Monday, August 04, 2014

Time Out of Mind: the Lives of Bob Dylan review – an essential addition

The concluding part of Ian Bell's epic Dylan biography proves there was fascinating incident well beyond Blood on the Tracks

Still creative: latter-day Dylan.
Still creative: latter-day Dylan.

Time Out of Mind, the second volume of Ian Bell's ambitious two-part biography of Bob Dylan, picks up where Once Upon a Time left off – with the recording of Dylan's mid-70s masterpiece, Blood on the Tracks – and ends, some 500 pages later, with the release of 2012's critically acclaimed Tempest.

If the latter half of Dylan's career lacks the seismic cultural impact of its 60s counterpart, it is far from dull: Dylan is divorced; born again; alienates a large proportion of his audience with a trilogy of hardline Christian rock albums; suffers from such a severe case of writer's block that he seriously contemplates retirement/ joining the Grateful Dead; before reconnecting with his blues-folk roots in the early 90s and triggering a fresh burst of creativity that results in a series of remarkable albums as well as acclaimed subsidiary careers as memoirist, radio DJ and – to somewhat less acclaim – painter, all the while maintaining a punishing touring schedule.
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