The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence Review

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The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence ReviewI've overdosed on Bob Dylan books (have read over 50 of them) to the point where I haven't read one in a couple years. Most discuss interpretations of Dylan's songs from the author's viewpoint (no better than yours when it comes to Dylan), others rehash biographical information that's been around for years. So I almost passed on this excellent book by Derek Barker; I sure am glad I didn't. What pushed me into buying it that I have a great interest in Bob's live performances of traditional and folk covers that he did in the late 80's and early 90's, like the songs from "Good As I Been To You" and "World Gone Wrong", but not limited to just those on the albums. In what is arguably the nadir of Dylan's live shows (where he often butchered his own songs) he would throw in these amazing chestnuts like "Lakes Of Pontchartrain", "Trail Of The Buffalo", "Eileen Aroon", "Barbara Allen" and many others. Many of these covers were only performed once or a few times. If you listen to the live recordings from this half decade you can find this gold amid much other dross. What this book did for me is illuminate the history of all these songs, and every other cover song Dylan recorded or played live. It tells who wrote the original song, where Bob probably heard them and when he played the song live (or at least the first and most recent time). For the hardcore fan this is completely fascinating. It had me pulling out my spindles of live cd's hoping that I had some of these recordings. Quite a lot of us like Dylan for his voice, not in spite of it. Bob Dylan is a great singer and, amazingly enough, these non-Dylan songs are a big part of Bob's legacy. The work in this book is meticulous and obviously a labor of love. It covers almost 50 years! Only someone who has lived and breathed Bob Dylan for decades would care or dare to take on this project and Derek Barker does it admirably.The Songs He Didn't Write: Bob Dylan Under the Influence OverviewEncyclopedic and exhaustive, this guide to the more than500 songs Bob Dylan has covered, in concert or on record, details the history of each song and offersan explanation of how he came to perform them. His masterful interpretations range from the more obvious blues, country, folk, and gospel recordings to contemporary writers such as Warren Zevon and John Hiatt. In addition to the listing of these covered songs, this compendium also includes a lengthy section detailing all of the remaining tracks that Dylan has written for others, but which remain unrecorded by the man himself.

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Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited Review

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Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited ReviewClinton Heylin's revised edition of Behind the Shades is, at this point, the definitive Dylan biography, and is not likely to be surpassed anytime soon. In spite of it's comparative neglect in relation to Sounes' Down the Highway (published almost simultaneously, to coincide with Dylan's 60th birthday), Heylin's book is a more informative and rewarding book.
In tone, Heylin's writing is not as journalistic as Sounes', and more judgmental of Dylan as artist and musician. It draws heavily on interview material with associates and friends of Dylan's, and is significant in giving detailed attention to Dylan's career in the 80's and 90's, which is necessary for anyone seeking to understand Dylan's recent critical resurgence.
Based on his knowledge as the world's pre-eminent Dylan scholar, Heylin gives extensive commentary on Dylan's albums and their recording, a process he has given even greater attention to in his companion book Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions (1994). This is one of the major differences between Heylin's book and Sounes'. Sounes does not focus so much on Dylan as a musician or even Dylan as a lyricist. Sounes' biography is more, well, biographical, providing tons of anecdotal accounts of Dylan's life and travels, while missing the point - Dylan matters because of his music and his lyrics above all else. His life, so cloaked in mystery and seclusion, is a mystery, and will remain so. A recording artist is ultimately most communicative through their recordings - through what they are, what they're not, and how they are presented to the artist's audience. Sounes attempts to fill in the mystery of Dylan's life, which is ultimately an impossible task, at the expense of communicating any real understanding of his music.
Heylin's biography is also superior in that it draws on an extensive knowledge of Dylan's unreleased recordings. When dealing with a subject whose own officially released canon is so often poorly representative of his recording career, Heylin's knowledge is wide-ranging and intensely critical. An informed and considered discussion of Dylan's unreleased recordings, which are in many cases superior to those he has chosen to issue, is especially important when examining Dylan's 1980's output, a series of albums sometimes marred primarily by the choices of which songs and takes of songs to include on the released albums. Sounes barely acknowledges the existence of important unreleased recordings, and that diminishes the importance of his biography considerably.
Sounes' one trump over Heylin's biography is the much-publicized revelation of Dylan's second marriage. How important this biographical detail is to understanding or appreciating Dylan's music, however, is very debatable. If you are looking for an easily-readable, readily-digestable account of Dylan's life with little detailed discussion of his music, go for the Sounes bio. Otherwise, Heylin's Behind the Shades, especially in its new revised edition, is the real deal and is the preeminant Dylan bio. Highly recommended.Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited Overview

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Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards Review

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Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards ReviewAl Kooper has been rightly called the "Forrest Gump" of rock and roll. Throughout the 60's and 70's he seemed to turn up as a producer or band member with the right group of musicians until he either checked out of a band (the first electric Bob Dylan tour in 1965) or was thrown out (Blood, Sweat and Tears). Over the course of 40 years he's amassed an amazing amount of experiences that he's collected in Backstage Passes and Back Stabbing Bastards. This is the third edition of his music biography first published in 1979, then updated in the mid-90's, and now reissued covering 1998 to the present. "BP&BB" reads very much like a long-form interview you'd see in Rolling Stone (when it was good) or MOJO (always good). While he's never quite gone beyond cult figure status on his own, behind the scenes he's worked with some legends, most notably Bob Dylan and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Dylan pops up at various times throughout the book and Al's stories about him are alternately revealing but mostly hilarious. It was Dylan who gave Kooper his "calling card" to rock stardom when he overruled producer Tom Wilson and turned up the organist on "Like a Rolling Stone". The organist was Kooper, who'd BS'd his way onto the session and only jumped on the organ (an instrument he couldn't turn on let alone play) when Mike Bloomfield showed up and shattered Kooper's guitar hero dreams just by tuning up. That session would be both a blessing and a curse for Kooper, who got a ton of session work from producers looking for "that Dylan sound" but left Al wanting something more substantive musically. Enter Dylan, who dragged him onstage at the legendary Newport Folk Festival when he went electric. Al sets the record straight on that show and has a much different version of the event than the history books because he was RIGHT THERE. He was also "right there" when Bob went to Nashville to record "Blonde on Blonde". Al's relationship with Dylan has certainly evolved over the years and from his stories you get the impression that Bob's been doing everything he can to run away from his legacy instead of embracing it.
From there, he joined the Blues Project until they imploded. Organized and performed at Monterey Pop, then formed Blood Sweat and Tears until he was ousted by their drummer following their debut album. That might be the end of the story right? Wrong! Taking the phrase "if you can't beat `em, join `em" to heart, he became a staff producer at CBS Records under "Captain Clive" Davis. His first project would be the legendary "Super Session" album with Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. Kooper's work with "Bloomers' is a case of missed opportunities, when things were good with him they were very good. They would produce 3 albums together but Mike could be exasperating to deal with. He only appeared on ½ of "SS" and "The Live Adventures", leaving suddenly midway through both due to chronic insomnia and/or a heroin addiction that eventually took his life.
After leaving CBS, he relocated to Atlanta with the idea of forming his own record label (ala` Phil Walden at Capricorn Records). While scouting local talent he spotted a guitar army from Jacksonville and "Sounds of the South's" first artist was Lynyrd Skynyrd. LS seem to have a love/hate relationship with Kooper. While grateful for producing their first 3 albums (as well as hits like "Free Bird", "Gimme 3 Steps" and "Sweet Home Alabama") his production methods seemed to soften the powerhouse sound they had live. It's no wonder he was immortalized as "Mr. Yankee Slicker" in the song "Workin' for MCA".
The one story I wished he'd expanded on was playing with Jimi Hendrix on "Electric Ladyland". They'd met at Monterey Pop and Al received one of Jimi's Strats as a thank-you for his work. That guitar would prove to be more trouble than it was worth later on.
The last 10 years have been something of a rough road for Al. He became an associate professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, became a grandfather, and endured a long recovery from a debilitating eye disorder. But he's still out playing live (with his academic colleagues no less!) and his dry wit is still there, can't wait for volume 4!
Highly recommended!
Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards OverviewÂA rock 'n roll classic, back in print, updated and revised.ÂÂOne of the funniest rock memoirs ever, Al Kooper's legendary ÂBackstage Passes is available again! Al's quirkly life, from would'be teenage rocker, to crashing Bob Dylan's recording session and playing the organ on ÂHighway 61Â, to forming Blood, Sweat, and Tears and masterminding the Super Sessions, it's all here...plus, in this updated version, Al rides with us all the way back to the end of the 20th century. There has never been a more wickedly humorous and honest book by a man who has made such rock history.

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