Acoustic Magazine 104 Back Issue

I have great memories of listening to Bob Dylan’s music; from my late teens, through to university, and as recently as February this year when he released his 36th studio album Shadows In The Night.
It was probably his 1997 album – his 13th studio release – Time Out Of Mind that made Dylan the great Bob Dylan for me. As an artist who’d already reinvented himself many times over the years, Time Out Of Mind turned out to be Dylan’s greatest comeback. I still think that’s true. The album almost doesn’t make sense – ideas, musings, idiosyncrasies fly in from every direction – yet it somehow still feels like a cohesive masterpiece.
Just before the album’s release, Dylan was hospitalised with a heart condition and the album’s centerpiece, ‘Not Dark Yet’, retrospectively sounds like the reflections of a man knockin’ on heaven’s door, despite the song being written before he was taken ill. The record’s atmospheric sound – attributed to producer Daniel Lanois – still rattles around in my head whenever I think of ‘Not Dark Yet’. Dylan details the strategic microphone placement and mixing for this record in the first volume of his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One. Although he praises Lanois, he does express some dissatisfaction with the overall sound on Time Out Of Mind.
It’s fitting then, that Gibson has festooned him with two signature edition guitars: the Bob DylDylan Autographed SJ-200 Collector’s Edition (this retails at just over £7k) and the Bob Dylan SJ-200 Player’s Edition (this one is a little more moderately priced at £3,600). It’s the latter that you see on the cover of this issue and you can read our take on it over on page 44 – then pick up Playlist for a look at a different side of Bob Dylan.