Time Out of Mind

Oct 3, 2024 12:38 AM

Author:Ian Bell

Time Out of Mind

By the middle of the 1970s, Bob Dylan’s position as the pre-eminent artist of his generation was assured. The 1975 album Blood on the Tracks seemed to prove, finally, that an uncertain age had found its poet.

Perverse or driven, Dylan refused the role. By the decade’s end, the counter-culture’s poster child had embraced conservative, evangelical Christianity. Fans and critics alike were confused; many were aghast. Still the hits kept coming.

Then Dylan faltered. His instincts, formerly unerring, deserted him. In the 1980s, what had once appeared unthinkable came to pass: the ‘voice of a generation’ began to sound irrelevant, a tale told to grandchildren.

Yet in the autumn of 1997 something remarkable happened. Having failed to release a single new song in seven long years, Dylan put out the equivalent of two albums in a single package. He called it Time Out of Mind. So began the renaissance, artistic and personal, that culminated in 2012’s acclaimed Tempest.

In the concluding volume of his groundbreaking study, Ian Bell explores the unparalleled second act in a quintessentially American career. It is a tale of redemption, of an act of creative will against the odds, and of a writer who refused to fade away.

Time Out of Mind is the story of the latest, perhaps the last, of the many Bob Dylans. This one might yet turn out to have been the most important of them all.

Reviews

The best biography that rock has had . . . magisterial

—— Financial Times

Authoritative and comprehensive

—— Sunday Express

Unmissable

—— Mail on Sunday

Recommended . . . a huge treat for fans, and a superb introduction for anybody else who's ever wondered what all the fuss is about

—— Readers Digest

It is characteristic of Bell’s achievement that he delivers . . . a compelling account of the ways in which the musician, and popular taste, and the world itself have changed

—— The Scotsman

This book pays the best kind of homage. Never grovelling, never awestruck, always clear-sighted and discerning, and occasionally angry, Bell remains a fan. An alert, realistic and honest one'

—— The Herald

A rollicking rock'nroll story.

—— The Scotsman

Rod Stewart's fascinating autobiography is a colourful account of an extraordinary life

—— Hello!

He gives you, rather generously, a guided tour into not only his life but the life of a rock star

—— Different Scene

What we loved about this book is the feeling that you are having a personal conversation with Rod Stewart … highly recommended!

—— Hot Brands Cool Places

It’s a brisk romp of a read

—— Lynn Barber , The Sunday Times

The tone is droll, surprisingly self-deprecating for such an apparent narcissist, and full of deadpan humour. There are whole chapters here where every page made me laugh out loud, hilarious anecdotes as finely honed as anything in Keith Richards’ Life.

—— Uncut Magazine

an eminently readable and richly entertaining journey through Rod’s life...with a real sense of fun pervading...a rollicking read

—— Beat Magazine

wonderfully written...a page-turner

—— Pat Kenny

Ridiculously funny and astonishingly candid, Rod Stewart's memoir is the rock autobiography of the decade

—— Daily Mail

One of the most entertaining, revealing, captivating books of the year

—— Independent

It’s impossible not to warm to him in this account of booze, drugs and blondes…The tales of on-the-road bad behavior…leave nothing to the imagination…his painful admission of how ex-wife Rachel Hunter broke his heart reveal a man happy to wear his heart on his sleeve….And he wears it well…

—— Daily Mail

In Rod Stewart’s raucous, laddish autobiography….his attitude towards women in his life is frequently indefensible but otherwise it’s often laugh-out-load funny

—— Herald

Rod Stewart reveals all in a hilarious and, at times, moving book…A brilliant read—you’ll be hooked.

—— Best

[Rod] has warm good humour and a nice line in self-deprecation...He wears it well—and tells it even better.

—— Daily Mail

By some distance the most entertaining of last year’s...rock star memoirs.

—— Uncut Online

This book takes readers on an adventure, that is at times deeply moving, through the life of one of the UK's greatest singers.

—— Hello! online

Ruthlessly entertaining

—— telegraph.co.uk

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