Bob Dylan: The Early Years: A Retrospective

Craig McGregor's edited collection is more than 35 years old, yet seems fresher and more balanced than many Dylan-worship items issued in today's marketplace. The book contains a wonderful range of items, starting with Robert Shelton's famous "New York Times" review in September 1961 that drew attention to the unknown performer and ending with an early 1970s essay by Wilfrid Mellers which meanders but is occasionally brilliant. Between these works are worthwhile interviews and feature articles by writers such as Nat Hentoff, Paul Nelson, Ralph G. Gleason, Robert Christgau, Lillian Roxon, and Nora Ephron. Some of the best Dylan interviews done by Jon Landau and John Cohen & Happy Traum are included, as are interesting items such as the New York Times articles announcing Dylan's motorcycle accident and related cancelation of a concert at Yale. The book is arranged chronologically, with Dylan's albums serving as the organizing framework. Overall, the book covers the key period of Dylan's career (though certainly by no means the only productive or important phase of his artistry), and it gives the reader a clear idea of changing public perceptions of Dylan, as well as Dylan's own remarkable development and transformation as a writer, singer, and performer. The book is well worth tracking down.

This book compiles much of the best writing done about Bob Dylan in the '60's, when he was in the midst of what is perhaps the greatest burst of creativity by a musical artist in this century. Includes interviews from the Village Voice and Playboy, and lengthy, perceptive essays on an artist whose music holds up to infinite levels of analysis. The rather dated quality of these essays and interviews is what gives them their beauty. These articles were written when all of this was new and no one knew where he was going or where he would take us. Dylan was not the grizzled bluesman he is today, but an absolute force of nature in his mid twenties; a kid from Minnesota who became the axis of popular culture. It is generally acknowledged that the directions that rock took in the '60's sprang directly from him. And he often changed directions every few months. For example, John Wesley Harding, released at the height of the psychedelic era, was a quiet, acoustic album, which in turn led the Beatles toward a similar sound for the White Album