Mixing Up The Medicine
If you want a detailed biography of Bob Dylan’s career, don’t read Chronicles, Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan. But if you want an entertaining read about the folk music scene, about record making, about history, politics, fame, poetry, and women, then this book- his only autobiographical work (so far)- is a good one.
In fact, Dylan writes so little about the singer/songwriter that his fans are familiar with, if the names were changed it might be hard to figure out who this book is about. It has five chapters, the first two of which he spends addressing life in NYC before he even makes a record.
He moves from there to the point in his life where he is so famous that all his wants to do is escape to a quiet suburban family life with his wife and kids. He pretty much skips over everything that brought him the fame and notoriety he now wants to escape.
In Chapter 4, Dylan gives diary-like detail to the ins and outs of the making of one record, Oh Mercy. It is actually enjoyable and insightful to follow, but hardly the album fans would be most curious about. In the final chapter, he returns to his youth in Minnesota and follows the story line, like some Quentin Tarantino film, forward through the beginning of his story to his first recording contract.
Throughout, Dylan writes as if scribbling in a journal, or possibly writing a detective novel. It is a style sure to frustrate some readers, especially those who want Dylan to come clean about his past or maybe explain what he meant in all those lyrics on Highway 61Revisited. His use of metaphors and imagery are both poetic and hilarious. The narrative speeds up and slams to a halt quicker than a New York City taxicab. The book is an exasperating but fun ride.
Dylan is known to many of his fans for always giving his listeners what they least expect. He was booed and jeered when he first traded his acoustic guitar for an electric one in 1965 (but don’t expect to read about that either in this book). He has thrown together sloppy albums when his fans are anticipating something great, and great albums when they expect nothing at all. Dylan is elusive and impossible to predict and his new book illustrates that perfectly. Ultimately, it covers so little of his life that we’ll just have to wait for volumes 2 through 10.
In fact, Dylan writes so little about the singer/songwriter that his fans are familiar with, if the names were changed it might be hard to figure out who this book is about. It has five chapters, the first two of which he spends addressing life in NYC before he even makes a record.
He moves from there to the point in his life where he is so famous that all his wants to do is escape to a quiet suburban family life with his wife and kids. He pretty much skips over everything that brought him the fame and notoriety he now wants to escape.
In Chapter 4, Dylan gives diary-like detail to the ins and outs of the making of one record, Oh Mercy. It is actually enjoyable and insightful to follow, but hardly the album fans would be most curious about. In the final chapter, he returns to his youth in Minnesota and follows the story line, like some Quentin Tarantino film, forward through the beginning of his story to his first recording contract.
Throughout, Dylan writes as if scribbling in a journal, or possibly writing a detective novel. It is a style sure to frustrate some readers, especially those who want Dylan to come clean about his past or maybe explain what he meant in all those lyrics on Highway 61Revisited. His use of metaphors and imagery are both poetic and hilarious. The narrative speeds up and slams to a halt quicker than a New York City taxicab. The book is an exasperating but fun ride.
Dylan is known to many of his fans for always giving his listeners what they least expect. He was booed and jeered when he first traded his acoustic guitar for an electric one in 1965 (but don’t expect to read about that either in this book). He has thrown together sloppy albums when his fans are anticipating something great, and great albums when they expect nothing at all. Dylan is elusive and impossible to predict and his new book illustrates that perfectly. Ultimately, it covers so little of his life that we’ll just have to wait for volumes 2 through 10.
posted by Steve Trumbull | 1/18/2005
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