Here it goes: You've fallen for Bob Dylan, hard, or The Beatles, or the Rolling Stones. But you don't want to appear totally clueless about the life and tunes of these classic acts, so you want to bone up a little on their storied histories. Where to go first?
The good folks at Rough Guides — best known for their travel books — have an answer for you, in their handy-dandy line of music books. Two of the newest are The Rough Guide To The Rolling Stones and a revised second edition of their excellent Rough Guide To Bob Dylan. Both may not cover every note and chorus of careers that've stretched 40 years (and counting!), but they're groovy sum-ups that'll please new and old fans alike.
The format of both books (and other books on The Beatles and Pink Floyd) is the same – a walk through the bands' history, followed by a critical complete discography and a list of the acts' 50 greatest songs, and polished off by a look at books, movies, guides to rarities and other trivia and curiosities.
The Dylan book is just the tip of the iceberg of Dylan-related literature, but author Nigel Williamson does his best to untangle Dylan's myths and mystery. Dylan remains enigmatic, but Williamson gives us a lot to consider. His take is opinionated without being arrogant, and his views of the albums are even-handed: "Highway 61 Revisited … is the album that invented attitude and raised it to an art form," while the woebegone '80s disc Down In The Groove is "frankly atrocious."
It doesn't include this year's Modern Times, released too late to add, but everything else is pretty comprehensive. From a look at Dylan's bootleg vaults to discussions of the history behind his protest songs, Williamson crafts an excellent overview of an enormous life. Collaborators and influences such as Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and The Band also get their due. Once you've read this, you'll want to dig into the dozens of other Dylan tomes out there as well, which are handily listed as well in this guide.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Great review--I've always wondered about the quality of these Rough Guides, but you have me convinced they're worth buying.
2 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
3 - Henry Rychlicki
.........Hello:
... I enjoy reading everything there is to know when it comes to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the rest, because music shapes my life, I live through their writings, which tell tales of life love and dance..
...Lv Henry Joseph Rychlicki The Author x0ox0o
4 - Lulu
"The Early Years" chapter on Dylan has quite a few errors, calling Duluth a "small mining town" (it is a port) and describing Hibbing as built on the Western shore of Lake Superior (which describes Duluth). Dylan's father Abe was stricken with polio and THEN lost his job, not vice veersa (p. 6). The mines in Hibbinig are "open pit", not "open cast" (p. 7). The mine in Hibbing is Hill Rust (not Hull Rust). Just a few examples. I'd read Robert Sheltons book, "No Direction Home", for a comprehensive and ACCURATE history.