The Time out of Mind

July 28, 2014
This final volume of Bell's two-part biography of Dylan picks up in 1975 with the release of his classic album Blood on the Tracks. Bell uses the divorce that inspired the record as a jumping off point into an exploration of why Dylan "is what he is." What Bell discovers is a man and artist who is constantly reinvents himself and his music. While the author meticulously records Dylan's religious awakening in the late 1970s and his poorly received albums of the '80s (including, as Bell notes, the "piece of crap" he would choose to call Knocked Out Loaded), his rebirth in the late '90s, and his metamorphosis into a "living historical project," Dylan keeps on moving just out of reach. However, by following Dylan's 25-year "unending pilgrimage" of worldwide touring, Bell has penned a fluid biography of a man and musician whose ongoing personal narrative is as intricate and unique as his epic songs.