The 1997 album Bob Dylan proudly nailed: “There isn’t any waste”
There aren’t too many artists who had the level of consistency that Bob Dylan had in the early part of his career, but what many people questioned was whether he’d be able to maintain this for the duration of his career.
He didn’t exactly release a single bad album in the 1960s, with some of these being considered to be among the greatest of the entire decade. Given that this accounts for nine consecutive albums of the highest quality, for him to end his hot streak with the self-sabotage act of Self Portrait in 1970 felt somewhat disappointing, but also an almost inevitable downturn in form that was bound to arrive at some point.
He’d only go and pick up where he left off after this misfire, though, returning to the dizzying heights of his golden period for a handful of exceptional albums in the first half of the 1970s. This was proof, if ever, that Dylan’s creativity was almost unwavering, and aside from one hiccup, he was virtually incapable of producing something that felt lacking in quality.
That being said, this couldn’t possibly last forever, and as Dylan entered the 1980s, a more long-term slump began to plague his output. He didn’t exactly slow down during this period, with his steadfast commitment to releasing albums on a regular basis continuing during this period, but he started releasing records that didn’t have anywhere near the same impact, and he found himself in the creative wilderness as a result.
Dylan wasn’t ever going to lose his place in music history, given just how much he’d offered with his artistry, but given how much of a fall from grace the 1980s seemed to be for him, many people wondered if he’d ever return to his former glories.
However, almost out of the blue, 1997 proved to be the year that Dylan would return to a level close to his peak with the release of Time Out of Mind, an album that was instantly touted as a late-career classic that was long overdue.
Reflecting on this triumphant return in a 2010 interview with Newsweek, Dylan proclaimed that there are some unusual characteristics to the record that made the creation of it dramatically different to anything he’d made before. “It is a spooky record,” he argued, “because I feel spooky. I don’t feel in tune with anything.”
He continued, caveating the success of the record by saying that it wasn’t quite on the same level as the likes of Highway 61 Revisited or Blonde on Blonde. “I don’t think it eclipses anything from my earlier period,” he argued. “But I think it might be shocking in its bluntness. There isn’t any waste. There’s no line that has to be there to get to another line. There’s no pointless playing with somebody’s brain. I think it’s going to reach the people it needs to reach, and the ones it doesn’t, maybe they’ll come along another day.”
Not many can say they’ve returned to form in such a triumphant way, and while it doesn’t rank as highly as some of his earlier masterpieces, it was at least a sign that not all was lost, and that he was certainly capable of returning to the top of his game despite a lengthy period of not being on form.
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