Compare The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17: Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions 1996-1997

The key to lies in how the new remix of the 1997 album is described in the box set's promotional material. This new version is supposed to sound "more like how the songs came across when the musicians originally played them in the room," a sideways swipe at the noir patina of ' production that also reveals how spent these years chasing a muse he couldn't quite catch. documents how he kept playing and playing these 11 songs, sometimes tweaking the arrangements, sometimes changing his execution, but usually searching for a performance that captured precisely the right vibe. Given that revived 's career, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year as it opened up a third act for the troubadour, it would seem that the singer/songwriter accomplished his goal with the finished record, yet the murkiness of the album nagged at . This new mix strips all that mud away, leaving an album that sounds like a precursor to and : a road-weathered band whiling away the hours at a haunted juke joint. The rest of consists of alternate takes and live cuts where keeps hammering away at these songs, occasionally taking a stab at a tune that didn't make the album, such as the previously unreleased ballad "The Water Is Wide," but usually trying to find the right feel. This repetition is accentuated by the recycling of a disc of alternate takes and live versions from this era previously released on : it's a lot of samey-sounding material to wade through just to find a slightly different version of "Mississippi." While the remix is instructive, offering insight into 's intentions and making seem less like an outlier in his discography, this set is ultimately for the hardcore heads, who don't mind hearing minute variations on familiar themes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine