It’s About ‘Time’ : The Nominees: Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan duel for album of the year. Babyface again leads the tally, followed by Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs and Paula Cole.

In a matchup that would have been more expected 30 years ago, ‘60s pop music legends Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney will vie for album of the year in the 40th annual Grammy competition.

Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind” and McCartney’s “Flaming Pie” were among the nominees in 92 categories announced Tuesday by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

Though Dylan was one of the performers on the 1972 best album winner, “The Concert for Bangla Desh,” he never received a best album nomination for his own groundbreaking work.

McCartney, who has won 13 Grammys, picked up a best album statuette for the Beatles’ 1967 classic, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

Dylan’s son, Jakob, equaled his father with three nominations, including two for songwriting and one for work with his band, the Wallflowers.

(The Dylans were nominated in separate categories. Meanwhile, Julio Iglesias and son Enrique are pitted against each other for best Latin pop performance.)

Leading the way with eight nominations is Babyface, the writer-producer-performer who has been called the Quincy Jones of the ‘90s. Babyface won three awards last year after picking up a record-equaling 12 nominations.

Singer-songwriter Paula Cole and CEO-turned-performer Sean “Puffy” Combs, who performs under the name Puff Daddy, were next, with seven nominations each. Cole is nominated in all four of the major categories--best album, single record, song and new artist.

Cole’s “This Fire” and Babyface’s “The Day” are joined in the best album competition by the Dylan and McCartney collections and the English rock band Radiohead’s “OK Computer.”

In the single record of the year competition, Cole’s “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” is vying with Shawn Colvin’s “Sunny Came Home,” Sheryl Crow’s “Everyday Is a Winding Road,” Hanson’s “MMMBop” and R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly.”

Written by Cole, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” is also up for best song. The others: “Sunny Came Home,” written by Colvin and John Leventhal; “I Believe I Can Fly,” written by Kelly; “Don’t Speak,” a collaboration by siblings Eric and Gwen Stefani and a hit for Gwen’s band, No Doubt; and “How Do I Live,” penned by Diane Warren and a hit, separately, for country singers LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood.

Cole, Hanson and Puff Daddy are joined in the best new artist competition by Fiona Apple and Erykah Badu.

The awards, determined by the 9,000 members of the recording academy, will be presented Feb. 25 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in ceremonies televised by CBS. The eligibility period was from Oct. 1, 1996, to Sept. 30, 1997.

Among the noticeably absent will be the Spice Girls, whose “Spice” was the biggest-selling album of 1997 but failed to generate any Grammy nominations.

The year’s top-selling single, Elton John’s charity “Candle in the Wind 1997,” was shut out of the best record competition but earned the singer a nod for best male pop vocal performance.

Among the other nominees: former President Jimmy Carter and Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster, separately nominated for a best spoken word Grammy after Hillary Rodham Clinton won the award last year; the late John Denver, who was nominated for best musical album for children; and slain rapper the Notorious B.I.G., who picked up three nominations.