http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743244583/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.0 226 Expect the unexpected! But then what else would you expect from Dylan?

There are enough reviews here to tell you what this book is and what it isn't. But the unexpected result for me was that, after reading about how Dylan got into songwriting, how he learned and developed his craft, how he approached at least one recording session, I had my writer's block broken.

There's just something refreshing, and liberating, about the way Dylan thinks. It's also nice to know that the grand-master of songwriting has had his own dry spells.

I'm connected to a local songwriter's community that consists mainly of twenty-somethings. As the aging hippie in the crowd, I think I can safely say that Dylan has a lot to offer these promising writers and performers. They may not be as familiar with the context of Woody Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, Joan Baez, and the early Sixties Greenwich Village scene, but what Dylan says about his craft transcends time and is just as applicable today as it was when I attempted my first songs way back then.

In closing I'll add that reading this fascinating volume raises as many questions as it answers. To be honest, I never did understand the number system he tried to incorporate into his singing and guitar playing, but it was interesting to read just the same.

Thanks, Bob, for inspiring me to write songs back when I was young, and thanks for helping me break through this longtime block. Throw out all the so-called interviews and bios! No one can tell it like Bob Dylan, himself!
My favorite line in the book was his description of his friend's library on page 35, "The place had an overpowering presence of literature and you couldn't help but lose your passion for dumbness." Ha ha ha! That line still makes me laugh!
So, how does a guy with a passion, guitar, harmonica, some Woody Guthrie songs, ambition and a whole lotta guts become a legend in his own right and in his own time, no less? It doesn't hurt to be exponentially smarter than the average bear. You will see, that is...if you have eyes.
Superstardom for Bob Dylan, a thoughtful person with an incisive mind, definitely would be bound to have onerous and odious aspects. His responses to rabid, deluded adulation and the more painful manifestations of fame are probably the same as any brilliant and sane independent thinker would have. Except for the extraordinary amounts of Do Re Mi that come with superstardom, those who toil in relative obscurity might just realize that they have much to be grateful for, after all.
It's an extremely rich narrative, entertaining and fascinating as all get out. There is much artful description of interesting sights and sounds, artists, writers and musicians, recording sessions, a mother lode of introspection, and we even go for a motorcycle ride outside New Orleans to clear our heads when a musical collusion starts to seem more like a collision.
His impressions on initial success and later struggles, whether feeling like one who didn't always focus enough to muster the stuff, trying to ruin and reshape public mischaracterizations of himself, or finding new and improved ways to master his voice and his music, stunned me.
I was pleasantly surprised he said he prays that he can be a kinder person.
He dug deep and gave us a ton. Must be the miner in his blood...ba da boom!
You will want to read it a few times and ruminate over this book.
It's rich.
Margie
I like the way CHRONICLES starts in 1961 and then leaves there abruptly after the 1st chapter, fast-forwarding decades and coming back at the very end to provide at least *some* closure. This form leaves the reader with a sense of the relativity of time, an almost Joycean sense--to name a writer Dylan mentions at one point as having rather squandered his gifts.

At certain points in this book, such as when Bob is being signed to his first recording contract by the legendary John Hammond, I felt like an eye-witness to more than history--to that, yes, but with the added sense of experiencing things as they really felt in Bob's consciousness. I feel Dylan shares his epiphanies straight and true and with generousity. That sense persisted through much of the book which *is* a chronicle, of a few stories from a life that could surely produce at least a dozen sequels as thick as this one.

There were some places, though, where I just didn't get it. Dylan sometimes strings together adjectives or descriptions that remain completely opaque to me, or don't make sense in the context. For example, describes New Orleans in very positive images at some length, then says "After awhile you start to feel like a ghost from one of the tombs, like you're in a wax museum below crimson clouds." That doesn't sound so great to me!
A little later, Dylan devotes a number of pages to a conversation with an old man named Sun Pie who runs a souveneir shop in the bayou country. Sun Pie spouts a lot of stuff about how the Chinese are going to take over, and other things that make him sound like a complete crackpot. Dylan, though, asides near the end of their encounter, "Sun Pie was inspiring...the right guy to run into at the right time, a guy who grooved on his own head." About as inspiring as a dag barking, I thought.

But that's ok. I was sitting outside at a Burger King on this hot summer day drinking diet coke as I read, and this guy with silver reflecting shades on, who's been walking back and forth between here and the big gas station next door, noticed the cover asked me, "Is that Bob Dylan's new book?"
"It's been out a year or two," I answered, "But I never read it till now."
"How is it?" he inquired, and trembling with the living presence of mysteries about to be revealed on the very page I was reading there near the book's end, I replied in a voice of conviction and without a moment's hesitation: "It's a great book!"Beautifully and maddeningly crafted. This man ain't gonna tell ya what he's all about...how long will it take 'til ya figure that out...
God bless him. The thing that really impressed me about Dylan in this book was how non-pretentious he seems to be. In the first few pages, most of the artists & music he mentions isn't very hip or cool (He admits to playing Judy Garland on the jukebox? I had no idea.) Dylan mentions Kerouac through out the entire memoir, and I find it interesting that they both end up becoming icons for generations that they don't really have much in common with.

Dylan does drop a lot of names in the book - artists from the 50's and 60's that I vaguely know, but most of the names went over my head. I checked Wikipedia hoping that someone had outlined all the people he talked about and gave me links to figure out who they were, but no one has done that yet. If someone has the time and energy - it would be great if you'd do that for me - thanks. This is the kind of book you want to read with a pen and paper next to you so that you can write down all the books and artists Dylan says influenced him so that you can be influenced, too. I even tried listening to the Folk Village station on my XM radio a time or two, to see if I could catch any of the groups Dylan talked about - maybe I could appreciate them differently.

When I got half way through and I got to the part where Dylan describes recording the album in great detail, at first I was slightly annoyed because I wanted to know more about Minneapolis and the first years in New York. But as I got through it, I really appreciated the inside view of what it's like to record an album and what happens in the recording studio. Then, happily, Dylan goes back to the beginning. It's also great to know that Dylan wasn't a songwriter right off, but it took him awhile emulating his heroes and borrowing from others until he really found his style. That's very inspirational to other artists of any kind.

I don't consider myself a Bob Dylan fan. I can recognize his influence on music and I quite enjoy the music I do know of his. Reading a memoir and then buying the albums is kind of a backward way of becoming a fan, but I think I'll add a couple of albums to my wish list and see what happens! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932958096/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.5 5 The early interviews are best. Dylan was pretty outrageous when putting on the interviewer. There is quite a bit of repetitive information in the writer's introduction prior to the interviews.Bob Dylan may be one of the most loquacious enigmas of all time. As lovingly presented here by Jonathon Cott, Dylan goes on and on and on to all sorts of interviewers, sometime comedian, sometime huckster, sometime philosoher, sometime preacher, but always fascinating.Let me just say that I am a big Dylan fan, and intruiged by his personality. I loved Dylan's "Chronicles Volume 1" autobiography, even if it did brought about more questions than answers. But then, isn't that the Dylan way?

"Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews" (447 pages) compiles 2 radio interview transcripts (from 1962 and 1963) and 29 interviews (from 1964 to 2004) and the book is a delight to read. Yes, some of the interviews become repetitive, but the overlying themes are two-fold: (1) Dylan never wanted the mantle of "consciousness of an era" thrown on him, and he has worked non-stop to throw off the public at large ever since the late 60s because of it, and (2) despite all he says and does, nobody really, truly can know or understand the man. He plays with the press as he sees fit. Hence, Dylan remains the enigma.

But us Dylan fans have a lot to look forward to: in a few months Dylan will release his first album of new music since 2001's outstanding "Love and Theft", and then of course there is the prospect of the next volume of "Chronicles" (no release date said yet). Meanwhile, Dylan hosts a monthly show on XM sattelite radio, which I've caught a few times, and that also is a delight.This is a must read for serious Dylan fans, even though the interviews reproduced here are uneven. The better ones, from the early and later stages of Dylan's long career, are revealing and philosophical. Many mundane pieces from the long middle period are a bit tendentious -- even tedious at times. Dylan is enigmatic, contradictory, but often quite poetic in explaining his ambivalence about fame and icon status. All in all, well worth the purchase price.This set of 29 interviews edited by Jonathan Cotts is not only essential, it is definitive. He has assembled a wonderful collection of interviews and character studies of Dylan over the past four-plus decades. Highlights include Nat Hentoff's "New Yorker" account of the recording of "Another Side of Bob Dylan," his goofy "Playboy" interview with Dylan from 1966; Dylan's various "Rolling Stone" interviews; and recent ones with Robert Hilburn of "The Los Angeles Times." My only complaint is that the book is not yet available in paperback but it is still well worth the price. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0826469337/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.0 10 I have only checked some of the entries in this book, but found that they are all seriously wanting.

The Eric Clapton entry is abysmal, even getting the artist's birth date wrong at the outset. This is merely the first of many fundamental errors in the entry. Surely it is not too much to expect that a book which grandly titles itself an "encyclopaedia" could at least get the name of Clapton's greatest album, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs", correct. This is not nit-picking, for it goes to basic professional standards and the diligence and trustworthiness of the author. More substantively, the author misses the major connection between Clapton and Dylan entirely. As everyone who knows anything at all about Clapton knows, that connection is the Band. When Clapton heard the bootleg of the Basement Tapes, he decided to finish with Cream. While he was in the biggest band in the world, Clapton decided that the Band was the best band in the world, and he broke from his US Cream tour to take a trip to Woodstock specially to meet up with Bob and the boys. It's not as though this history is in any sense obscure. Clapton still raves about his experience on first hearing the sound of the Band whenever he is interviewed. The most cursory research could not fail to pick this up - even Clapton's latest (2006) album is dedicated to Rick Danko and Richard Manuel. I mean to say ...

There is much else that is factually incorrect about the Clapton entry, and even more that is objectionable to a fair-minded reader. But, in case you think this is special pleading on behalf of Clapton, let's take the entry on Keith Richards, which is too silly for words. To stick to the factual material, "Nanker-Phelge" was not a credit used for Keith's songs, or Jagger-Richards songs, as Gray claims. The credit referred specifically to songs written by the whole band. If you still think I am being too hard, Gray says that Keith used the singular surname "Richard" at the request of Andrew Loog Oldham, "and he didn't assert himself and change it back until the early 1980s". The words "until the early 1980s" are italicised for emphasis. As it happens, my vinyl copy of the Rolling Stones' classic "Exile on Mainstreet", released and purchased in 1972, says the guitarist is "Richards". Getting the facts hopelessly wrong about the very name of the world famous guitarist in the greatest - or, at least, most well-known - rock 'n' roll band in a book that supposes itself to be an "encyclopaedia" is stupid enough; compounding the embarrassing error with emphasis to force a gratuitous point is an abomination. Again, as with Clapton and so much of this bad book, my objections to the copy are stronger than the concern over the cavalcade of rudimentary factual blunders. The script on Richards mainly comprises impressions based on the author's own discretionary responses to photos of the Stones, and they are weirdly improbable responses at that. The relationship between Richards and Dylan is as rich as it is complex ... and Gray misses it entirely.

I could go on (and on, and on), but for ease of reading have limited myself to correcting only some of the book's most plainly elementary howlers about just two of the great artists it pretends to deal with. In sum, this book is definitely not something that could even be remotely called an "encyclopaedia". It would be more accurately titled, "My idiosyncratic but self-amusing impressions associated with Bob Dylan in aphabetical order, based on superficial observations and extremely sloppy research".
This book has it all. It is just what it says it is -- an encyclopedia. It is a must for Dylanologists. If you have been a fan of Bob Dylan like I have since 1962, it is an absolute must! I am continuely amazed at how much I find new everytime I pick it. This book is definitely a pick up and open and read and then let it take you to where it will with its links, references and connections to ideas, songs, symbolism, and the famous (and not so famous). It is in NO small words a BIG book about a man who has cut a large swarth through Americana. Perhaps I expected too much, but while this book is amazingly comprehensive, it is also amazingly amateurish. Almost every entry is filled with opinions - how does one separate facts (an encyclopedia is supposed to have facts in it, right?) from Gray's perspectives? It feels like reading something from a freshman writing seminar.The previous review is obviously just a deliberate spoiler: it's just plain untrue that Michael Gray's marvellously wide-ranging book doesn't give "Dylan's connections/interactions with artists that influenced him, or background on the scores of former members of Dylan's band." That's EXACTLY what it does - with every single member of all Dylan's bands, whether they were with him in 1965 or on the Never-Ending Tour. Not just that, but there are entries detailing the Dylan connections with dozens and dozens of people who've played on his records or even just turned up and played at a concert encore one night. Everyone from bass player Kenny Aaronson thru to Warren Zevon. And there's tons more kinds of entries here too - Robert Browning to Robert Johnson, the record producers of the key Dylan albums, Bob's films . . . it's a huge book, and not just informative but funny, witty, quirky, surprising - a delight.Michael Gray should be commended for taking on such a daunting task as cross referencing all things of interest related to Bob Dylan. However, where good detective work and thorough research is required for factual articles, Gray reverts to general knowledge and his own interpretations. I was looking less for essays on Dylan's songs, which weight down this compendium, and more on, say, Dylan's connections/interactions with artists that influenced him, or background on the scores of former members of Dylan's band. Unfortunately, Gray's approach does not follow this vein. This book seems to be a rehashing of his previously released essays and articles on Dylan. I was also surprised and disappointed that Gray felt it necessary to put down most of the artists who have been influenced by Dylan (Springsteen, Bono, even Santana). Rather than explore the connections Dylan has with other artists, Gray either approves of them as worthy matches for Dylan (usually the older blues muscicians) or ridicules them as rock demi-gods who could never measure up to Bobby D. I won't be getting rid of my copy anytime soon, but I found that the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia offered nothing new and plenty that I didn't want. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0947730060/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743228286/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.5 27 If you're not a dyed in the wool Dylan fan, move along quickly, as you will feel cheated out of your money. If *A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall* is on your iPod, get this. (It's far cheaper on Amazon than any brick and mortar store, so get it here.) It is filled with little things that make you say *Oooooooo* and *wow*. I looked through it for over an hour before I even read a single page. I even ordered a copy for my EX-husband because he's such a huge fan! Please don't listen to those that say its a waste of money. If you're a fan, its a must.Having been a Bob Dylan fan/enthusiast for over 40 years, this scrapbook was a wonderful surprise! I was expecting a fairly simple book... it is anything but. I love the way it is put together. It's an actual "scrapbook", filled with many items of fun and informative memorabilia... very creatively done.

For the most part I have been only a collector of the songs of Bob Dylan... the music and the lyrics. All I needed to know about the man was, and still is, in his songs. However, since the realease of 'Chronicles Vol I' and the Martin Scorsese Documentary, 'No Direction Home' I have been searching for more. This scrapbook... what a treat! The book shows a truly unique view of Dylans past and his rise to fame. It is done in a very intimate way and is full of surprizes. The book is very good at making the past come alive with Ticket stubs, autographed album covers, passes to MLK speeches and many other items. Truly a unique book.This was a very fun book. Although I bought it for my mother and I am not a big fan, I couldn't help spending a half of an hour peering into all the personal details. I felt like a detective searching for extra clues the written text might have missed. Quite creative and intimate.Being a fan of Bob Dylans, I enjoyed the book extremely. I really appreciated the honesty of the information and the memorabilia. I highly recommend it to any Bob Dylan fans out there. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743230418/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.0 24 Dylan is by far the greatest songwriter of all-time and perfectly deserving of a noble prize in literature if ever one is bestowed upon him. However this stream of consciousness book is pure crap. It will be a highly collectible book if you have the first edition, first printing in good conditon in about 50 years. Till then read Lyrics 1961-2001 or Chronicles vol.1 instead.You`ve more than probably heard the man`s music, and for sure you thought that was great. Most people would go as far as calling Dylan`s texts litterature. He`s even been mentioned several times as a fair Nobel Prize candidate. If they had one for music, he surely would have had it long time ago.

Well, Tarantula, initially expected to come out around 1967 (You can see him working on the typewriter in Pennebaker`s Don`t Look Back (London 1965).) was published in 1969. The book`s reception was, to put it gently, mixed. The publisher didn`t want it when they read the result, but the contract was signed, and the end of that was Tarantula in the book stores.

This book is a chaotic caleiodoscope of odd characters, taken out of an American pre-Vietnam social context. They are all blended into the ink of Dylan`s pen, which flows like the salty water near Cape Horn on a windy day.

You need patience to read this book; but if you have that and in addition you fancy the temperature of Bobby`s head; then this strange meal is yours.if you only skim the lines in Bob Dylan's prose, it appears to be random words and phrases...however, there's a lot of meaning to be found between the lines...that being said, i've never actually listened to his music or sat and read his lyrics, but i love poetry that's full of metaphor and requires thought because why write poetry if you mean exactly what you say? the prose in this work offers something different each time it's read and it's my favorite book of poetry.I love his songs, I love his lyrics, but Tarantula is basically a bunch of words and really bizarre sotires that do not go anywhere. I kinda expected better from him since his songs were so great.Possibly the worst book ever written. Self indulgent free associative codswallop from the days when you could get away with it because your readers were stoned http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743228278/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.5 24 Wow, it's hard to believe that Weberman guy is still around, and still has nothing better to do than harrass Dylan (even when he's not looking). I imagine some old, burnt out hippie in a dark cellar shouting out obscenities and such like... burning Dylan records in the fireplace...

Anyway, as to the book, I admire it for what it is, a collection of musical poetry. It's as good as it gets... I find that its nice at time to take a look at an artist for his art. This is a lot like the recent "Complete Calvin and Hobbes" or other similar compendiums... you get to take a look at the art, the way it was produced and released to the public in its final form. No frills, just the workmanship. Whatever's left, you've got to put in yourself.

If one's looking for the life behind the art, Chronicles, Volume One is the most well-regarded, easy and interesting way to start (as it is the approved version of Bob Dylan's life, written by himself, in the way he wanted to tell it). Another interesting book is Dylan on Dylan, a set of essential Dylan interviews. This one's a little more difficult to stay with, but it has a good selection of Dylan interviews spanning the important periods of his career. A wonderfully organized book documenting the lyrics of Bob Dylan over the first 40 years of his career. I can't wait for the sequal. A priceless collection. This book on the complete lyrics of Bob Dylan is far worth every penny you will pay for it. It is so beautifully bound, and so easy to read these fantastic lyrics that Dylan has written through his life. However, all of Bob Dylan's songs with the Traveling Wilburys are not included here, but just take a look at what is here, and you will probably forget what is missing. to conclude that Dylan is deserving of all of the accolades he recieves.
A note regarding a previous reviewer:
IF this is the real A.J. Weberman, the same fool that harrassed Dylan's family in a craven attempt to achieve fame by invading and insinuating himself into Dylan's life, I suggest you move on with your own pathetic life and give it up already. Nobody cares what you think. This book will prove to be much more interesting if you look have the Bob Dylan To English Dictionary as its companion. Then you can get an idea of what Dylan is saying on an allegorical core level. It took me years to figure out Dylan, years of abuse from Dylan calling me "an idiot" who "after all these years didn't know him any better than that" to attacking me on Elizabeth Street in Manhattan to telling his son that I had a nose job to hide the fact I was Jewish and that his son should NEVER be like me.... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0756617189/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 5.0 8 Besides Chronicles and the Bob Dylan Scrapbook, this is by far one of the best books about Bob Dylan I have seen. It has a whole bunch of information that I haven't seen anywhere else and the pictures are amazing. I absolutley love this book and bought it just because of the reviews that I read on Amazon so I thought that I would praise this book as well because it truly is great.Been a Dylan fan for a long time and this book came pretty close to answering the questions that have popped up over the years, you know questions you just can help asking...like what was Sara like and what happened to the marriage. None of my business but I can't help wondering. I thought the pictures were excellent and think if you're a Dylan fan, you'll like it too!This is a superb book. For those, like me, eager for more information on the ever-enigmatic Dylan, this is the book to read. It is a montage of recollections from musicians/photographers/friends, etc. over the years, which is about as close as one is likely to get to a true picture of Dylan's life to date. It is a bit confusing because the essays often cover similar periods of time, but from different eyes, but this also increases the veritas. The chronology also becomes a bit jumbled, but that is inevitable in this sort of format. I highly recommend the book if you are a Dylan fan. To my knowledge, there is nothing else like it "out there."Bob Dylan's music reflected an entire generation's hopes and dreams and he's received extensive treatment in coverages which continue to this day, but Mojo's survey in Dylan: Visions, Portraits, And Back Pages is something different: a collection of powerful writings from the world's best rock journalists from Mojo magazine who work together to provide a comprehensive set of insights on his life. Stories behind songs and albums pair with previously unseen photos to shed new light on his personality and music. The vintage photos and stories are outstanding presentations, packed with color and life.
..besides Chronicles. Vol. I. Excellent photographic contents, intelligent commentary, appropriate quotes, all in an atypically non-reverential AND non-cynical context.
MOJO put it together...'nuff said! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823079740/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.5 5 Oliver Trager's "Keys To The Rain" is far from the "definitive" Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. As another reader notes, there are errors including some he didn't mention that I'll add here: The original September 1974 New York recording of "If You See Her, Say Hello," re-recorded in Minneapolis for its release on "Blood On The Tracks," was not included on "Biograph" (Trager may be confusing it with "You're A Big Girl Now"), but on "The Bootleg Series, Volume 1-3." Trager also claims Dylan's 1984 "Real Live" failed to make the charts. Not so. It failed to make the top 100, but it did have a brief, albeit dim, blaze of glory in the Billboard Top 200. There are other errors, most of them fairly minor, but their cumulative effect makes one question Trager's reliability too often.

Despite the faults, this is still an entertaining and informative read with lots of background on the recordings and, more significantly, the songs, including those that Dylan only performed in concert. Yes, it is reasonable to argue that it wasn't necessary to provide two pages on the careers of Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini simply because Dylan covered their legendary "Moon River" at a handful of concerts (and if other sources are correct, Dylan only performed it once upon hearing of the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan). But I find these facts to be the main appeal of Trager's book. There are similar biographical details provided for everyone from Mel Tillis (whose "Detroit City" is another hit and run cover from the Never Ending Tour) and Charles Gates Dawes, vice president to Calvin Coolidge and co-author of "It's All In The Game," another chestnut Dylan dug out two decades ago in concert. And, of course, there are pages on less surprising figures, including Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie McTell, Johnny Cash, and Leonard Cohen. The result is that this book is almost a mini-history of popular music as much as it is about Dylan, but I find it contributes to a greater appreciation for Dylan's impressive range of musical styles and influences. On the other hand, a ridiculous amount of space is given to a biography of Catfish Hunter, the baseball player who was the subject of the most inconsequential outtake from the 1976 "Desire" album.

Trager's unpretentious style is refreshing, though, especially in contrast to those who write about Dylan and his songs as though the man was already dead and buried instead of alive, kicking, and as brilliant as ever.

Hopefully, Trager or someone at the publisher's office will pay attention to the complaints provided by the readers, and eliminate the errors in future editions. With a little work, Trager's book may one day live up to its title. It's still worthwhile overall, but Clinton Heylin would have gotten more of the facts straight.

Brian W. Fairbanks Keys to the Rain is undoubtedly a valuable guide to Bob Dylan's recorded output. The book is well-researched and written in a straightforward, accessible style.
Unfortuntately, the book has numerous flaws that make it an often frustrating read. The factual errors include the following: the author states that The Basement Tapes' version of "Million Dollar Bash" is "notable for Dylan's use of the harmonica" when there is no harmonica on the track; the version of "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue" that appeared as the B-side single of "Watching the River Flow" is not the same version that was released on the Dylan lp; "Step It Up and Go" is from the album Good As I Been to You, not World Gone Wrong; and "Down Along the Cove" is erroneously listed as being included on The Band's re-release of Rock of Ages.
Numerous errors in dates dot the book. There is a wonderful photo of Dylan and two youngsters (page 602) that is dated 1966 but comes from much earlier (either 1962 or 1963).
There is one particularly egregious misquotation of Dylan's words, as the phrase "Truth is shadowy" in the World Gone Wrong liner notes becomes "Truth is a shadow" in the book, which changes the phrase's meaning.
Trager writes in the introduction that "unreleased outtakes" and "unreleased material from The Basement Tapes are not included." Yet he includes songs never released by Dylan but recorded and released by other artists (which the author should have explained in the too-brief introduction). There really is no reason for Trager not to have included these songs, since he includes all songs Dylan has played in concert (both original songs and cover versions), and he includes unnecessarily long biographies of the authors of said covers. So the reader gets pages and pages on songwriters such as Sammy Cahn, Merle Travis, Lefty Frizzell and Donnie Fritts (to name a few), but nothing on such great unreleased Dylan songs as "I'm Not There," All-American Boy," "Goodbye Holly" and "Yonder Comes Sin." The author says that "these omissions were made for reasons of space," but surely he could have cut back on his discussion of other artists in a Bob Dylan encyclopedia and made room for all of Dylan's original songs, officially released or not. Nor is there anything on great covers recorded by Dylan in the studio but not released (such as "Freedom for the Stallion"). Including these songs would then have truly earned the book the title of definitive.
I've got Trager's 1997 book--The American Book of the Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia--and have plucked it off my shelf numerous times. I'll be doing the same with his latest effort, this Dylan encyclopedia. It is interesting that with all the Dylan books out there, it took until 2004 for something like this to appear. For the hardcore aficionado, this will be similar to Krogsgaard's Positively Bob Dylan and Heylin's Stolen Moments (as far as its usefulness), but to the casual observer it's a chance to get to know the songs Dylan has chosen to record and perform--not to mention biographical info. Photos throughout, and enough details in its 700-plus pages to keep one busy throughout 2005 (and 2006 and 2007, etc.) It's not dry either, I'd say Trager has a fondness and apprecation for the music.

Scott Marshall
author of Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan (with Marcia Ford, Relevant Books, 2002)
Another Bob Dylan book? Yes, and what makes Keys To The Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia a more 'definitive' encyclopedic guide than others is its descriptions of all 44 of his officially released albums including collaborative efforts, entries on over 700 songs he's recorded or performed over the length of his career, and biographical sketches of all musicians, songwriters and others associated with any of his projects, including film. And if that isn't enough... entries include track lists, musician lists, critical analysis, serial number info for all formats including cassette, and background history. It doesn't get any better - or more 'definitive' - than this.

Absolute must for all those who consider rock and roll "art", and Dylan the ultimate "artist" of the genre. A quick glance will provide such useful info that "Blonde on Blonde" was recorded in Nashville, using primarily studio musicians. Consider that the next time you listen to "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", and its haunting refrain. Only problem is that in a few years it will be out of date. Sadly, a compilation of Dylan's work will only be complete when Dylan retires which, gratefully, he shows no signs of doing anytime soon. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/086547642X/ref=nosim/downinthefloo-20 4.0 56 Although this is not a new book, I just recently got around to reading it - not coincidentally, after getting a copy of Bob Dylan's "Lyrics" and going nearly nuts tring to find a Dave Van Ronk songbook - there isn't one! As I read through it (almost hypnotically over a three day period) I realized that it was filling in many gaps in information I had (or thought I had) about the four key people David Hajda focuses on in this amazingly estute, descriptive, personal and revealing bio-social-history. Joan Baez, her sister Mimi Farina, Mimi's husband, Richard (Remember: "Been Down So Long It's Beginning To Look Like Up To Me?") and Bob Dylan (nee Zimmerman)were more than 'folk singers.' Dylan's protestations to the contrary, they cut a path through and into the fibre of the American consciousness in the early 1960's. Though Richard died you and Mimi followed just a few years ago, I think they would all agree that this is one heck of a good read!

That being said, it is important to remember that any history is the one that is seen and described by the historian - with his/her own eyes and through the lense of their own experience. Thus, the title of this review. Hajda has written what I believe to have been the case - with details so well developed that it is possible to get the feeling of being right there, in the coffee-house or in the cafe or in the room where the events and moments in the lives of these people are described. I wasn't there - so I don't know for sure to what degree the events have been elaborated or fictionalized - but they sure DO fit well with what I wouuld like to believe happened.

The character of each person is not only described and discussed, but elaborated and painted by scenes, painted in much detail with words - they are painted by their actions. The book also includes a nice (but frustratingly limited) collection of black and white photos from the times involved including one particularly compelling portrait shot of the three Baez women (Joan, Mimi and their mom, "Big Joan") together with a young Bob Dylan.

None of them are portrayed as saints or as ego-maniacs. They come across, rather, as talented people in a particular place at a particular time. Their paths intersect - as the title suggests, in the West Villiage around Washington Square Park in New York City - popularly known both then and now as, simply, Greenwich Villiage. The book helps us understand, in a more genuinely human and non-ad-driven way, who they were and what the impact was that they had - both on each other and on the rest of us.

If the music of this era is a part of who you are, I suspect you will find this book to be as magically engaging as I did.After being caught a bit offguard at the slow beginning (the Baez family background), I couldn't put it down until the end. If you're a fan of any of these folks (or, like me, all of them), you'll enjoy this fine book. Don't expect to agree with all the conclusions because the author is opinionated and does take a stand on some issues. But you'll learn a lot and most likely you'll find yourself going back and listening to some of the great music these artists created. It was a wonderful time and this is a refreshing look at it."
You don't have to be a rabid fan of folk music to enjoy David Hajdu's remarkable narrative of Dylan, Richard Farina, and the Baez sisters set against the rich tapestry of the American folk revival of the early Sixties. In Positively 4th Street, Hajdu offers a fascinating account of the individuals and the music of those times based on his prodigious research. The author avoids the usual hagiography when it comes to Dylan and Joan Baez and what results is a less flattering and more realistic portrait. You get the sense that you are reading about real people as opposed to archetypes and icons. As you read Hajdu's book, you'll find yourself appreciating and sympathizing with Mimi Baez while the more talented Dylan, Joan Baez, and Richard Farina all seem to demonstrate varying amounts of ambition, egotism, selfishness, and calculation. Positively 4th Street is definitely worth your time.One of the few books I would classify as a "must read." Hadju has researched his subject well and presents the narrative in flowing prose. While he treats the Baez sisters as the center of the folk world (an assertion I fail to agree with), he does bring new insights to both Bobby Dylan and Richard Farina. (Far too little has been written about Farina - he was an extremely gifted songwriter, poet, and writer. "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" is a forgotten classic of 1960s literature.)

The book is a quick read and the photo sections alone are worth the price of admission.This is useful history, but I see little attraction in any of the personalities portrayed other than Dylan. This doesn't mean I didn't like this book. The book just reminded me of things about the old folk scene that I am glad I have forgotten.

I bought this book because I remember these times. I play and sing folk music, and this involves a number of people including some of the principals, I have met, or know.

Frankly, none of the people captured in this book, with the possible exception of Dylan and poor, abused Carolyn Hester seem attractive and interesting and making real contributions to folk music.

The Joan Baez pictured here is aggressive, rips off her friends music and ideas. Not much is noted here about her (and the scene's) evolution away from any real connection with traditional folk music. Not much is said about the genuine artistry of a number of Baez's recordings both early and late (my favorite being her white double album of Dylan songs). As someone who has struggled to play the guitar and perform for about 43 years, Joan's guitar playing including her mastery of the traditional Carter style is first rate.

Mimi Farina seems to have an existence that only serves for her to be ripped off by Farina, an opportunist user of women, someone who appears to be a semi-child molester. In this book she never emerges much as an individual person or artist as opposed to being Joan's sister and Farina's wife of the moment.

The now sadly forgotten Carolyn Hester emerges here as someone Farina used to get inside the folk world. He abused her so badly that she walked out on him with a pistol drawn on him after his obvious play for a younger than legal Mimi Farina. Carolyn was one of the real great stars of Folk. Check out her early Albums. She had a lot to do with some of the more country-oriented folks of the 70s and 1980s. One singer who says she owes everything in her style to Carolyn Hester is Dolly Parton who despite pretenses about her Appalachian roots started out as essentially a Carolyn Hester imitator, and still sound pretty much like Carolyn on tunes Dollie decides to sing rather than shout.


Frankly, Farina's music never seemed to have anything to do with Folk music, unlike Joannie's, though he did write a few good songs. His novel, pictured like some masterpiece in this book, is really nothing special. He was an opportunist on the make as pictured here.

The one person described here who arouses my interest is Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan. This man did an extreme amount of work as a song writer and as a singer, and as a synthesizer. He was pretty true to two loves, traditional folk music, and the rock and roll that had preceded the folk Bob Dylan. Dylan wrote a number of great songs even if your familiarity with his catalog ends around 1972 as mine does. He recorded some great albums. And, as some of my best memories and the video clips in the recent PBS documentary disclose, Dylan was so very much better in live performance than on his recordings. By the mid 1960s he was a rivetting dramatic and developed performer of great songs.


One would wish for a book about some of the real heros of the folk revival whose commitment to traditional American music lasted through the 1960s and paved the way for so many other artists and the rediscovery of tradition. John Cohen and Mike Seeger come to immediate mind. Pete Seeger too. John Hammond Junior is another. But then they are not as pop tabloid appealing as Farina, Dylan and the Baez sisters.