Absent from Bob Dylan’s concerts for seven years, “Not Dark Yet” made its return on October 27 in Düsseldorf, Germany, in a completely reinvented version: two minutes shorter than the 1997 studio recording, tinged with reggae and significantly less dark. On his European tour Lights of Autumnthe singer revisits several titles from Time Out of Mindan album whose arrangements, signed Daniel Lanois, never fully satisfied him.
Tuesday, October 27, at the Mitsubishi Electric Hall in Düsseldorf, Germany, Bob Dylan released “Not Dark Yet,” a classic from Time Out of Mindfor the first time in seven years. It was the sixth date of Lights of Autumnhis fall European tour, during which he continues to reserve surprises, big and small, at each concert.
This version was nothing like the 191 performances Dylan had given of the song on stage over the past three decades. At barely four and a half minutes, it lasted two minutes less than the 1997 studio recording, without the singer having deleted a single verse. Above all, he gave it a slight reggae color, largely ridding it of the gravity which nevertheless defines the song. Words as dark as those where the narrator sometimes says he is crushed by the weight of his existence, or admits to standing still despite appearances, suddenly took on strangely luminous, almost optimistic accents.
Dylan definitely seems to have Time Out of Mind in mind: at recent concerts he also presented new arrangements of “Trying to Get to Heaven” and “Million Miles”. Hailed by critics, the album opened a new era in his career and earned him the Grammy Award for album of the year. However, the singer was never fully satisfied with the arrangements that producer Daniel Lanois had given to these songs.
In 2001, Dylan entrusted Mikal Gilmore, WECBabout this album:
“It went off the rails quite a few times, and people ended up getting frustrated. I was so frustrated in the studio that I didn’t really give the songs their full dimension. I could have, if I had had the will. I didn’t do it at the time, that’s all. So we have to steer the boat where things want to go by themselves. I feel like the rhythms were all the same. It was more of that swampy, voodoo thing that Lanois does so well. I just wish I had managed to put a more authentic sense of rhythm into it… It wasn’t easy trying to steer this ship. »
Dylan himself has been at the helm for almost thirty years: ever since Time Out of Mindhe produces his records under the pseudonym Jack Frost. He also returned to the songs from this album with the box set The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997)released in 2023. This notably includes a new mix of the album, produced by Michael H. Brauer, which erases a large part of this “swampy thing, voodoo” specific to Lanois and which Dylan appreciated so little.
“What we wanted was to find another way to approach Time Out of Mind, to put it in context”had explained to WECB a source close to Dylan’s entourage. “We also wanted it to sound more natural, less reworked. »
Only song of Time Out of Mind that Dylan never performed in concert: “Dirt Road Blues”. If he really wanted to amaze his fans during this European tour, this is the one he should take out of his boxes. A return of “Highlands”, never performed again since 2001, would also be a considerable event, even if it is hard to imagine.
In the meantime, we would gladly be content to hear again “Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)” and its cover of “Louisiana 1927”, by Randy Newman. Both songs were on the program for the tour’s opening concert in Oslo, Norway, and have not been performed since. They still have plenty of time to come back: the tour will only end on December 8, at the Royal Festival Hall in London, where Dylan has not performed since 1964.
Also read: Bob Dylan covers Randy Newman and unveils a new guitarist in Oslo
By Andy Greene
