oh! that's great news!

Fuck. Lana Del Rey delayed to March 24th.

(Go ahead, Music Nazi.....)

I like the album cover

Nice! Not that I have any money. But still.

The new John Cale kicks fucking ass.

Oh man, I gotta get me some of that ass-kicking ASAP. Laurel Halo, Weyes Blood, Sylvan Esso, The Section Quartet - it's almost like I chose the collaborators. :)

Out today:

- Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments - TIME OUT OF MIND Sessions (1996-1997)

- New Order - Low-life ["definitive edition"]

- Mette Rasmussen/Paul Flaherty/Zach Rowden/Chris Corsano - Crying In Space

In the near future:

- Marshall Crenshaw - Marshall Crenshaw (40th Anniversary Expanded Edition) [February 17]

- Steve Gunn & David Moore - Reflections Vol. 1: Let The Moon Be A Planet [March 31]

- Tim Hecker - No Highs [April 7]

- Robyn Hitchcock - Life After Infinity [April 23]. His first all-instrumental album. If you've heard his vocal-less tracks on I Often Dream Of Trains and Eye, you know this is gonna be the shit.

YES!

He also did the soundtrack for Brandon Cronenberg's film Infinity Pool. Out today:

https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/63c...2bbf3907fa1443

It's funny how Dylan himself and many other fans diss Time Out Of Mind. Many say that the production is all wrong/muddled - as if Lanois didn't know wtf he was doing?? Yeah, sure. To my ears, it is a fantastic album. I think this new bootleg series tries to "correct" some things? I might get it, but I adore the original mix.

From the press release:

“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 Lanois applied later. 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. If the original album remains mythic and enigmatic, this Time Out of Mind puts you in close proximity to the players.”

I remember when Tom Waits’ Real Gone was remastered and as much as I dig it. The added clarity (not sure that’s the right term) is jarring and frankly the changes to “Hoist That Rag” are unforgivable. Sending the guitar solo to the background (if it’s even still there at all), to bring a trombone to the front? That was a horrible decision that frankly kind of ruins one of Waits’ best songs for me.

I’ll listen to the Time Out of Mind remaster but I too have no problem whatsoever with the original and I’ve never considered complaining about it.

Again: this is different; it's not a substitution.

Well, come on now....

It is a substitution.

Oh sure - they are saying nice things about the original. But the not-nice things are on record. This "new mix" is inspired by all of the things that they have said about Lanois' original production.

Granted, I may love this new mix/release.

No, it's not. I emphasize it especially because Severian mentioned the Waits Real Gone remaster, which does replace the previous version. (Incidentally, Severian, what you describe sounds more like a full-on remix than a remaster.) Here, they are not replacing the 1997 Time Out Of Mind; you can only get this "stripped-down" version if you get The Bootleg Series Vol. 17, capisce?

As for shit said about Lanois' production, yes, people have criticized it - even contemporary reviewers basically said the album succeeds in spite of the sonic swamp, not because of it. Others favorably described it as "a soundscape as surely as Maxinquaye". The whole sitch reminds me a bit of Raw Power's Bowie mix and the way many who hated it actually went back to it after Iggy submerged the album in a pool of digital distortion. But once more: in this case, there will be no need to "go back" to anything; both versions will remain available without painful eBay transactions, I wanna have both, and now send me some goddamn money to buy the boxed set.

I don’t care, my point is I like the original Time Out of Mind and I don’t really understand why anyone would complain about it.

Original Real Gone can never be replaced in my heart. But yeah they essentially replaced in lmao

On the topic of remixes, I loved the remix of In Utero. Some interesting new parts come through.

I'd pay so much for a remix and remaster of Pj Harvey's Dry

Eternal Dust. Secret Girl influence on the new song.

https://eternaldustband.bandcamp.com...efence-lawyers

I'm wearing out my Richard Dawson - The Ruby Cord CD. (Yeah, it was a late 2022 release, but early 2023 is when I got to devour it, you see?) I think this is my favourite of the Peasant-2020-Ruby Cord trilogy. A lot of fans are having some trouble on being confronted with a 41min song to start the album. By the third spin this somewhat freeform monster really began to take shape and make sense to me. It's a beautiful record.