“Before 1997’s “Time Out of Mind,” Bob Dylan had by his own admission been musically adrift for more than a decade. Maybe it was less about losing his muse than choosing the wrong material, based on the outtakes from that period on this robust collection. The “Oh Mercy” castoff “Born in Time” is a heartfelt love song with sympathetic Daniel Lanois production, while “32-20 Blues” is Dylan at his old-timey, front-porch best. The material from ‘97 on offers many surprises, particularly a dreamy alternate take on “Someday Baby” from “Modern Times” and the strident “Dreaming of You,” which wouldn’t have fit at all on “Time Out of Mind.” Less essential are the live cuts, which only reinforce how Dylan’s unpredictable phrasing and enunciation can render a song transcendent one moment (”Lonesome Day Blues,” which sounds sourced from a bootleg), then unrecognizable (”Things Have Changed”) or ordinary the next (”Cocaine Blues”). —Jonathan Cohen”
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