The Dylan Companion

by Elizabeth Thomson, David Gutman (Editor)

"To this day, wherever great rock music is being made, there is the shadow of Bob Dylan," said Bruce Springsteen at the induction of Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Or to quote John Rockwell, "Anyone who didn't live through the sixties simply cannot realize how important his albums seemed then; they defined a community." Dylan is a musical, literary, political, and religious icon whose lyrics and mystique have spawned countless articles and books. The Dylan Companion is a generous helping of the best, most pungent, and most insightful commentary on Dylan from all phases of his career right up to the personal recollections and professional assessments from the likes of Ken Kesey, Greil Marcus, Joan Baez, Andrew Motion, Lester Bangs, Kurt Loder, Allen Ginsberg, Pauline Kael, Geoff Dyer, Simon Winchester, and Robert Christgau -- over fifty pieces celebrating the sixty-year-old performer who somehow manages to stay forever young.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Elizabeth (Liz) Thomson, a widely published journalist and frequent broadcaster, studied music at the University of Liverpool. For many years she pursued a dual career, reporting on the international publishing trade by day and the arts by night. She has lectured on both publishing and music, and has conducted platform interviews at literary festivals around the world. A contributor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, she is the editor (with David Gutman) of critical anthologies on John Lennon, Bob Dylan and David Bowie, and the author of a 40-year celebration of Chickenshed, the ground-breaking London-based theater company. She is the revising editor of New York Times critic Robert Shelton’s biography of Bob Dylan.

Thomson has been a Visiting Fellow of the Open University Sixties Research Group and is the co-founder of a folk music charity, Square Roots Productions. She is also the founder and executive producer of The Village Trip, an annual arts and music festival celebrating the history and heritage of Greenwich Village.

Thomson’s attendance at Joan Baez concerts spans fifty years, and includes reporting on the live recordings for Ring Them Bells in New York.

Reviews

[Darin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was in high school, I was given this book. I became a big fan of Bob Dylan during my teens. This book collects selections from biographys, newspaper clippings, and quotes about Dylan from his the early part of his career through the early 90's. This includes snippets from Robert Shelton's writings to Bruce Springsteen's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction speech for Dylan. Most of the book is praise for the man's career, but there are occasional reviews that are not positive. Overall, it shows the strong influence Dylan has had throughout his life by showcasing what has been written about him over the years.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection offers an odd mix. There's some very good stuff here, from scholarly analyses of Dylan to excoriations of him, but there's also some piffle and some stuff the relevance of which is unclear (e.g. an article about the Isle of Wight festival that barely mentions Dylan), and some things you'd expect that are not here (e.g. anything about Newport). Mixed bag, but occasionally very good.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection of articles, reviews and commentary about Bob over the course the first 3o years of his career (1961-1990) that does more that scratch the surface of enigmatic artist. There are hundreds of books on Dylan, but for the newcomer this might be a good place to start.

[Wes Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

some real gems, article-wise. Dylan is done due diligence!