Remembering When Bob Dylan Took Back Control of His Sound in 2001

Bob Dylan reemerged as a major artistic force in the second half of the 90s, earning the kind of critical praise he hadn’t heard in two decades. The resurgence began with the 1997 album Time Out Of Mind.

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But one person who wasn’t fawning all over that album was Dylan himself. That’s why he made a major change to his approach the next time he released an album four years later.

The Writer’s Block Era

When you’ve been releasing albums for more than 60 years, there will inevitably be stretches when the recorded output lags a bit from previous peaks. Bob Dylan has always managed to pull himself out of those swales and return stronger than ever.

Although Dylan’s work in the 80s still remains a hot topic of debate among critics, the truth is that most of his albums from that stretch, except Oh Mercy in 1989, received mixed notices at best. Under The Red Sky started off the 90s for Dylan with more of a whimper than a bang.

And then, no original material appeared for seven years. Dylan later admitted that he’d lost his touch for writing during this stretch. He concentrated on touring while also releasing a pair of well-regarded but little-heard albums of traditional folk and blues songs.

Comeback ‘Time’

When he returned with a new set of original songs in 1997, he was once again working with Daniel Lanois, who had been at the helm for Oh Mercy. The album Time Out Of Mind represented one of Dylan’s most successful comebacks, culminating in an Album of the Year win at the Grammys. While promoting the album, Dylan didn’t express any regrets about its creation. His tune would change in subsequent years.

Daniel Lanois represents perhaps the only producer with whom Dylan has worked in his career who left his undeniable footprint on Bob’s sound. He injected Oh Mercy with swampy vibes. Meanwhile, the songs on Time Out Of Mind emerge from a hazy fog, with Dylan often sounding like a disembodied voice beaming in from the afterlife.

Considering the plaudits he’d earned for those albums, you might think that Dylan would have been eager to work with Lanois again. Instead, he started expressing in interviews that the sound of Time Out Of Mind got away from him a bit.

‘Theft’ Thoughts

He bemoaned the fact that he hadn’t chosen all the musicians who played on the record. In addition, he stated that the rhythmic qualities that he wanted for the songs had largely been abandoned in the studio. Critical love aside, he wasn’t going to go down that same road with the next album that he made.

Dylan decided that he’d produce the record that he named “Love And Theft” when released in 2001 himself. And he chose the band with whom he’d been touring regularly to play the songs in the studio. Considering how much they’d played together, they had built up a shorthand that allowed them to record the album in less than two weeks.

Dylan and his cohorts located the rhythmic thrust that he felt had been missing from Time Out Of Mind. “Love And Theft” received reviews that were just as rapturous as its predecessor. And Dylan established a way of working that he’s mostly followed ever since.

Photo by Bernd Muller/Redferns