From the archives | Rising to the challenging test of 'Time'

Edna Gundersen
·2 min read
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This story originally published on Sept. 29, 1997. It is being republished as part of the commemoration of USA TODAY's 40th anniversary on Sept. 15, 2022.

American singer Bob Dylan performs in front of some 350,000 people during a rock concert attended by Pope John Paul II at Bologna late 27 September. The pope cited one of Dylan 's best known hit songs " Blowin ' in the Wind" when he told the crowd that Jesus held the answers to their queries about life.
American singer Bob Dylan performs in front of some 350,000 people during a rock concert attended by Pope John Paul II at Bologna late 27 September. The pope cited one of Dylan 's best known hit songs " Blowin ' in the Wind" when he told the crowd that Jesus held the answers to their queries about life.

On Bob Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" , everything is broken.

His first album of new material in seven years finds Dylan exploring mortality, heartbreak and isolation with blunt sincerity. His voice, clear and confident, is by turns nakedly vulnerable and eerily stern, hovering over a raw and spooky sonic landscape that entwines Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson and David Lynch.

Tangled up in blues, this haunting masterpiece rivals the peaks in Dylan's rich and varied catalog, attesting to the creative renaissance of an artist still bent on defying expectations and spurning trends.

The music's spontaneity, rough edges and earthy feel deliver an honest sound that's nearly extinct in current pop.

Eleven riveting and revealing songs dwell on aging, regret and the anguish of soured romance. Sentiments are stated with convincing candor that conjures the palpable presence of an unnamed woman who "destroyed me with a smile" and "took a part of me that I really miss."

The malevolent tone in "Love Sick" turns to weary hurt in the wistful, gospelized "Tryin' to Get to Heaven" and bleeding despair in the aching ballad "Not Dark Yet."

Bob Dylan is joined by other artists after a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden in this Oct. 17, 1992 file photo. Dylan was hospitalized with a potentially fatal chest infection that forced him to cancel a European tour, the singer s record label said Wednesday, May 28, 1997. Flanking Dylan onstage are Roger McGuinn, left, and Tom Petty.
Bob Dylan is joined by other artists after a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden in this Oct. 17, 1992 file photo. Dylan was hospitalized with a potentially fatal chest infection that forced him to cancel a European tour, the singer s record label said Wednesday, May 28, 1997. Flanking Dylan onstage are Roger McGuinn, left, and Tom Petty.

Yet hope seeps into the swamp rockabilly of "Dirt Road Blues" and bouncy piano boogie of "'Til I Fell in Love With You." And patches of wit brighten "Time's" desolate terrain: "Don't know if I saw you if I would kiss you or kill you," Dylan confesses in the woeful "Standing in the Doorway."

On "Highlands," an absorbing 161/2-minute talking-blues saga (featuring only a third of the first-draft lyrics), Dylan broods, "I wish someone would come and push back the clock for me." But for every somber verse, there's a cinematic detour or a startling observation; they're captivating reminders that Dylan's muse and imagination remain gloriously unbroken.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bob Dylan's 'Time Out of Mind' album explores mortality, heartbreak