its original release on September 30, 1997. ‘Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17’ follows the evolution of songs written for the album, from intimate early incarnations in the previously unreleased 1996 Teatro sessions featuring Dylan (vocals, guitar, and piano), Daniel Lanois (guitar and organ), Tony Garnier (bass) and Tony Mangurian (drums and percussion) through incandescent live renditions (also previously unreleased) showcasing Dylan and his touring ensemble channeling the songs on-stage from 1998-2001.

Comebacks are Bob Dylan’s thing. Call him irrelevant and he’ll summon his demons and write another masterpiece. In the 1990s, one of America’s greatest creative engines was drifting. The Don Was-produced Under The Red Sky, Dylan’s only collection of new songs in the decade, was met with a collective shrug. In 1995, there was the death of Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia—a “big brother” Dylan would call him in a eulogy he wrote for Rolling Stone. But starting in late 1996, Dylan began writing a record’s worth of tunes in his home state of Minnesota that, after an extended recording process in California and Florida, would become Time Out of Mind. Critics and fans who’d consigned him to the scrap heap once again were effusive in their astonishment: Maybe Bobby wasn’t done after all! Although the lyrics are often bitter and tinged with mortality, the love song melodies on Time Out of Mind are tender and his delivery often more pleading than angry or accusatory. The album also marked a return to writing and performing original materia, producing some of the best songs of his later career including “Make You Feel My Love,” “Love Sick” and “Tryin’ to Get To Heaven.”

As with most Dylan albums—even the masterworks—controversies immediately set in. The recording sessions were disorganized, cacophonous events, with conflicts between the artist and producer Daniel Lanois. Dylan disliked the sound of the final product, ending the partnership with Lanois after two albums. Deeper insight into the making of the album is now possible thanks to the five-disc Fragments volume of the always excellent Bootleg Series. More than just a collection of outtakes and live performances from that era, this set crucially includes a new 2022 mix by Michael H. Brauer that strips out much of Lanois’ trademark shimmering production and sonic luster, stripping them back to the kind of mix Dylan supposedly preferred.

The most obvious result of the remix is that it becomes even clearer that these melodies, mainstays in his live shows ever since, are truly among his best ever. The often-erratic swirl of instrumentation on the original album—three drummers and two pedal steel guitars playing at once—reorders itself and makes more sense. “Make You Feel My Love,” for example, becomes a very clean mix of vocals and the powerhouse keyboard duo of Augie Meyers and Jim Dickinson. Throughout the new mixes, Dylan’s vocals (always a matter of taste) become more prominent. For fans of the original album, the three discs of outtakes (one previously released) provide depth and insight and include the near classic “Red River Shore,” an unrequited love story unreleased until 2008, and early takes of “Mississippi” which appeared on his next album, Love and Theft. The disc of live performances of the Time Out of Mind material with a five-piece band is especially good, featuring remarkably clear sound and several knockout performances including a near-acoustic “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven” from Birmingham, England, an ardent, previously-released “Make You Feel My Love” from Los Angeles. and a roaring take from Buenos Aries of ” ‘Til I Fell in Love With You.” A deeper dive than most of the Bootleg series, Fragments embodies the idea of essential. – Robert Baird

Tracklist:

1-01. Bob Dylan – Love Sick (2022 Remix) (05:21)
1-02. Bob Dylan – Dirt Road Blues (2022 Remix) (03:34)
1-03. Bob Dylan – Standing in the Doorway (2022 Remix) (07:41)
1-04. Bob Dylan – Million Miles (2022 Remix) (05:51)
1-05. Bob Dylan – Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (2022 Remix) (05:22)
1-06. Bob Dylan – ‘Til I Fell in Love with You (2022 Remix) (05:15)
1-07. Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet (2022 Remix) (06:27)
1-08. Bob Dylan – Cold Irons Bound (2022 Remix) (07:14)
1-09. Bob Dylan – Make You Feel My Love (2022 Remix) (03:30)
1-10. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (2022 Remix) (05:45)
1-11. Bob Dylan – Highlands (2022 Remix) (16:31)
2-01. Bob Dylan – The Water Is Wide (05:41)
2-02. Bob Dylan – Dreamin’ of You (07:51)
2-03. Bob Dylan – Red River Shore (Version 1) (06:50)
2-04. Bob Dylan – Love Sick (Version 1) (05:12)
2-05. Bob Dylan – ‘Til I Fell in Love with You (Version 1) (02:57)
2-06. Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet (Version 1) (07:12)
2-07. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (Version 1) (04:51)
2-08. Bob Dylan – Dirt Road Blues (Version 1) (05:29)
2-09. Bob Dylan – Mississippi (Version 1) (06:03)
2-10. Bob Dylan – ‘Til I Fell in Love with You (Version 2) (03:54)
2-11. Bob Dylan – Standing in the Doorway (Version 1) (07:06)
2-12. Bob Dylan – Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (Version 1) (06:55)
2-13. Bob Dylan – Cold Irons Bound (06:07)
3-01. Bob Dylan – Love Sick (Version 2) (06:46)
3-02. Bob Dylan – Dirt Road Blues (Version 2) (04:17)
3-03. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (Version 2) (06:00)
3-04. Bob Dylan – Red River Shore (Version 2) (07:35)
3-05. Bob Dylan – Marchin’ to the City (04:33)
3-06. Bob Dylan – Make You Feel My Love (Take 1) (04:10)
3-07. Bob Dylan – Mississippi (Version 2) (05:12)
3-08. Bob Dylan – Standing in the Doorway (Version 2) (07:23)
3-09. Bob Dylan – ‘Til I Fell in Love with You (Version 3) (06:09)
3-10. Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet (Version 2) (05:29)
3-11. Bob Dylan – Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (Version 2) (05:07)
3-12. Bob Dylan – Highlands (14:06)
4-01. Bob Dylan – Love Sick (Live in Birmingham, England – June 24, 1998) (05:09)
4-02. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (Live in Nashville, Tennessee – February 6, 1999) (06:31)
4-03. Bob Dylan – Standing in the Doorway (Live in London, England – October 6, 2000) (08:16)
4-04. Bob Dylan – Million Miles (Live in Atlantic City, New Jersey – January 31, 1998) (05:46)
4-05. Bob Dylan – Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (Live in Birmingham, England – September 20, 2000) (05:42)
4-06. Bob Dylan – ‘Til I Fell in Love with You (Live in Buenos Aires, Argentina – April 5, 1998) (05:26)
4-07. Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet (Live in Sheffield, England – September 22, 2000) (06:14)
4-08. Bob Dylan – Cold Irons Bound (Live in Oslo, Norway – May 19, 2000) (06:28)
4-09. Bob Dylan – Make You Feel My Love (Live in Los Angeles, California – May 21, 1998) (04:07)
4-10. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (Live in Oslo, Norway – May 19, 2000) (04:50)
4-11. Bob Dylan – Mississippi (Live in Washington, D.C. – November 15, 2001) (05:43)
4-12. Bob Dylan – Highlands (Live in Newcastle, Australia – March 24, 2001) (10:10)
5-01. Bob Dylan – Dreamin’ of You (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions) (05:49)
5-02. Bob Dylan – Red River Shore (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 1) (07:33)
5-03. Bob Dylan – Red River Shore (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 2) (07:05)
5-04. Bob Dylan – Mississippi (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 1) (06:03)
5-05. Bob Dylan – Mississippi (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 3) (06:19)
5-06. Bob Dylan – Mississippi (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 2) (06:21)
5-07. Bob Dylan – Marchin’ to the City (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 1) (06:32)
5-08. Bob Dylan – Marchin’ to the City (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 2) (03:41)
5-09. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 1) (05:42)
5-10. Bob Dylan – Can’t Wait (Outtake from ‘Time Out Of Mind’ Sessions, Version 2) (07:26)
5-11. Bob Dylan – Cold Irons Bound (Live at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, 2004) (05:45)
5-12. Bob Dylan – Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (Live in London, England – October 5, 2000) (05:08)

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