Essential
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This is the equivalent of the Beatles Anthology book-a sort of pop up Dylan which covers his most important years.
With the recent Scorsese film its so much easier now for the Dylan fan than it was after 1966 when over a year went by with no new product and rumors of his death predating McCartney's in a sense!
He was stll in the charts but it was via Manfred Mann the band who were sent his demos after he claimed he liked their covers and this is how we heard most of the Basement Tapes.
The Scorsese film was flawed in a way as no mention was made of the real reason Dylan went electric and that was because of the British.He was ascloseasthis to the Beatles (3 volumes of Beatles Play Bob Dylan attest to that)-yet there was no mention as if they never existed.
Strange really in a film part financed by the Beatles own company Apple.
But this book is all you need to learn where Dylan came from. Its the kind of book which at the time he set off for New York he could never have imagined
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Great Collectables, moderatley good Text
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Dont Get me wrong, for a beginner at wanting to explore Dylan's most vital and interesting period of music making, this item is excellent. Yet for me, someone who is utterley obsessed with the guy, this item provided little more than a fleeting interest. Sure, the pull out extras such as reprinted tickets, posters and photos etc are brilliantly interesting and provide a sense of nostalgia for those who may have been around in the 60's, and a set of great artefacts for younger fans, however, the writings behind the pull outs provide little extra knowledge to those who know much about Bobby.
It is well written to be fair and easy to follow the sometimes confusing journey from Folk poet to Electric Messiah and the best thing is the interviews with those who were around at the time, which do provide insight and an interesting backround to Dylans transformation. The chaptering does tend to slice Dylans change into albums, whereas in truth, those who know much about Dylan know that it was not this simple. It covers little ground which No Direction Home does in more detail, and of course can't bring together the Music as Scorcese's documentary did. The portion on 1956-60 is however great in showing Bob's early influences and you learn about his love of Little Richard and so on.
In conclusion, a great great scrapbook for completists and collectors and those who want to learn about this fascinating period and who know little. For those who want more indepth info, get Chronicles and watch Dont Look Back and No Direction Home
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Bob Dylan Scrapbook
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Fantastic. I felt like a kid in a sweetie shop. Lots of little bits to pull out and look at, tickets stubs, promo flyers, for any real Dylan fan, this is a must.
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His Back Pages, Front Pages & Everything Inbetween
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This book is an extraordinary volume, arriving in a hard slipcase and giving you the kind of tactile thrill not experienced since those childhood days of pop-up books! For the Dylan completist it is a must have! The care and attention to detail and the sheer craftsmanship involved in its production is immense, every page brings a surprise: ticket stubs, posters, facsimile news pages, publicity cut outs, carefully copied lyric sheets that are eminently frameable, all held in delicate envelopes and attached with masking tape that's obviously all been prepared by hand. One hopes it's not piece time from the football sewing child-labour factories of Asia, but it undoubtedly makes you feel you are handling something unique! It seems as though no expense has been spared. For example, instead of just printing a series of photos of Dylan and Baez, you get a neatly stapled little photo album, elsewhere contact sheets, and even the 'normally' printed photographs are superb, many never published before. There is a childish delight in accessing the sheer cornucopian variety of stuff the book holds neatly in its pages. The CD is great and gives full versions of the revealing (for Dylan anyway!) interview with his manager from 2001 that peppered the Scorsese film as well as a selection of historical encounters. Surprisingly, given the riches of the extras and the delights of the presentation, the text is pretty good and accurate too! I notice it sells for $45 in the States, so £18 is a bit of a bargain. Go on, treat yourself to an early Christmas gift; for the price of a takeaway or a round of drinks you will have yourself your very own precious Dylan archive. (If you buy a takeaway too, you rich people, give your fingers a good wipe before touching this book, there are too many delicate treasures within to be ruined by sticky fingers!)
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Easy to look at, hard to define
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This is a beautifully produced book - full of photos never seen before, facsimiles of handwritten lyrics, concert programmes, tickets, publicity stickers...Unfortunately the text is rather plodding and merely rehashes previous biographies and interviews - which prevents it getting five stars from me.
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