My opinions of Bob Dylan have always been conflicted… I have always enjoyed his early recordings but have been mystified by his post-1970 output.  As I have aged, I have come to understand the extremely important role he holds in popular music and American culture.  This realization has brought me to put more effort into understanding his music and the easiest way for me to interface better with an artist’s output is with hearing the story behind it. After researching the myriad of book options available on the life of Bob Dylan, I’ve decided to start with the one written by the man himself.

Dylan’s writing is powerful, yet still conversational.  Throughout the book I felt as if I was chatting with him over dinner.  His tone is of someone who is reluctantly, sometimes self-possessedly, getting things off his chest.  The book was not as structured as I had expected… but having known something of his past, as everyone does, I should have expected the books structure would be a bit abstract.  My main surprise was that he jumps around his life, each chapter a different time period which is not clearly defined.  I, like many fans, were hoping for Volume One to chronicle his life before fame and his early career much like Martin Scorsese’s film No Direction Home.

The book is broken up into 5 parts.  Here is a guide to give you an idea of exactly what periods he covers.

1.  Making up the Score (takes place in 1961 soon after signing on with John Hammond)

2.  The Lost Land (continues the narrative from the previous chapter with more scenes from 1961 and flashes of his upbringing)

3.  New Morning (focuses on the recording of the album of same name – recorded 1970)

4.  Oh Mercy (focuses on the writing and recording of the album of the same name – 1987-89)

5.  River of Ice (takes place in 1962 right after making his first Demos with Lou Levy of Leeds Music with more flashbacks)

It seems like years pass while Dylan is telling his story, and in some ways, they do as he gets sidetracked and gives little glimpses of his upbringing or his pre-NY life.  The highlights there are info on his upbringing in Hibbing MN, his brief stop-off in Minneapolis/ Dinky Town before he took the train to New York City.  He also touches upon his experiences in early Rock N’ Roll bands which give you a little more insight into his musical influences.  Those portions were of most interest to me as I have first-hand knowledge of that geography, being from Minnesota myself.  Mainly though, he is engaged in telling the story of when he first arrived in New York or, in the case of chapters 2 & 3, what happened during the recording of two of his post-1960’s.  Dylan gives little info on his family members, probably out of respect for his and their privacy.  He doesn’t really talk much about his parents and only mentions his wife in passing.  Only 4-5 years of his life are covered in the book (plus bits and pieces of his pre-NY life.)  Some of my favorite parts of the book are when Dylan makes references to things or events that are more recent.  For example he, at one point, references the classic Dylan book Invisible Republic by music writer Greil Marcus… Or when he tells the story of his failed attempt to retrieve Woody Guthrie’s unused song lyrics and he goes on to (almost bitterly) report that those lyrics were used 37 years later by Billy Bragg & Wilco for Mermaid Avenue Volumes 1 & 2.

What is left is a tremendous amount of ground for him to cover and, considering this is supposed to be a 3 part series.  As a reader, I worry that he won’t finish it or at least get to the most interesting bits.

It’s obvious that Dylan is a great artist, on par with the great painters or classical composers.  In fact he seems at times to be the complete embodiment of the archetype.  He is a man that is extremely creative, self-absorbed to a fault, 100% left brain.  I found myself wondering if he had been born in a different time if he would have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, considering his behavior at times.  He even seems to portray himself as quite the narcissist, but then again what artist or musician isn’t at least a bit of one?  One of the things that struck me about Dylan was the shear amount of powerful cultural figures he crossed paths with, so much so he almost seems like a magnet for brilliant people.

In the end I was left a little disappointed.   Although the book is enjoyable it doesn’t even scratch the surface of what Dylan has to offer. If you have a curiosity for this fellow I would suggest reading a biography (not an auto-)… although I do not have a specific one to suggest.  Beyond that is the wonderful documentary I mentioned before, directed by Martin Scorsese.  In the end though, even that cuts off a little abruptly and doesn’t cover him past his late 60′s material.

A wonderful audio accompaniment to this book (for at least the NYC chapters) is The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (buy it /listen to it) that Columbia Records released last year.  Consuming them together is an ideal way to do it but alone it sheds a lot of light on the kind of material he built his style on… mainly a lot of old folk and blues songs.

This Biography on Elvis Costello was written by Brit music journalist Graeme Thomson and published in 2006.  Thomson is no stranger to the music biopic as he has written books on a couple of other luminaries such as Kate Bush and Willie Nelson.  He has also written for Esquire, MOJO, Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Time Out magazines.

This book brought me along on a journey through Costello’s recorded output and shined a light on his background.  The book has its weaknesses just like any, in particular my major complaints would be it wasn’t detailed enough and it was a pretty straight chronological reporting of his life up to 2004.  The major setback for the author was his inability to land an interview with the subject of the biography.  Even though the book suffers from not getting some imput directly from “the horse’s mouth” per say, he does a pretty good job reconstructing Costello’s history through other source material.  He then very resourcefully and resoundingly relies upon interviews with the other characters in Costello’s life and the deep catalog of established interviews and other material published over Costello’s then 30 year career in the music business.  The author focuses quite a bit on Costello’s the countless live shows and tours he has ventured on throughout the years, and although the information is much appreciated it gets a little heavy when he brings up slight set list changes that happened between dates.

The book very happily enlightened me to many aspects and happenings in Costello’s life.  I had always been a very cursory fan of Elvis since first hearing his music in the later 80′s, but I had become more and more interested after continuing to hear new and compelling compositions from him throughout the years.  Through this book I was able to re-experience his music from the beginning and give myself a depth of knowledge to what was going on in the background while all this wonderful music was being created and performed.  Among the aspects of Elvis’s life that gets a lot of coverage (much to his chagrin) is his romantic life.  From Elvis’s failed first marriage to Mary, to his high-profile affair with Bebe Buell, and beyond to his unofficial marriage to former Pogue Cait O’Riordan and finally up to date with his current wife jazz pianist Diana Krall.  Now, I’m totally understanding to his personal right to privacy in these matters but you have to understand that the friction from these relationships makes up the majority of the emotional backbone to his music.

Other great focuses are his surprising influences (Country-Western), his professional relationship with Stiff Records co-founder and eventual manager Jake Riviera, his early public abrasive-ness including his bout with the media in 1979 after an incident in which a drunken Elvis uttered some offensive racial slurs to members of the Stephen Stills band.

Overall in the face of a few short comings it is an insightful and enjoyable read which I would suggest to any one who considers themselves of Elvis Costello fan.

Usually I would follow a book review up with a playlist to highlight the music covered in the book, but because of the wealth of great material I will be posting a series of playlists split by distinct eras.  Stay tuned.

First of all, this book first published in 1981 was not written by Robert Palmer, the singer that brought you the hit song “Addicted to Love”.  The Robert Palmer that wrote this book was a distinguished music journalist from the 1970s to the 1990s.  He covered music for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and many other publications alongside his two non-fiction music books:  Deep Blues and Rock & Roll: an Unruly History. Palmer died in 1997 leaving behind a large body of work including his work in music production, film, and his own music, of which this book is his crowning achievement.  Palmer is a hugely important music journalist as he bridged the gap between rock journalism and ethnomusicology.  He had a unique perspective as a talented and successful musician in his own right who was able to hang with the rocks greats while still giving you an insight into the history of the subject he was covering.  Beyond that short intro I would direct those that want to find out more about him to this link if it so pleases.

The books caption, “A Musical and Cultural History, From The Mississippi Delta to Chicago’s South Side to the World”  actually sums up the books composition quite well.   Among the cast of characters that is covered in the book is Muddy Waters, which Palmer relies on heavily on to move along his telling of the Blues history.  The term “Deep Blues” is actually something that Muddy used to describe blues of high emotional quality which was highly influenced by the sounds coming from the Mississippi Delta.  Palmer picked up on this and his interview with Muddy act as the backbone of this book. 

The book is split into 5 sections:  a prologue, three main parts and an epilogue.  The prologue acts as an overview of the musical form.  Part I delves deeply into the genesis of the form and its original practitioners.  Palmer also focuses heavily on one of the Blues most interesting and important early figures, Charley Patton.  Part II then focuses on the next big player in the history of the blues, Robert Johnson.  One of the major draws of this book is the detailed history of Patton and Johnson, who previously and still are to a certain extent, mysteries.  Also covered in part two is Muddy Waters, and early Chicago Blues.  In Part III things get a little more involved, starting with the history of the highly influential radio program King Biscuit Time at Helena, Arkansas radio station KFFA. That radio program then acts as a connection point for the next handful of the musicians that are covered in this part of the book, as most of them played on the program at some point or played with the programs original stars Aleck “Rice” Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson II) and Robert Lockwood Jr.  Among those that are covered are the two aforementioned players and Little Walter, Junior Wells, Elmore James, and Jimmy Rogers.  This part continues covering the Blues from Memphis and the early recordings made by Sam Phillips at the Sun Records Studio.  This includes brief coverage of Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm, B.B. King, Albert King and Howlin’ Wolf.  The epilogue then ties up some loose ends with some of the previously covered characters, then spreads out and covers Blues players from some other areas including John Lee Hooker, Son Seals, and Otis Rush.  The epilogue also rounds the book out with some discussion of how the Blues influenced music across the world. 

In my opinion the book is on the list of must reads when it comes to material on the history of music.  It was one of the first to shed some light on such an uncovered genre with its extremely mysterious beginnings.  Those parts of the book that deal with the early history the Blues are some of its most compelling material.  I should also mention that the book is in no way a definitive look at the genre.  It is pretty focused in what it covers which is a gritty / country Mississippi Delta born blues.   With that being said there are some very large blind spots including the early blues from the eastern states also known as “Piedmont Blues” or any of the jazz based city blues of the 20′s and 30s’.  Also not given much attention is the Blues that came out of Texas or Louisiana.  My only real negative critique of the book is that it is a little abstract in its structure.  Palmer really jumps around a lot and it was hard to take all that information in when it is presented in such a disorganized manner. 

In 1991 Robert Palmer along with Director Robert Mugge released a similarly entitled film, Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads as a companion to the book.  The film mostly covers the Blues musicians that were still performing that kind of Delta influenced music in the late 80s and early 90s, along with little bits and pieces of history from Robert himself.  In addition to Palmers two main published books, there is also the recently published collection of his work called Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer if you are interested in sampling more of his works.

I would like to offer two playlists specially selected to act as musical companions to this book and my review of it, linked below.

Deep Blues:  Part 1 – Mississippi Delta to Chicago
Deep Blues:  Part 2 – Chicago & Beyond

It was always inevitable that I eventually would pick up some Lester Bangs, seeing as he could be considered the king of all music snobs and is one of the most influential figures in music criticism.  Best known for his album reviews in Rolling Stone and the more underground Creem, Bangs starting getting published in 1969 and was still working all the way up to his death in 1982.  Lester started writing on Rock N Roll just as the hippie dream of the sixties was dying.  For Lester the 70's were a tough time for music but a great time to establish himself as an eccentric music critic.  By the time he had made a name for himself by blasting the music industries status quo, Punk (a term that he has said to have coined) started bubbling out from under America's rough urban areas.  Punk rock was visceral and exciting and he wasted no lime wading into the thick of it.  By the time of his tragic death in 1982 Lester was still truckin', albeit a little less enthusiastically as he had to adjust to another shift in popular music  – this time the "new wave". 

Lester's comes from an unconventional place as he wrote record reviews and cultural critiques that were influenced by drugs, drink and the beat authors whom he read heavily in his early years.  Surprising at first, as it usually doesn't have much of a form.  Instead of giving you straight criticism of albums or bands, Lester tells you a story, or come from the opposite angle completely by employing fake praise and searing sarcasm.  Additionally Lester had a rather inconsistent view point at times and if you look at his writing as a whole you will find many contradictions.  He would constantly flip flop on certain bands, or write a cultural piece that would come in clear conflict to other things he had said or written.  Definitely a complicated and talented figure.  I found his writing for the most part to be funny, confrontational, insightful and extremely bizarre.  While most of it is enjoyable, a lot of it comes off as over complicated, muddled, confusing and completely absurd. 

This book in particular is far from a complete work.  It is just a collection that was edited and compiled by Lester's friend and colleague Greil Marcus.  Marcus took great pains to sift through Lester's  unfinished scraps and unpublished works to include along with his selections from published writing.  The works are not presented chronologically as one might expect they are put in sequence by shared themes.  The bands you will find material here are Lester's staple groups such as Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, Richard Hell, Rod Stewart, and some more obscure garage rock bands such as Question Mark and The Mysterians, and the Troggs (just to name a few).  You will also find some great criticism of David Bowie, James Taylor, Grand Funk Railroad, The Guess Who, and again Lou Reed.  The segments on Lou Reed are some of the most enjoyable in the book, as you read all about Lester's love/hate relationship with this artist.  Particularly great is Lester's depictions of several of interviews between the two in which they go back and forth being incredibly insulting to each other.  

For those who are looking to go beyond the definitive collection of Lester's writing, you can find a more expanded compendium of his writing in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste:  A Lester Bangs Reader.  In addition there is also a biography available entitled Let It Blurt:  The Life and Times of Lester Bangs – America's Greatest Rock Critic by Jim Derogatis.

I also included a playlist featuring a bunch of songs that were discussed in the book or that I know to be some of Lester's favorites.  Towards the end of the list as an added bonus is 5 tracks from Lester Bangs himself as he produced and recorded some music towards the end of this life.  If you can not see the embedded playlist below, follow this link.