Dylan's Time Out of Mind remix is Stunning

Actually, the original production’s overall sonic ambience is what drew me to the music in the first place. No issue w/the original recording at all ( Album Of The Year, c’mon). Too, much of the "ethereal" sound was instigated by Dylan himself. Lanois recalled in one interview how Dylan asked him if he could make the harmonica on one specific song sound "more electric". Lanois ended up using a Tube Screamer overdrive/distortion pedal (for the guitarists out there, you’ll recognize this very widely-used effects pedal (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lee Ritenour, Trey Anastasio, John Mayer and Gary Moore are/were among its users). Dylan liked the sound so much, he had Lanois use it on every song on the album. Add in the fact that the album's recording was started (and finished) in an old, circa 1940s Mexican porno cinema in Oxnard California that Lanois transformed into a studio, and.........there you go. Instant ambience.

So one could say the original production is closer to what Dylan heard in his head, and so...........is what HE really wanted us to hear.

@hartf36:

Yeah, I read about that recording of the harmonica too. But that was just a single, isolated incident. The TOOM recording sessions became very tension-filled, Dylan and Lanois butting heads throughout the making of the album. And Dylan has long let it be known he didn’t like the sound of the album.

You may note that Dylan didn’t want or ask for any of the previous Bootleg Series albums to be remixed. It was HE who instigated the remixes of the studio recordings in Volume 17, to create the sound he long wished the album had possessed (George Harrison did the same with his All Things Must Pass album, the sound of which he came to seriously dislike. I completely agree. Maybe it’s just the case of a musician’s view of recordings versus a fan/listener?). If Dylan liked the original, he would have left it as it was.

You should also note that since TOOM, Dylan has done all his own producing. "To Hell with ’em all. I’ll do it myself." ;-) I REALLY wish he’d have Buddy Miller produce him (Buddy has long served as Emmylou Harris' guitarist, harmony singer, and bandleader). For great production, listen to Buddy’s albums. And the album he produced for the duo with the unlikely name of War & Treaty. Absolutely fantastic!

This thread got me interested so I listened to older and newer mixes last night. For me the remix is at best a step sideways. Pretty good, not bad, I can't complain. But actually..

@hartf36 

"So one could say the original production is closer to what Dylan heard in his head, and so...........is what HE really wanted us to hear."

Yes-- the operative word being wanted --- past tense.

At the time, that's what he wanted... or at least, thought he wanted.

Clearly, he's changed his mind and presumably, it's the new mix that's more in line with what he "hears in his head".

I don't have a "pony" in this "race". I frankly don't care which mix Dylan prefers.

In this case, on my system, to my ears, I find the new mix conveys a much more palpable sense of being in the studio with the musicians, now that the "ambience" has been largely cleared away.  

This is subjective-- there will be a divergence of opinion. But if you are pre-judging the relative merits of the two mixes without having actually heard both-- if you are unwilling to let your ears be the judge-- that, I do not understand. 

@asctim 

Everyone hears differently and listens on different systems... all you can do is listen and see how it strikes you. Each to his/her own.