Chronicles, Volume 1
by Bob Dylan
|
List Price: Our Price: $17.74 You Save: $6.26 (26%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.08 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Chronicles, Volume 1
Book Review: Recommendation would vary by who you are
Summary: 3 Stars
Would I recommend this book? It depends. If you only read one book a year, I would recommend that you pass over this title. If you are not a Dylan fan, this book is not going to make you one and large tracts of it will seem rather boring. Yet, if you are a fan, it is worth the read. Dylan is still Dylan and there are many interesting aspects of this book that will capture your attention. However, one should not be under the misconception that they are purchasing the Holy Grail or some literary masterpiece. It is an autobiography that leaves large gaps in Dylan's life unanswered. Some parts seem to ramble incomprehensibly and one should not be misled that volume one means the early years of his life. The book seems to be categorized, if at all, by random thoughts rather than time.
After reading the first chapter, if you are like me, you are going to feel cheated. I suspect that I had anticipated some secret answers that would demystify the chaos of the 1960s, but instead found Dylan portraying himself as a simple folk singer who stumbled upon his protest persona. The beginning of the book holds no great insight or revelations. We see a neophyte artist who constantly name drops - as if mentioning other great artists will somehow elevate his own self-importance.
The writing is awkward. I kept on wanting to put the words to music, but they did not flow in any melodic way in my head. Catch phrases are tossed out randomly which at first tend to cheapen the whole venture, but after a while they grow on you.
As I continued to read, I began to understand that my preconceptions of Bob Dylan interfered with my ability to comprehend his self-described story. The more I read, the more I discovered he very much is like anyone else, which may in fact, make his story even more remarkable. He is viewed by many as this messiah of his age, but in reality he is no more than a Forrest Gump running across the nation undesirably gathering throngs of followers who wait upon his every word. At points in the story he portrays himself as a sad, pathetic figure - much akin to an overweight, out of shape, former heavyweight boxing champion who's seeking one more big payday. Then you have to remind yourself he was still cranking out top 10 albums.
I am not sure why Dylan wrote this autobiography. It may simply be for money. There are numerous occasions Dylan points out where he settled or compromised for money ostensibly to support his family. Yet, his actions whether knowingly or not; planned or happenstance; still have had a significant impact on society. Overall, as a Dylan fan it was worth sitting down for a few hours and reading his words.
Book Review: A brilliant, inspiring memoir, not a biography
Summary: 5 Stars
Just when you thought that Bob Dylan would never come through with his autobiography, Chronicles arrives. Of course, it isn't what anybody expected. No more than Tarantula was in the early 1970s. Back then the publishers looked forward to the Life of Bob Dylan, by Bob Dylan, and got a booklet of free-form surreal verse. Now, decades later many, no doubt, expected The Life of Bob Dylan, by Bob Dylan, and what we get is a very peculiar memoir, bits and pieces of a life, jumping about from the 1950s to the 1980s and missing huge lumps of time, and much important stuff inbetween. Don't look here for the making of Blonde on Blonde, or indeed any of Dylan's key records. Do not expect vivid first person accounts of the Rolling Thunder Revue, or singing on stage at the Town Hall in New York. None of that is here. Instead, Dylan's mind flicks across the years and he picks up and plays with things that interest him, as he pleases, things that are not necessarily what we might want to hear about: a very long and detailed account of the making of Oh Mercy, of all things, for instance. But the writing is authentic Dylan. Whatever the man has consumed over the years, his mind is razor-sharp. He has apparently an almost photographic memory, for places, people, conversation, even the sort of weather that pertained when he walked out his door one day 25 years ago. And the book is written beautifully, truly poeticially, connecting the reader with the imaginative, remarkable inner world of a man who is, surely, one of the giants of the arts in the modern world. It is also very funny. It is clever. He is humble, surprisingly so, and he is unexpected, bridling at certain assumptions about him, deeply conservative and also a free spirit in the truest sense. Fascinating. But it isn't the life of Bob Dylan as you might expect, no more than Volumes 2 and 3 will be, if he ever gets that far. It is glimpses of the life of Dylan, which is fine, but do not look here for facts, specfics, names, figures, all the details of a linear, detailed biography. That book is Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, by Howard Sounes. This book is a glimpse inside the unique mind of a remarkable and, still, elusive man, who has let his guard down just enough to give us a taste of what he is about. And it is ultimately an inspiring read. It is a book that you can finish in a day, racing along compulsively to the end, and when you put it down you feel elated, energized, wanting and willing yourself to do more, like he has done all these years, for among his other accomplishments Bob Dylan is a remarkably productive and energetic man. One day there will be statues erected in his memory. Get Chronicles, and see him in concert while you can.Book Review: "Who is that Man"
Summary: 5 Stars
Here's what we learn from Chronicles:
-- prickly Bob must have applied the lesson we all heard early in our lives from our Moms, "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all," for the only person even remotely criticized in Chronicles is Suzy Rotolo's mother and then it's only to note that she didn't like Bob;
-- Bob could have been an antiques dealer for his descriptions of pieces of furniture in 40-years-ago rooms are both minute and copious;
-- he and Tiny Tim huddled around a radio listening to Ricky Nelson's Traveling Man and when the song was finished Bob gave the rest of his French fries to Tiny and wandered off;
-- in a similar pop moment, Bob travels uptown to pay his respects to Bobby Vee and then melts away before the crowd of fans mobs Bobby;
-- his favorite cover of his songs is Johnny Rivers's Positively Fourth Street;
-- Bob in fact would have let "Barry Goldwater move in next door and marry my daughter..."
-- he's a hockey fan and when was the last time you read Vic Hadfield's name in a book;
-- he understood the redemptive power of AM radio for '50's and early 60's youth: "WWOZ was the kind of station I used to listen to late at night growing up, and it...touched the spirit of (my youth). Back then when something was wrong the radio could lay hands on you and you'd be all right;"
-- neither his wife (or wives, numbers aren't clear to me) nor children seem to have names;
-- seeing Gorgeous George in a hotel lobby at a low performing point buoyed him;
-- lots of creative tension between him and Daniel Lanois on Oh, Mercy (my editorial comment: a damn fine album I've also reviewed here) leads a decade later to reuniting for the brilliant Time Out of Mind, and Dylan generously recognizes Lanois' key contributions;
-- he hated the famous Ronnie Gilbert "Take him, he's yours" introduction at Newport (currently one of the sound bites at the EMP Dylan exhibit in Seattle);
-- he never had any doubt at all about his destiny;
-- Three Penny Opera and, particularly, Pirate Jenny influenced his music as profoundly as Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson.
All that and a whole lot more we learn in Chronicles as Bob rambles in no chronological or any other order through some acts in his life and career.
But since Bob is always Bob, whether these glimpses or anything else in the book are conventionally "true" or not is a whole different question. At a minimum say this: Bob entertains as well on the written page as he does in The Neverending Concert Tour.
Book Review: Memorizing Politics from Ancient History
Summary: 4 Stars
Known for his incredibly cryptic song lyrics, interviews and public persona, I really didn't know what to expect from Dylan's "Chronicles, Volume One." While I'm sure readers expecting a blow-by-blow account of his life will be disappointed--due to the disjointed nature of the narrative--this autobiography exceeds expectations by giving a psychic account of the influences that lead him to write all those great songs in the 1960s. More or less self-taught, his own personal college were friends bookshelves, and he absorbed an awful lot in his late teens and early twenties, including old Civil War-eraa newspapers, 19th century political pamphlets, T.S. Eliot, the Beats, Thucydides, Macchiavelli, Jean Genet and many others. Also, his taste in music is catholic: who would have figured he was a fan of Judy Garland or Bobby Vee? Who knew that he once played with the jazz/avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor?
"Volume One" focuses on his early days in New York before signing to Columbia Records, the recording of the album "New Morning," and the recording of the album "Oh Mercy." While it is initially disappointing to miss out on his descriptions of his mid-1960s whirlwind tours, meeting his first wife, his drug use, his motorcycle accident, recording "Highway 61," etc., it is easy to tell that these tales are going to be in another volume as enticement for gullible Dylan-fans to buy succeeding volumes. Commentary aside, these chapters focusing on his post-60s glory are particularly revealing. They chart a man who has grown weary of fame and who is simply playing music to pay the bills. By the time he was beginning to work on 1989's "Oh Mercy" album, he was considering retiring from music because he had no more desire to write and had long been coasting by on his legendary status to secure live gigs and albums. Around this time, he decides to recommit himself to music, lyricwriting and singing.
As for his writing style: this autobiography hardly resembles his song lyrics or his 1971 novel "Tarantula." His style is clumsy, but very conversational. About twice a page, he will stun the reader with a wonderful description; whether it be of the weather outside or the character of a friends' voice. The text is easy to read, but many might complain about lack of specifics from time to time. He can remember topical historical events from the 1960s but never reveals much about his family ... and we don't even learn his second wife's name (this might have been contractual, but nonetheless it should be pointed out). But, warts and all, this is mandatory reading for the "nothing is revealed" set.
Book Review: All we need to know
Summary: 5 Stars
There seem to be many people who won't be satisfied until they know everything about this guy. The trivia of his life is not what makes him unique. It only serves our perverse need to make him seem more like us. Do we really need to know the details of his motor cycle accident, the names of his wives, his divorce, what he eats? These types of questions seem to be the equivalent of what his favorite color is. The same type of check list that is applied to every available celebrity on a weekly basis.
I am more than willing to accept that what Dylan chooses to write about in this remarkable book are the people, experiences, and influences that are important to him. Personally, I don't find him to be as obtuse and elusive as many others seem to. I see him as a man who is more than willing to expain what he feels confident to explain. After all, how much are we willing or able to explain about ourselves?
Dylan's life isn't mysterious. ALL our lives are mysterious; maybe he's just more aware of that than the rest of us.
What I did find most compellng were the parts of the book where he was writing about his music. When you understand the laser- like focus he brought to his craft, the way he ate, breathed and slept music, the way he absorbed everything that crossed his path, it's not a big leap to see how his songs turned out the way they did. As some one said; the most creative artist is the one who adapts the greatest number of influences. Without being explicit about his early song writing, he reveals so much that the individual song titles are almost unnecessary. The section where he talks about songs coming to him, some fully formed, like they were floating toward him gently down stream was facinating. No wonder he doesn't explain what they mean: he's says that songwriting is like trying to make dreams real. Like dreams, he probably can't explain them any better than we can. Like dreams, they're open to interpretation.
There is no doubt that Dylan is a muscial genius. He is the ultimate real deal, and there are't many of them. I doubt he's a genius at personal relationships, mathematics, or keeping track of his keys, though. It turns out he's no slouch at narrative, but that shouldn't be too surprising.
As far as I'm concerned, I found the book totally fascinating, easy to read, and completley engaging. If his next two installments are only about music and song writing, I will be more than satisfied. I don't need to know what he does in his time off. I don't need him to be ordinary. Why should he be?