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Dylan: Visions, Portraits, and Back Pages

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A compelling collection of intimate photographs, many never before published, accompanied by detailed articles, essays, and captions, pay tribute to the illustrious career of musician-songwriter Bob Dylan, from 1965 to the present day.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

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Mark Blake

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5 stars
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38 (33%)
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13 (11%)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Melissa.
199 reviews66 followers
December 28, 2008
This book is very interesting for the Bob Dylan fan, especially for its many amazing photographs. Published just before the appearance of Dylan's Modern Times, it collects material written over the decades in the British music magazine MOJO. The chapters are brief and tightly focused on specific topics, so it's possible to range around in the book at random or else follow up a particular interest. Most of the writing addresses the music, though there's also quite a bit on Bob's personal history, and the occasional typical attempt to tie the two together. I found the comments from the photographers quite interesting, as well as info about recording sessions offered by studio musicians and sound engineers. Getting a British perspective was also refreshing at times.
Profile Image for Michael.
338 reviews3 followers
September 1, 2009
Provides a variety of unique perspectives in regards to Dylan's transformations over the years individually and how this is reflected in his overall work through the decades. A variety of interesting pics. And yes I am a sucker for things like a list of his "top 100 songs," The additional aspect of this top 100 is the additional comments provided by a variety of artists.
Profile Image for Jennifer (formerly Eccentric Muse).
537 reviews1,054 followers
January 3, 2009
OK, not great; too much focus on his personal life. I really don't care that he has a fondness for black women and those with big boobs.

Beyond that, the most annoying thing about this book was its design. I found it unbelievably hard to read because of the graphics, with type spread over top of the pictures, and a 6-pt font size used throughout. So I ended up mostly looking at the pictures; not a particularly satisfying experience.
1 review
August 16, 2009
somehow I've become a serious Bob Dyaln fan in the past few years. This book is articles and photos from Mojo magazine, mostly covering the 60's and 70's. Fun to look and browse but not much depth
Profile Image for Christopher Mathis.
23 reviews
May 8, 2013
I've skimmed this guide many, many times and it always absorbs me. A great introductory for some. A wonderful companion for the true die hard fans.
Profile Image for Pete daPixie.
1,505 reviews3 followers
June 9, 2017
I've danced beneath the diamond sky for over fifty years and watched this great artist play live in each of the previous six decades, and still have one hand wavin' free.
In all that time I feel that I've read all there is to read from all the Dylanologist publications. Maybe it was once again seeing Dylan at Liverpool's Arena recently that caused my eye to pick out this book off the library shelf.
The British Mojo music magazine and Dorling Kindersley published 'Dylan' in 2005 and chronicles his life and music career from Café Wha? to 'World Gone Wrong'. Contributions from a host of mainly British music jounalists and with many brilliant photographs this should appeal to those new to Zimmy's art as well as old heads, whose senses have been stripped down the foggy ruins of time.
My only beef concerns the font size of the text (and there's a lot of text) in these 280 pages.
Profile Image for Lorenzo.
57 reviews
March 2, 2016
An interesting read, not completely pro Dylan I would say. I'm a Bob's fan and everything he made is just awesome. I think a biography on such an artist doesn't have to say bad things on some (too many) of his albums. He hasn't written bad music. Just pearls.
55 reviews2 followers
September 19, 2007
Large, lots of great pictures and work... obviously only for Dylanites, as this is no entry work.
Profile Image for Jacque Bona.
171 reviews5 followers
August 16, 2009
Beautiful photographic as well as informative book. This is one of the first books I bought on Bob Dylan. I still page through it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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