Time Out of Mind

Dylan’s 1997 Time Out of Mind was his first collection of new material in some seven years, and the songs reflect his depression at the loss of his wife, Carolyn Dennis, through divorce. The songs are melancholy and resigned, but powerful.

Well into his 50s by this time, there’s a tinge of the dred of mortality in songs like “Not Dark Yet” and “Trying to Get to Heaven”. You can hear the depression in what many think is a simple love song like “Make You Feel My Love”. The young Dylan may be gone, but the crusty old Dylan we have here is just as disconcerting.

Time Out of Mind is one of Dylan’s best late-career collections.