Chronicles: Volume One (Chronicles) by Bob Dylan
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Book Reviews of Chronicles: Volume One (Chronicles)
Book Review: the truth...but what is truth?
Summary: 5 Stars
`Chronicles' covers the notional formative years of the Bob Dylan from birth through the string of incredible albums that re-defined folk and protest music. He has been called everything from Judas to Jesus. An intensely private person about himself and his family, he is as little known as a person as anyone of whom I can think. His interviews - take the one with the journalist in `Don't Look Back' as a case in point - seem to be more of an act of deliberate dis-information. He also exhibits consummately contrarian reactions to what his fan base want and expect him to do.
So, when I received a copy of this book, I was curious as to what I would be reading. This sense of trepidation was not helped by what seemed to be - for me, at least, a rough beginning. The writing style seemed disjointed, at time almost somnambulant; at other times a textual muttering from the sort of person you didn't wanted seated next to you on mass transit. After a while, I realized how wrong I was.
If you choose to believe the story is factual - and I do - then it is the ultimate detailed, technical and brutally candid description of how Bob Zimmerman engineered - with deliberate planning - the invention of Bob Dylan. And this is not to say that talent was not there. It was, and in great abundance. What was not there was naivety.
If you choose to believe the story is fictional, then it is brilliant writing, again the result of talent and a lack of naivety.
Book Review: I Was Wrong
Summary: 4 Stars
From his autobiography, it appears that I was really wrong about my conception of Bob Dylan. He wasn't a "protest singer" or "leader of progressive causes and disaffected youth", but rather a father, husband, well-read intellectual and musician. It's interesting to get Dylan's take on such golden oldies as Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison. His book is also peppered with references to many people with whom I'm unfamiliar, but this didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this candid autobiographyBook Review: Not like Writing Lyrics
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very enjoyable and most importantly, readable book. Who would have thought Dylan could write so well, be such a good story teller in straight forward language? After spending years listening to his lyrics I have to admit that I was surprised by how well this is written. Surely songwriting and penning an autobiography are very different arts, but Dylan does it. Apparently sans the ghost writer.
This book is full of the early years in NY, sleeping in other peoples places, working his way into the in-crowd, meeting his hero, Woody Guthrie. Be sure to pick up this gem as well! Bound for Glory (Penguin Modern Classics) Great stuff. He does get a little off-track with the making of a particular LP, "Oh Mercy" but works his way back round to the before time.
Was he really asked to join Peter, Paul and Mary?
We got a look at girlfriend Suzy that appeared on an album cover, very interesting.
And between the lines you can sense the pressure of being the spokesman for a generation.
Book Review: Not a Tell-All But Definitely a Work of Art
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're not very familiar with Bob Dylan and want to learn more about the man this is really not the book for you. I suggest you read Clinton Heylin's tome, "Behind The Shades, Take 2" which compiles just about every known fact about Dylan from the people who have known him - an excellent book in every way. Chronicles is a different animal. I think you are more likely to appreciate it if you are a fan of Dylan's work. I'm in the process of going through it for the second time and have realized that I am enjoying it more after I have cast aside all notions of what I want the book to be. WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT: 1. It's not a tell all biography. You won't find out much information that's not out there already. There are no intimate revelations of Bob's love affairs or anything sensational. 2. It doesn't cover Bob's whole career, just 3 brief periods. 3. It's not necessarily all true. Dylan often paints himself in the best light, as a normal guy. I have my doubts. 40 years of unabated idolatry will screw anyone up to some extent. You'll read about the pressure he's under, but don't expect specific revelations about a dysfunctional Dylan. WHAT THE BOOK IS: A fascinating discourse on specific times in Bob's life. I don't know why it was such a surprise to me but Bob is a great writer. Whatever percentage is BS I don't care; I enjoy it anyway. He has an amazing attention to detail and I was able to lose myself in descriptions of places and situations. Plus he does reveal his thoughts on songwriting and many things. When I stopped hoping for him to discuss something specific I was able to sit back and enjoy whatever he gave me. Again I shouldn't be surprised; it's always been that way with his music also. I hope he does continue this series and give us another book or two, whatever he chooses to write about. I will surely go along for the ride.Book Review: Smoke gets in your eyes
Summary: 5 Stars
Bob Dylan takes his prodigious talents for language and turns out one of the most remarkably honest rambles of raggle-taggle prose since Jack Kerouac. From the first few pages, describing an ambitious but reserved young man whose future role had not yet been defined, I was willing led down memory alley. The artistic subworlds of New York, with its hanger-onners and would-bes. invoke countless anecdotes about the creative lives of others. Remarkably sketched, and poignantly personal, I never felt the usual strain that often comes with more self-important memoirs. Dylan's voice remains remarkably rough and earnest, glissing between gorgeous metaphors and cowboy expletives . . . but always uniquely his own. His own assessment of his artistry, usually inferred than described in achingly obvious detail, lure the reader into a smoky area in between the lines. Simply one of the best autobiographies I've ever read . . . by no means intended only Dylan mavens, this work will readily appeal to anyone who knows that the music industry involves a lot more than what 'American Idol' has led us to believe. Here's a real damn American Idol, from what I think at least. This book packed more punches than five years worth of New Yorker short stories.