Dylan's Time Out of Mind remix is Stunning

You're welcome! 

@bdp24

Yeah, that’s one of my favorite tracks, too.

This mix is so much better, it’s hard to imagine why Dylan approved the original.

No doubt, he had his reasons at the time but we can all be thankful he changed his mind somewhere along the way.

I considered picking up the 2 CD version of the previous Bootleg Series release that includes "Infidels" but from what I could discern on Spotify, the heavily effected drum sound that I never cared for has been retained. I may still relent. All the songs from those sessions seem to be included and the combination of Taylor + Knopfler is hard to resist!

@rpeluso 

I'd be very interested to hear what you like about the original mix, if you care to elaborate. How does Daniel Lanois' esthetic contribute to your enjoyment?

With no other alternative, I appreciated what I was able to appreciate in the original mix but I always felt the production limited my enjoyment.  Having heard the remix, I have no interest in the original version but I am curious what you hear in it. 

@bdp24

Sonic "finger-painting", to my ears!

BTW, the notes accompanying the 2 cd Fragments set quote Dylan regarding the contrast between Lanois' approach to producing and Dylan’s own.

@cd318

"Sonic Muck" was the only phrase I could come up with to describe what I hear.

This is an esthetic response, not an engineering/technical assessment.

I wasn’t referring to the fidelity of the recording but to the "artistically murky" "sound painting" that resulted from Lanois’ manipulations of what was heard in the studio, pre-production

How else can I put it...?

OK, if what the musicians played was "clean water", then Lanois' manipulations turned it to "dirty water". It makes little difference to me how well he polished the "bottle" . It's still "dirty water" to me. 

@cd318 

Yes-- I'd agree it's subjective. Consider the varied reactions to Giles Martin's Beatles remasters! 

@bdp24 

Another one: what's that Blues lyric... "I'd rather drink muddy water and sleep in a hollow log than (fill in the blank) and be your dog"? Something like that...

@bdp24 

"... he needed them far more than they needed him". 

In terms of guitar playing, I'd readily agree but given the disparity of opinions regarding who wrote the songs, I don't know what to think. 

@curiousjim 

" I just put the new Time Out Of Mind in the Que.  Looking forward to hearing it"

I hope you enjoy it !  

@asctim 

Everyone hears differently and listens on different systems... all you can do is listen and see how it strikes you. Each to his/her own. 

@hartf36 

"So one could say the original production is closer to what Dylan heard in his head, and so...........is what HE really wanted us to hear."

Yes-- the operative word being wanted --- past tense.

At the time, that's what he wanted... or at least, thought he wanted.

Clearly, he's changed his mind and presumably, it's the new mix that's more in line with what he "hears in his head".

I don't have a "pony" in this "race". I frankly don't care which mix Dylan prefers.

In this case, on my system, to my ears, I find the new mix conveys a much more palpable sense of being in the studio with the musicians, now that the "ambience" has been largely cleared away.  

This is subjective-- there will be a divergence of opinion. But if you are pre-judging the relative merits of the two mixes without having actually heard both-- if you are unwilling to let your ears be the judge-- that, I do not understand. 

@asctim

"Either way it's a great album".

Agreed!  

@bdp24 

"I don’t know what Lanois had in mind, but he clearly got carried away, taking it too far"

+1

@tylermunns 

"I consider the sound of Time Out of Mind to be the best part of the album".  
 

And I consider the best parts to be the compositions and the musicianship.

It would appear we approach music-listening from profoundly different perspectives!

@jollytinker

"It’s a work of art (no?) about aging and losing touch. About existential darkness creeping in as you get closer to some reckoning".

I can’t argue with the above. But for me, the power lies in the lyrics, song structures and the musicianship. This is what makes Dylan a master singer/songwriter!

As to whether Dylan was happy at first and then changed his mind, I can’t say. Nor can any of us know definitively whether the live performance of these tunes you witnessed was an accurate duplication of how the music sounded in the studio before any processing. Let’s say you’re right on both counts. That doesn’t change what I hear and how it strikes me. As the saying goes. "There's no accounting for taste".