Dylan's Time Out of Mind remix is Stunning

@asctim

For myself I can’t think of any re-mixes that I whole heartedly prefer over older mixes.

Me neither.

Once the initial hullabaloo wears off I usually go back to the original mastering.

The recent Beach Boys Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys box set sounded promising initially but after a few plays it became obvious it would never replace the originals.

None of the Beatles remixes can replace the original mixes either.

The one true exception for me was Dylan’s own Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966.

Now that one is something every Dylan fan ought to check out.

As for the new Time Out of Mind, I just don’t find it to have any worthwhile difference for me to go and buy it again. I can easily imagine it remaining unplayed on my shelf for years and years if I did.

Others may disagree.

In his 2001 book Bob Dylan: Behind The Shades Revisited, well known Dylan scholar and author Clinton Heylin had this to say about the sound of Time Out Of Mind:

"Lanois produced perhaps the most artificial-sounding album in Dylan’s canon." He described the album as sounding "like a Lanois CV."

Stephen Earl Thomaswine (how’s THAT for a name? ;-) writes:

"Lanois bathes them (Dylan’s vocals) in hazy, ominous sounds, which may suit the spirit of the lyrics, but are often in opposition to Dylan’s performances." Bingo!

Michael Gray writes:

"Some tracks have Dylan so buried in echo that there is no hope of hearing the detailing in his voice that was once so central and diamond like a part of his genius."

I don’t know what Lanois had in mind, but he clearly got carried away, taking it too far.

I consider the sound of Time Out of Mind to be the best part of the album.  
Amazing depth, ambiance, sense of airiness/distance/physical space (the instruments/voices themselves, and the physical space they occupy together, whether in their room or in the ‘soundstage’ of my speakers), while still retaining clarity where there needs to be clarity.  
Not easy, and an impressive achievement I still find sonically remarkable.

@bdp24 

"I don’t know what Lanois had in mind, but he clearly got carried away, taking it too far"

+1

@tylermunns 

"I consider the sound of Time Out of Mind to be the best part of the album".  
 

And I consider the best parts to be the compositions and the musicianship.

It would appear we approach music-listening from profoundly different perspectives!