Ovid’s poetry quotations and collaborations with Grateful Dead members, Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ has depths deserving of more attention. The Bob Dylan track would prove to be one of many ample songs from Together Through Life, a criminally underrated album from Dylan, with help from Robert Hunter. The late member of The Dead and Dylan had a chemistry which few can replicate, and it shows on songs like Beyond Here Lies Nothin’. It’s a staggering song which, like many albums from Dylan post-Love and Theft, has not received the public acclaim it deserves. This Hunter and Dylan collaboration offers a shot of career-best writing from both men. What lay beyond, either the road being travelled or after that last breath, is questioned by the duo. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ has a noir tone Dylan would take further with follow-up albums Tempest and Shadows in the Night.
Here is where that sound gets its start. Within the noir aesthetic are a few surprises. Instrumental choices from Dylan and the personnel lining the studio would linger closer to a blues-rock sound, a style that dominated a half-decade of studio works. It’s a sound Dylan would return to with Rough and Rowdy Ways, though with a slowed tone and convincing lookback on the ‘60s. That similarity comes from Dylan not looking back, but looking to adapt the sounds of his youth. It’s a choice he makes frequently in the twilight years, and it’s a sound which suits the raspier vocals Dylan now chooses to use. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ would not work had it been through the nasally folk days or the sudden shift heard on Nashville Skyline. It needs this weathered voice, the storm already passing, and the doubt found on the lyrics settling in brilliantly. That is what makes this Hunter and Dylan collaboration a thrill over a decade on from its release.
But the instrumental charm has its part to play, too. Where the lyrics and title confirm once more the depths of Dylan’s influences and cultural read, the guitar work and those percussion parts, the latter laying the foundation early on, provides a dose of early days blues. What Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ highlights though is an oddity of Dylan’s beliefs in music. He may have felt the spirit of Buddy Holly in the Time Out of Mind studio, but you can feel the haunt of his influences from early years, rock and roll performances here. Those days in Duluth when he was pushing off folk music in favour of his true love, the Elvis Presley and Otis Rush-inspired pieces. This is Dylan given the chance to perform in their style, but he naturally offers a fitting twist. Part of that is thanks to Hunter, another huge influence is the instrumental range.
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ highlights a forgotten form Dylan has kindled for the better part of two decades. Slick guitar work embeds itself deep in the mix, playing against the swinging percussion and lighter tone. Sun Records shines on Beyond Here Lies Nothin’, a piece that is moved by those early country recordings. Not just lyrically or instrumentally, but thematically. There is a soft, circling rage to this song. “Beyond what” is the question posed but never answered. Whether it is a damning write-off of the American Dream and the old way of living or a worry that there is little left for the future, it comes across as a blistering song all the same. Hunter and Dylan wrote plenty of those independently, and together, they craft a convincing, underrated affair.
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