By Clinton Heylin - Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994 (1997-03-30) [Paperback]

by Clinton Heylin

A comprehensive listing and evaluation of all of the legendary musician's recording sessions includes information on every song Dylan ever recorded, and a list of accompanying musicians

Genres: Music, History, Music Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review title: The art at the heart of the studio

Bob Dylan is the greatest musician in popular music (I'm a huge fan, as you may know from my reviews of his music and books about him, and by my frequent references to his lyrics in other book reviews). Millions of words have been spilled about his songs, his lyrics, his life, his politics, from every possible angle. Heylin takes on the task of documenting every Dylan recording studio session up to 1993 "World Gone Wrong" album.

Good on Heylin for tackling such a thankless task, which involved lots of research in studio and record company vaults poring over old session charts, raw tape, mix-downs, and bootlegs. The collected mass of the data documents Dylan's strength and weaknesses as a studio musician. The first half of his career he was famous for recording half-finished or undocumented songs in single takes with studio musicians trying to keep up with the (undocumented and constantly changing) chord and lyric changes. When the system works, it results in great live performances captured to tape. Heylin documents the ups and downs of the processes, including Dylan's begrudging transition to multi-track recording, overdubbing, and professional record producers beginning in the 1980s. This track record of live sessions and frequent last-minute changes helps explain the intense popularity and size of the cottage industry of Dylan bootleg recordings from those sessions not officially released.

However, I can only give Heylin's work a middling rating for two reasons: First the topic is so specialized that only the core of the Dylan fan base will find it worth the time working through the arcania here. Casual fans will nod off along the way. Second, while this is essentially a reference work, that demands the dispassionate collation of data, Heylin takes a polemic approach, making bold statements and sharp retorts to other critics with whom he disagrees, which are most. When it comes to Dylan, everyone's a critic, so it is hard to be too hard on Heylin, except that this work especially calls for dispassion. The reader, responding emotionally to Heylin's polemics, may be distracted from the information he is trying to present.

Also, as a reference work, while Heylin lists the musicians at each session, he fails to include an index of musicians so they can easily be found. He includes some reproductions of session charts, but not all. He does include indexes of song titles for both Dylan songs and covers.

For now, if you really love Dylan and want to know more about his approach to studio recording, scan Heylin to see if you can tolerate the opinionated delivery.

[Michiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book might indeed go a bit too far for the casual reader, but why would any casual reader pick up a book like this? For anyone prepared to dive face first into the undertow of Dylan's recording catalogue, Clinton Heylin's book delivers plenty of interesting information. By not belaboring the obvious, like many other compendiums do, the book remains compact and readable. The fact that Clinton Heylin seems to be prepared to start a feud every other page seems only natural to me for someone with such dedication.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a bit out of date at this point, considering some of the questions that have been answered by the ongoing official Dylan bootleg series. But this is especially interesting for anyone who wants an overview of how Dylan recorded his masterpieces, who he worked with in the studio, and what he intended to do with the material recorded at the sessions. Because it stops at 1994, the book misses Dylan's brilliant late-career renaissance that began with "Time out of Mind" in 1997. Otherwise, fun for browsing, and guaranteed to send you back to the albums for yet another listen.

[Carl Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative book for nerds (like me) that enjoy reading about Bob the Barb and the process behind his recording sessions. Clinton Heylin delves deeply into the albums recorded, discussing which songs (or version of the song) made it and which ones landed on the floor. There is also a detailed list of the musicians, producers, and engineers used at each sessions. I highly recommend this reference-type book, for those who enjoy this stuff.

[Will Lashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clinton Heylin has written a number of books about Bob Dylan. I find "Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994" the most useful as a reference book. It is not without some flaws, however, chief among them Heylin's continual second guessing of what Dylan "should have done" in his sessions. Heylin delights in the unreleased gems, like "Blind Willie McTell" recorded for the "Infidels" album in 1983, but left off the release, and dismisses many songs out of hand. It is very clear that he cares more about composition than execution (he seems to have some "ideal" standard of comparison), but with Dylan the two are not easily separated. Still, just following Heylin sorting out the various session players and getting a glimpse into Dylan's creative process which often involves composing in the midst of the sessions makes listening to the albums again feel a bit like recapturing the experience of first hearing the songs, that first exploration. I wish he had interviewed the sidemen more extensively. This book is not as exhaustive (or at times overwrought) as the two volumes Heylin wrote analysing every song by Dylan, "Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan: Vol. 1: 1957–73" and "Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan: Vol. 2: 1974–2008", and it would need to be updated to include Dylan's studio work after the two solo "roots" recordings "Good As I Been To You" and "World Gone Wrong", which Heylin dismisses, to be definitive in any sense. I doubt that will ever happen, given that so much of the material from these years in the recording studio has been released now in the "Bootleg Sessions" series. The best way to read "The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994" is to look at it as what Dylan felt he wanted to release at the time. For both Heylin and the reader, that involves some head scratching.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should probably be a 3 1/2 star book and most likely recommended for Dylan fans only, as opposed to those with a more casual interest. Heylin provides a rare glimpse of Dylan in the studio, and a simple, but critically sound and direct analysis of what he recorded and released on each of his albums up to 1994.

[Ken French · Rating 2 out of 5]

If, like me, you want to know as much as you can about Dylan's recordings, you have to get a copy of this. But that means reading endless badly-written diatribes against Dylan and whomever else Heylin dislikes. Apparently, it's okay for Heylin to prefer the original "Blood on the Tracks" recordings, but for Greil Marcus to prefer the acoustic "Blind Willie McTell" is, to quote Heylin, "wrong."

[Adam Carrico · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of the way this book is written at all. Each recording session is covered with a lot of bias about which versions are best, which just makes it slightly annoying to read through. It works best as a reference guide for hardcore Dylan fans going through bootlegs.

[Stephen Hebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only knock on this comprehensive guide to Dylan's recording sessions is that it stops in 1994. I would love to see an updated edition...

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interesting in the recording sessions of most of Bob Dylan's career, then this book is for you. Heylin needs to do an updated edition as Dylan is still active in the studio.

[Hamish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great, but all too brief. Also in dire need of a post 94 upgrade.