The upside of this aggravating conflict is that when Dylan fully hits his mark he captures the moment well enough to shake the listener to the depths of the soul. Today Dylan stands in the wake of many past failures and a number of dizzying achievements. Like an old man close to death or a devoted prophet exhausted from constant spiritual search, he has learned much and has little to lose from speaking his mind and heart. Though it may not last, these circumstances turn up strikingly favourable for the ageing bard's music. Time Out of Mind, his most recent album, is the work of a brilliant artist who has followed his muse into a creative wasteland, drifting too far from the world that initially inspired him.
Every note carries the weight of exhaustion and regret.
Apathy and loneliness are major themes. The only cause for celebration in the bleak world Dylan paints in dirge after dirge is the power his music still has to move, in the gifts that remain intact no matter how many opportunities are missed to cultivate them. Sensing the transparency of both his own myth and the reckless materialism of the world around, Dylan flirts with apocalyptic themes, ingeniously playing on the millennial hysteria that characterized the late nineties. But it's gettin' there. On the surface, Dylan would seem to be wallowing in apathy.