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Time Out Of Mind (Album Of The Year)

After spending much of the '90s touring and simply not writing songs, Dylan returned in 1997 with Time Out of Mind, his first collection of new material in seven years. Where Under the Red Sky, his last collection of original compositions, had a casual, tossed-off feel, Time Out of Mind is carefully considered, from the densely detailed songs to the dark, atmospheric production. Sonically, the album is reminiscent of Oh Mercy, the last album Dylan recorded with producer Daniel Lanois, but Time Out of Mind has a grittier foundation -- by and large, the songs are bitter and resigned, and Dylan gives them appropriately anguished performances. Lanois bathes them in hazy, ominous sounds, which may suit the spirit of the lyrics, but are often in opposition to Dylan's performances. Consequently, the album loses a little of its emotional impact, yet the songs themselves are uniformly powerful, adding up to Dylan's best overall collection in years. It's a better, more affecting record than Oh Mercy, not only because the songs have a stronger emotional pull, but because Lanois hasn't sanded away all the grit. As a result, the songs retain their power, leaving Time Out of Mind as one of the rare latter-day Dylan albums that meets his high standards. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Bob Dylan's Grammy acceptance speech, February 25, 1998:

....And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him...and he looked at me.

And I just have some sort of feeling that he was --- I don't know how or why --- but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way. In the words of, you know, the immortal Robert Johnson, "the stuff we got'll bust your brains out", and we tried to get that across...

Bob Dylan performs "Love Sick" alongside stage-buster Michael "Soy Bomb" Portnoy at the 1998 Grammy Awards

Remember Soy Bomb ?

The term soy-bomb first made the headlines when performance artist Michael Portnoy was hired to stand in the background with other dancers and bob his head to the music while Bob Dylan performed "Love Sick" at the 1998 Grammy Awards. Halfway through the performance, Portnoy ripped off his shirt to reveal the words "Soy Bomb" emblazoned on his chest. Dylan tried to ignore the intruder and carried on until Portnoy was escorted from the stage. When questioned by reporters, the performance artist explained that 'Soy-Bomb' meant "a spontaneous explosion of the self to re-invigorate the currently bland music scene that exists."