Time Out of Mind, the second volume of Ian Bell's ambitious two-part biography of Bob Dylan, picks up where Once Upon a Time left off – with the recording of Dylan's mid-70s masterpiece, Blood on the Tracks – and ends, some 500 pages later, with the release of 2012's critically acclaimed Tempest.
If the latter half of Dylan's career lacks the seismic cultural impact of its 60s counterpart, it is far from dull: Dylan is divorced; born again; alienates a large proportion of his audience with a trilogy of hardline Christian rock albums; suffers from such a severe case of writer's block that he seriously contemplates retirement/ joining the Grateful Dead; before reconnecting with his blues-folk roots in the early 90s and triggering a fresh burst of creativity that results in a series of remarkable albums as well as acclaimed subsidiary careers as memoirist, radio DJ and – to somewhat less acclaim – painter, all the while maintaining a punishing touring schedule.
Inevitably for a career – and indeed a biography – of this length, there are longueurs. Thus it proves that reading about the creative and commercial slump Dylan experienced throughout much of the 80s is only marginally preferable to actually listening to the records themselves. But this is a minor quibble, and by eschewing scurrilous gossip for a more scholarly consideration of Dylan's place in American culture, Bell has produced an essential addition to the huge body of critical analysis that already exists around this unique individual.