Bob Dylan has offered fans a trip in his wayback machine with the original version of “Not Dark Yet,” a recent sample from his latest bootleg release.
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The original version of “Not Dark Yet” – recorded on Jan. 11, 1997 at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida – features a sped-up arrangement, lifted by a swinging soul and slow grooving style. “Not Dark Yet” follows the previously released alternate version of “Love Sick,” which dropped when the bootleg collection was announced.
Titled Fragments – Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997), the 17th release in his long-running bootleg series focuses on his acclaimed thirtieth album, Time Out Of Mind, in celebration of the record’s 25th year. It was because of that record that Dylan swept the 1998 Grammy Awards, taking home Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Cold Irons Bound,” as well as Album of the Year.
The Fragments edition will see the 1997 album get remixed and expanded with an all-new version of the record. The collection will also feature unreleased recordings, like the songs “Dreamin’ of You,” “Red River Shore,” “Marchin’ To the City,” and “Mississippi,” along with other outtakes, demos, alternate versions, and live cuts.
“The album itself has been remixed to sound more like how the songs came across when the musicians originally played them in the room, without the effects and processing that [Daniel] Lanois applied later,” a portion of the collection’s liner notes, written by Steven Hyden, read.
“It’s not meant to replace the Time Out of Mind that won all of those Grammys a quarter-century ago; it’s a reimagining, an alternate view of a great work of art,” the notes continue. “If the original album remains mythic and enigmatic, this Time Out of Mind puts you in close proximity to the players.”
Set for release on January 27, the collection will be available physically in both a five-CD and 10-LP format.
Check out the original version of “Not Dark Yet” below.
Photo credit should read FRED TANNEAU/AFP/GettyImages
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