Expecting Rain

A few friends of mine talked about their disappointment of 'Love&theft' when it came out. I guess they were expecting more of a TOOM like album, dissing it like it lacked athmosphere, even comparing it to the album after 'oh mercy', with which i concur wasnt very good.It sounded pretty clean to my ears, direct, so to speak. I actually didn't like or dislike it. maybe i just needed to get used to it. Then i took the cd and played it in the car the following week. I really liked 'mississippi' and a few others at the beginning, but gradually warmed to all the songs. Then i began to really pay attention to the lyrics, and oh boy, what a revelation. There is so much poetry. Talk about scope! 'bye and bye' 'poor boy' 'floater' my favourites. Now i just think it's one of his best albums, musically and lyrically. It might not be a landmark album like TOOM, but i think it has an overall better quality, and it will stand the test of time.

I still don't understand what the fuss is about Time Out of Mind. And I certainly prefer Love and Theft.

TOOM is great. L&T is better

Two different vibes entirely but I listen to TOOM more than L&T.

the thing about TOOM that needs to be highlighted, is how badly dylan was perceived in the public and among many of his fans up until that point. WGW was divisive, and Oh mercy hardly made up for his eighties track record and his hit or miss performances which characterized the first half/third of the nineties. it was Dylan's return to form. and it seemed to be a personal album, perhaps the most since blood on the tracks. none of his subsequent releases have a lot of 'personal' content, imo.

lyrics and cadence on Love and Theft are a mark up, absolutely. i think mississippi was written at the time of TOOM...

I don't think I've played a single Dylan album more often over a longer period of time than Love and Theft. Not only the songs but the performances themselves are wonderfully alive and fresh, with a naturalness that TOOM or Modern Times don't have. Of the Dylan albums that came out during my adult life it's easily the best and most rewarding, as the writing just keeps on giving, continually opening new doors into new rooms. I've said before on this forum that one of the things which struck me was how the language sounded nothing like Bob Dylan, yet only Bob Dylan could have written it. I really don't care if he used some other sources to acheive that effect, he's aware that he's doing it right down to the title, and the result justifies his methods.

I guess I'd have to disagree about your comment that TOOM lacks a "naturalness".

I liken this album to Springsteen's Nebraska. Of all the albums Springsteen's cut, Nebraska has to be one that resonates with feeling and personal expression (although not autobiographical at all) than all of his more popular and aclaimed material. I think Nebraska is Springsteen's masterpiece.

TOOM has that same vibe - dark, telling and almost eerie; an album that is not unlike Nebraska in that same feeling. Know what I mean?

i agree - i find it as cohesive as JWH and BOOT, if anything maybe a bit repetitive.

I think I'm getting more at the production. L&T sounds like Bob Dylan singing, while TOOM uses lots of effects on the vocals (although the same applies to the music). I don't hate Lanois or the production on TOOM, but L&T gives me more of that expressive Dylan magic. I can see the Nebraska point on terms of mood though.

@ troubadour - Exactly.

I see TOOM as more expressive - that is because I consider it more about himself than L&T.

and double yes to smoke's second point. i was thinking strictly lyrics...
dylan's taking the reigns on production is a good thing. but really excited to see what happens on the next album...

Me, too! I can't wait!

You mentioned that Mississippi was written during TOOM. I didn't know that. Does he say much about when he writes his material? I don't think I really remember much about that.

i'd have to look up the source, but it was handed over to Sheryl Crow to record and perform before he ever put it down on love and theft i think...

i don't know how close together all of Time out of mind songs were written, but i think there is some discussion of it in Chronicles.

JWH harding was pretty much written and conceived and kept in private during all the basement tape sessions, i think i heard about that in a documentary....

I wonder if Bob records tunes he wrote a long time ago. If we've been listening to some old tunes he wrote long ago but that we may not know it.

this being quite subjective let me complement L&T on its sound which is quite rich. I like TOOM's sound well enough because Lanois is an interesting painter and he was aiming at something almost like mono. The difference for me is the lyric: the vast bitterness of the TOOM songs, long in gestation, seems to come from the gut. I admit the lyrics are not very surreal or Dylanesque but this is no fault considering the subject. L&T has several very long blues that lack punch, plus filler like "Floater" (appropriate title!) and the only tunes I really would listen to again after the front three are "Moonlight" and "Cry a While." That live "High Water" from bootleg series makes the original sound very flat to my ears. Long strings of lyrics barked in a monotonous Howlin' Wolf derived style and based novelistically on nothing lifelike aren't my idea of good listening (Wolf actually would sing shorter, pithier lyrics and vary his emphasis). Compare "Lonesome Day Blues" to Wolf's "Crying at Daybreak" if you want to hear this kind of thing done well.

my guess is that he's always writing and developing music. on the road, in between tours, etc. i don't think he necessarily creates songs for an album, but creates albums around his songs ... although perhaps L&T and Modern times are a departure from this approach...

nice picks on those highlights Henry! but in his defense, i don't think being paled by Howlin Wolf's shadow is a fair criticism. that's like saying the Appalachians aren't enjoyable because the Himalayans exist...

@ troub - Yeah, I'm sure he has to write.

I've read there's a lot of unreleased material on file. I just wonder if he's ever been preparing a record and included something he wrote a long time ago. Something he's reconsidered from years ago.

i think he's consciously planning his bootleg series these days....that's pretty much the process you're talking about right?

No, not a bootleg compilation. A new album.

Good topic. Can't contribute today but deserves a mini book worth of analysis.

The Mississippi outtakes on TTS are from the TOOM recording I think...

I'm a L&T man, although TOOM isn't far behind. The upbeat tracks on L&T just sound like a band absolutely rocking.... the blues rockers on TOOM never reach that level although the slower tracks may have the edge

Time Out Of Mind could have been an outstanding late entry into Dylan's pantheon, had the right songs and recordings thereof been used, and had the production been improved.

As it stands, the album is overlong and undercooked.

Yet still it beats "Love & Theft" into a cocked hat.

They're both cool.
At this particular moment, I don't think I like one better than the other.
They are both journeys through dark heat, and needless to say if I was allowed three albums on a desert island, I'd chose TOOM and "LAT" to listen to and HWY61 to play frisbee or sth.....