Chronicles: Volume One (Chronicles)
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Chronicles: Volume One (Chronicles) description
One would not anticipate a conventional memoir from Bob Dylan--indeed, one would not have foreseen an autobiography at all from the pen of the notoriously private legend. What Chronicles: Volume 1 delivers is an odd but ultimately illuminating memoir that is as impulsive, eccentric, and inspired as Dylan's greatest music. Eschewing chronology and skipping over most of the "highlights" that his many biographers have assigned him, Dylan drifts and rambles through his tale, amplifying a series of major and minor epiphanies. If you're interested in a behind-the-scenes look at his encounters with the Beatles, look elsewhere. Dylan describes the sensation of hearing the group's "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on the radio, but devotes far more ink to a Louisiana shopkeeper named Sun Pie, who tells him, "I think all the good in the world might already been done" and sells him a World's Greatest Grandpa bumper sticker. Dylan certainly sticks to his own agenda--a newspaper article about journeymen heavyweights Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis and soul singer Joe Tex's appearance on The Tonight Show inspire heartfelt musings, and yet the 1963 assassination of John Kennedy prompts nary a word from the era's greatest protest singer. For all the small revelations (it turns out he's been a big fan of Barry Goldwater, Mickey Rourke, and Ice-T), there are eye-opening disclosures, including his confession that a large portion of his recorded output was designed to alienate his audience and free him from the burden of being a "the voice of a generation." Off the beaten path as it is, Chronicles is nevertheless an astonishing achievement. As revelatory in its own way as Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61 Revisited, it provides ephemeral insights into the mind one of the most significant artistic voices of the 20th century while creating a completely new set of mysteries. --Steven Stolder |
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Chronicles: Volume One (Chronicles) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Bob's Brain
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I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that Bob Dylan's autobiography is all over the place. Chronologically, thematically, stylistically, it jumps from places to place, scene to scene, tangent to tangent. That, and the brilliance of Dylan's writing, is its greatest strength. While other biographers could have written a more competent and traditional portrait of Bob Dylan the historic figure, this book gives us a peak into Dylan's head like no other could.
Yes, it's frustrating. At times Dylan comes across as overly self-conscious, at others defensive. And overall the book is fairly assumptive--readers who know nothing about Dylan will be at a loss in certain parts. He recalls ridiculous minutiae from seemingly unimportant days (the weather, a guy across the street in a yellow jacket, a car driving by playing a Paula Abdul song), but what we're left with is an impressionistic painting of Dylan's mind. The book is more a biography of his intellectual development and artistic inspiration than a re-telling of his life. He addresses his fame and the difficulty of maintaining his privacy. He covers his relationships with certain other musicians and producers. And, most interestingly, he gives his take on his role in the counterculture movement. He states that he never was, never claimed to be, and never wanted to be the voice of a generation, and his resentment toward those who felt betrayed by him comes through clearly.
CHRONICLES is not the story of Bob Dylan's life. If you're looking for a book about his career and the impact he had on popular music, this is not it. Rather, it is everything that a typical biography of him would not include. And for all its structural idiosyncrasies, it includes some wonderfully poetic lines. One might say it is vintage Bob Dylan.
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