Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia

by Oliver Trager, Billboard Books (Manufactured by)

An encyclopedic resource on one of the world's most important musical artists and songwriters furnishes a definitive overview of Dylan's complete recorded work, as well as analyses of each work's place in Dylan's career, critical entries on each of the songs, biographical sketches of the musicians and songwriters with whom he has associated, and more. Original.

Genres: Music

768 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weighty collection listing the albums and songs Dylan has written, performed, and recorded, is worthy if not quite as definitive as it claims in the subtitle.

Scanning the list from A to Z leads to an amazing awareneness of the depth and breadth of Dylan's legacy in music, literature, culture, and religion.. Trager includes the many songs that Dylan has sung in concerts and performed with other artists, and spends a fair amount of time documenting these artists and songwriters lives and place in music history, and Dylan's reach is so great that this coverage could nearly stand as a general-purpose encylopedia of folk, jazz, blues, country, and popular music in the 20th century. It will certainly give Dylan fans an introduction and connection point to all these genres and their greatest artists and songs.

Dylan fans, of whom I count myself among the many and most intense, will also learn many new and interesting facts from this guide:

--The album "Love and Theft" was released on September 11, 2001.

--The Ramones have covered "My Back Pages."

--"Joey", Dylan's tale of a misunderstood gangster from the 'Desire" album, was based on a real life mafia don who was murdered in New York City in 1962.

--In nomination for the lowest point in celelbrity vanity recordings, may I present this nomination: "Sebastian Cabot, Actor--Bob Dylan, P:oet" (1967).

--In support of my contention that Dylan before, during, and after his Christian conversion has always been (perhaps primarily?) a deeply spiritual song writer, may I present this cover album: The Brothers and Sisters of Los Angeles, "Dylan Gospel" (1969).

Trager provides useful reference information for each entry, including headers with the recording dates and musicians and technicians on albums, the Dylan and cover albums and release dates on which songs appear, and biographical sketches with birth and death dates for songwriters and artists mentioned with each song. In the text of each song entry, Trager mentions generally the tours and years in which the songs were sung in concert, and mentions Dylan's frequent song lyric and musical tempo and style reworkings. He also provides descriptions of the recording circumstances around most of the albums and songs, and some idea of contemporary critical review and literary analysis, as well as providing his own capsule reviews.

While these are interesting, the books value as a reference work, might be enhanced by paring down the analysis and, reviews (heaven knows there are plenty of those surrounding Dylan's work, many of which Trager lists in a bibliography at the back). The space thus saved could be used for more exhaustive listings of song performance dates.

In a reference of this size, fact-checking is critical, and Trager and his editing team got it mostly right. I found one obvious error: The entry for the song "Step it up and Go" is incorrectedly attributed to the "World Gone Wrong" album, even though other entries reference the song correctly to "Good as I've Been to You." Trager also mentions Christopher Rick's valuable study "Dylan's Visions of Sin" (see my review there) in an entry, but does not include it in the bibliography.

This book would also make a valuable companion to the "Bob Dylan Complete Discography" (see my review there).

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's a fuckin bob dylan encyclopedia. need i say more?

[michael]

he's insane