Book Review: Chronicles: Volume One

Book Review: Chronicles: Volume One

Chronicles: Volume One at amazon.com


Salaams! Got a wonderful Christmas present which I have just finished reading: Chronicles: Volume One, by Bob Dylan. Won't bore you with a long, drawn-out review of this monumental, first-of-three planned autobiographical volumes, as I know you're not interested. It's anything but your ordinary autobiography, focusing mainly on his arrival as a 20 year old newbie on the folk music scene in New York City in 1961 and the background of his recordings of "Bob Dylan" (his first album-1962), "New Morning" (12th-1970) and "Oh Mercy" (34th-1989). Dylan has a unique writing style that is both informal and introspective (making for some fascinating "rabbit-chasing" sections that take you here, there, & everywhere).

Having read 20+ other people's take on Bob, it was quite refreshing to read Bob's take on things. Sure, he leaves lots of holes and blanks, but what he does share is done in a warm, fluid, full-on, honest-as-Bob-can-get, personal style. References and analyses of all kinds of music and literature abounds--very interesting to hear about the major influences on his own unique style and hear what helped push him "over the edge" into legendary musical history. History which he's still making...Bring on Volume Two!

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Book review - Bob Dylan Chronicles

 After four decades of cantankerous, monosyllabic interviews and one legendarily impenetrable novel (Tarantula), fans feared what Dylan's self-penned Chronicles would be like.
But what a relief, this slim autobiography (Simon & Shuster) is a joy. Rather than plodding through a conventional life story, Dylan zooms in on significant episodes. It's unconventional, but beautifully and forcefully told.
Dylan starts in 1961 with his arrival in New York, aged 20.
The next part of the book skips past his phenomenal success and influential songs, and deals only with the horror of fame. At home, he is besieged by fans ­ "gargoyle-looking gals, scarecrows, stragglers", he calls them.
It is his life on his own terms ­ no photographs, no introducing his wife and children, no mention of the convulsions when he went electric with The Band, hardly a word about his greatest songs. Still, this is only Volume One.
Lesley Friedman
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Interviews
Bob Dylan: A Conversation
 
bobdylan.com
Audiobook Excerpts
Listen to excerpts from 'Chronicles: Volume One,' the audiobook, read by Sean Penn.
On songwriting
On visiting Woody Guthrie in the hospital
On getting his first big break to play at the Gaslight Café in Greenwich Village
On re-finding his way in the sessions for the 'Oh Mercy' album, and an appreciation of Johnny Cash and Sun Records
On rejecting the label of "conscience of a generation"

NPR 100
Dylan songs on NPR's list of most influential tunes of the 20th century
Oct. 21, 2000
'Blowin' in the Wind'
Nov. 9, 2000
'Like a Rolling Stone'
 
All Songs Considered
Multimedia presentations on Dylan works
'Bob Dylan Live 1964'
'Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache'
 
Morning Edition, October 12, 2004 · Bob Dylan's new book, Chronicles: Volume One, portrays him at the extremes of his career. On one page it's 1961. He's a young man making a call from a phone booth in New York City, waiting for his shot at fame. On another, it's the mid-1980s, and he's a burned-out rock star who can no longer feel the power of his own songs.

When members of the Grateful Dead asked him to return to performing his old songs, Dylan made up an excuse and fled. Eventually, he found his way back to the road, touring constantly in hopes of being discovered by a new audience.

In a rare interview, Dylan tells NPR's Steve Inskeep he never accepted being called the "voice of his generation."

"That was just a term that could create problems for somebody, especially if someone just wants to keep it simple, write songs and play them," Dylan says. "Having these colossal accolades and titles, they get in the way."

Below is Chapter 1, "Markin' Up the Score," from Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster).

Book Excerpt
Lou Levy, top man of Leeds Music Publishing company, took me up in a taxi to the Pythian Temple on West 70th Street to show me the pocket sized recording studio where Bill Haley and His Comets had recorded "Rock Around the Clock" -- then down to Jack Dempsey's restaurant on 58th and Broadway, where we sat down in a red leather upholstered booth facing the front window.

Lou introduced me to Jack Dempsey, the great boxer. Jack shook his fist at me...
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"If you're not standing on the Edge,
you're taking up too much room."
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