Greil Marcus über Bob Dylan

by Greil Marcus

His foremost interpreter revisits more than forty years of listening to Dylan - weaving individual moods and moments into a brilliant history of their changing times.

The book begins in Berkeley in 1968, and ends with a piece on Dylan's show at the University of Minnesota on election night 2008. In between are moments of euphoric discovery: from Marcus' sleeve notes for the 1967 Basement Tapes to his exploration of Dylan's reimagining of the American experience in 1997's Time Out of Mind. And rejection; Marcus's Rolling Stone piece on Dylan's album Self Portrait -- often referred to as the most famous record review ever written -- began with 'What is this shit?' and led to his departure from the magazine for five years. Marcus follows not only recordings but performances. books, movies, and all manner of highways and byways in which Bob Dylan has made himself felt in our culture.

Together, the dozens of pieces collected here comprise a portrait of how, throughout his career, Bob Dylan has drawn upon and reinvented the landscape of American song, its myths and choruses, heroes and villains. They are the result of more than forty years' engagement between an unparalleled artist and a uniquely acute listener.

Genres: Music, Biography, Essays, History, Nonfiction, Criticism, Journalism

640 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2010

About the author

Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. In recent years he has taught at Berkeley, Princeton, Minnesota, NYU, and the New School in New York. He lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who has read reviews of classic albums written at the time of their release understands how fascinatingly wrong contemporary writers can be when faced with the monumental albums we take for granted. The music world loves the story of the artist who enacted such a sea change that they were panned upon release only to be heralded in hindsight: laughing about those music executives that passed on The Beatles, smirking at those who felt Radiohead let everyone down with Kid A, stunned at the punk fans who disowned Suicide; and no artist has the seismic, potentially fan-alienating shifts as Dylan from his "shot heard round the world" of going electric at Newport, complete vocal change with Nashville Skyline, mid-70's resurgence, late 70's Christian albums, and late period stunners starting in the 90's. What is so fascinating about Marcus's writings throughout such a large period is his consistency in covering such an inconsistent topic as its happening. His views don't really evolve over the expansive period as much as they build on one another, his opinions solid from word one and in no need of hindsight's revision.
The book would be a great pleasure for Dylan fans just for this matter, to see such consistent and contemporary writing following a legend in the years following his most legendary period, but the greatest pleasure of this collection is just being able to see such a true-hearted fan follow his passion through so many stages. It makes a strange sort of sense that this book kicks off with his now-famous review of Dylan's terrible Self-Portrait, an scorned fan essay bemoaning his hero's first truly shit album. We get to feel the excitement when Dylan is great again in the mid-seventies, to see back to back reviews of The Last Waltz (first a first person account, then an approving review of Scorsese's film version), the confusion of hearing his christian albums, a fan who has given up on his hero in the 80's while choosing to reflect on earlier works, and the ever-increasing excitement beginning in the 90's as Dylan starts making some of the most important music of his career.
Marcus is always readable, and always enjoyable. To feel so close to him with these fan-logs is a great pleasure for those driven to agony and ecstasy when following an artist who once (and more) opened one's heart.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Marcus' book on the way Dylan emerges from Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes (1997). Unfortunately, Marcus changed that book's title to "The Old Weird America" when it was republished as a paperback. This had been the title of the Smith chapter from Invisible Republic, a title Marcus appropriated from a phrase of Kenneth Rexroth's, "the old free America." Rexroth was talking about the midwestern culture of the pre-first world war that he and Carl Sandburg shared; Marcus appropriates it to reflect on the occult orders in American song. No one evades poetry more profitably than Marcus. That Marcus may have followed Wilfred Mellers in reflecting on Dock Boggs is just one curio to be found from being handsy with Bob Dylan: Writings, 1968-2010 for a few hours; while not all of them are as sanguine an intellectual provocation as this, Marcus does call Paul Nelson "a great critic," which is.

Marcus famously began his Rolling Stone review of Dylan's Self-Portrait: "What is this shit?" A wonderful exordium; what lore of this stance doesn't reveal, however, as this volume of writings about Dylan does, is that the twenty-odd page review that follows is every bit the indulgent hodgepodge he claimed Dylan's recording is. It's unreadable. To begin a volume of Dylan journalism with such a review is a disaster, as is its follow-up, a review of New Morning, in the Times, that recants the earlier, charter scruple. Readers quickly infer that what Marcus is trying to instruct us in is rock criticism's founding gestures. They are mock indignant outrage and corruptibility; I probably should add that I'm a somewhat limited reader of these gestures, because to me, more perhaps than to most, they are cliches. By the time I get to the curious bit on Mellers (rejected by The New York Review of Books) I've concluded that 1.) the NYRB had good reason to reject it; 2.) Mellers must have reminded GM to write his own Invisible Republic, after all; and 3.) much that Marcus has written about Dylan has to be bracketed in relation to the texts -- Mystery Train and Invisible Republic -- I've admired.

[Amit Gairola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice collection of articles and musings that trace Dylan’s career.

[Patrick D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t hate all books by Marcus; his History in 10 songs, and Basement Tapes books are very solid. However… His Dylan devoted book is irksome. He harshly disses other people’s writings about Dylan—weirdly possessive. Reads like an old guy who still thinks he’s a 20 year old. And, in all his books, he has this habit of lowercasing the g in Gie, as if to say, I’m an atheist and don’t you forget it! Again, juvenile.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more of a biography (should have checked more thoroughly) but this is simply a compilation, chronological, of everything (however superficial) that Marcus has written about Dylan over the years. It was actually tiresome much of the time but I kept reading because—on occasion—an excellent piece of writing would emerge. By including every little snippet, Marcus went the lazy route or perhaps the egotistical route, thinking every word he writes is golden? So you’ll have to wade through the dreck to get to maybe a dozen things worth reading. If you’re patient. Since I was reading it in my Nook, I would read as much as I could take (skimming a lot, I confess), then put it away for a few days or few weeks. In the end I’m glad I worked through it because it imperfectly dealt with the exploding, waning, and reemergent importance of Dylan. Which is more than I’ve found elsewhere (although I haven’t been looking hard). My suspicion is this is just a rehash book issued to make some money. Color me disappointed but only mildly regretful to have taken the intermittent time to read/skim this book.

[Blog on Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

There may be no more thorough chronicler over the four decades of Bob Dylan's musical life, than one of America's top rock writers, Greil Marcus. Marcus, the Berkeley-based former Rolling Stone editor and author has covered Dylan since the sixties and in this book "Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus: Writings 1968-2010," (Public Affairs) the author serves as editor, compiling every last article - from Stone to the Village Voice to the long-forgotten New West magazine - to paint an intensely detailed portrait of his reflections of the folk-poet/rock-bard through every single permutation of his epic career.

It is no secret that Marcus has been wrestling with Dylan's demons (and output) for years and this granular anthology captures all the ups and downs of the largely one-way relationship. From Marcus's early discoveries of Dylan's glory in the 60's folk heyday to the ups and downs of the post "Blood On the Tracks" Dylan, that has been described by some as that "other" Bob. Through it all, it is a pleasure not just to evaluate the work, but to do so in the context of the times they (both the music and the critiques) were originally written. Much like Marcus's Van Morrison career purview from earlier this year, "Writings" is a rollercoaster ride to be sure, but one that is nice to finally experience all in one place.

[M. Sarki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty poor writing by a guy who makes more money than I do by doing what he obviously loves. His writing just isn't interesting, no matter the topic, or maybe it is that Greil Marcus just isn't. I read what I could and had to let it go. Bob Dylan is worth better than this clown gives us, no matter that Pitchfork says otherwise.

[Srđan Strajnić · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knjiga Grejla Markusa sadrži sve tekstove o Dilanu koje je ovaj napisao od 1968 kad se pojavio prvi tekst do 2010 kada je objavljena. Nastavio je Grejl Markus da piše o Dilanu i posle 2010 ali ti tekstovi verovatno čekaju drugi tom ove knjige. U njoj se nalaze ne samo tekstovi o Dilanu, već i oni u kojima se Dilan samo pominje, pa čak i oni u kojima se uopšte ne pominje, ali se bave temama iz njegovog okruženja. Nije ovo nikakva autobiografska knjiga iako se dosta toga može naučiti o Dilanu iz perioda koji knjiga obuhvata i nije laka za čitanje jer tekstovi jesu hronološki poređani, redosledom kako su objavljivani, ali njihov sadržaj često nije, tako da je potrebno uložiti napor da bi se pratili, kao što je potrebno imati predznanja o Dilanu i njegovom delu. Odmah pada u oči da Dilanov najkreativniji period iz šezdesetih nije ušao u knjigu, iz prostog razloga što je Markus, koji je rođen 1945, počeo da piše kritike i komentare 1968 godine. Nije ušlo ni poslednjih petnaest godina koje mnogi smatraju vrlo bitnim u njegovoj karijeri, a i ono što je ušlo, često nije vrednovano kako treba, bar po uvreženom mišljenju.

Mislim da je ovu knjigu Markus kompilirao pre svega zbog sebe, da bi na jednom mestu imao sve što je napisao o Dilanu rečenih godina. U suprotnom, morao bi da prekopava po starim novinama i magazinima i po internet stranicama, što uopšte nije praktično. Srećom, bio je pošten i nije preskakao tekstove koji nisu izdržali sud vremena, pa imamo uvid i u njegove loše i u dobre procene. Kritičar ima težak zadatak da prvi nešto kaže o novoj ploči, filmu, knjizi i nije redak slučaj da pogreši u proceni. To se, u slučaju novinskih članaka ili internet tekstova brzo zaboravlja, ali kad se objavi u knjizi ostaje zauvek. Dugo već čitam ovu knjigu pa mi je teško da se setim svih tih grešaka, ali mi se čini da je grešio u vezi Dilanovih albuma s početka devedesetih (ona dva albuma obrada), koje je uzdizao u nebesa a pokazalo se da nisu toliko bitni (iako, dok pišem, nisam najsigurniji da sam u pravu po ovom pitanju). Ni jedan od najboljih Dilanovih albuma „Blood On The Tracks“ nije, bar po mom mišljenju, dovoljno hvalio kad je tek izašao, ali je koliko se sećam kasnije promenio mišljenje. Često je bio namerno provokativan, kao u onoj čuvenoj recenziji albuma „Selfportrait“ koja počinje rečenicom „Kakvo je ovo sranje?“(„What is this shit?“). Mnogi mu zameraju na čestim digresijama koje je teško pratiti, ali meni je to sasvim OK, tim pre što one pomažu da se stvari stave u širi kulturni kontekst. Gomilu referenci je takođe naporno pratiti, ali za ljude zainteresovane za taj širi kontekst one su pravo blago. U mane mu ubrajam nepotrebno detaljisanje kad se radi o ne toliko bitnim stvarima, kao što je esej na desetak strana o Dilanovoj gimnaziju u Hibingu, Minesonta, s tim da se Dilan u tekstu jedva pominje, ali se zato upoznajemo sa istorijatom i arhitekturom te zgrade do najsitnijih detalja. S druge strane, detaljisanje oko „Antologije američke folk muzike“ Harija Smita mi se svidelo mada se u tom podužem tekstu Dilan ne pominje, kao i tekst o grupi „The Band“ koja je u bitnim trenucima njegove karijere pratila Boba Dilana. Svideo mi se i esej o pesmi „Desolation Row“ mada se sa svojih desetak strana čini predugačak.

Dakle, u ovoj knjizi sve vrline i mane Grejla Markusa kao pisca i kritičara ogoljene su nepovezanošću tih pojedinačnih tekstova ali za one koji vole Markusa i Dilana ili obojicu, svakako nije gubitak vremena pročitati je. Olakšava stvari i to što se može čitati na preskok, poput nekakve enciklopedije a da se ništa ne izgubi. Može se čitati i po potrebi. Moja preporuka bi ukratko glasila: samo za ljubitelje i proučavaoce lika i dela.

[Damiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Posso dare appena tre stelle risicate a questo libro (scaricato nell'ambito dell'iniziativa Solidarietà digitale ormai quasi cinque anni fa), nonostante fossi davvero interessata a conoscere Bob Dylan e la sua carriera musicale.
L'autore di questa raccolta di articoli non riesce a scrivere in modo intelligibile e il suo stile contorto ne rende la lettura incomprensibile. Mi sarei aspettata un libro sulla musica di Bob Dylan e invece se ne parla solo superficialmente o attraverso aneddoti il più delle volte indecifrabili. Sembra quasi un libro sulle opinioni di vita dell'autore o su come dovrebbe essere la musica popolare americana. Inoltre, i testi riportati non riguardano Dylan direttamente, basta che il suo nome appaia solo una volta per vedere l'articolo in questione incluso in questo libro. Qualcuno potrebbe ritenere questo libro una presa in giro, se non addirittura una fregatura.

[Terry Varner-Benge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky to happen upon this book in a little free library in my neighborhood. However, it is so thick, I wasn’t sure I would ever read it but once I started, I’m glad I did! This book opened my eyes to a lot more than just Bob Dylan. I learned about other artists and other songs that I wasn’t aware of before, as well as historical events in music and politics, and Greil Marcus is a very creative critiquer. Poetic even.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal collection of music writing; even the work that doesn't seem to focus on Dylan directly only adds to the overall coloring Marcus gives to so monumental a man. In terms of focus, I'm entirely glad that a good amount of writing here focuses on the not-so-good years of Dylan's career; I'm inspired to give these overlooked records another spin.

[Chuck Kreuser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of articles written about Bob Dylan from the 70s on. Read as a single book, it’s a funny chronicle not just of the lackluster albums and triumphant comebacks Dylan had in that time, but a timeline of random “Dylan News” - new biographies, The Last Waltz, We Are The World, The Wallflowers - the evolution of his legacy which occasionally includes the music he continues to make.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naturally the longer pieces are the most satisfying but even GM’s brief Top Ten trinkets can dazzle and make one think. This guy is a treasure.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blunt force criticism, swollen and violet.

[Bob Peru · Rating 4 out of 5]

kind of a hater of 80’s dylan.

[Allan Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable enough, but too much is only tangentially (at best) about Dylan.

Good to read the full review of Self Portrait though. I went many years thinking the opening four lines were it.

[James Klagge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I doubt Greil Marcus is a pleasant person, and I don't often agree with him, but he is well worth reading when it comes to Bob Dylan, rock music, blues, or old-time music. He knows a huge amount, and always has an opinion. He is very much a critic--in that he is very judgemental. I suppose that is not surprising, since he is basically paid to have an opinion. He is an intelligent music listener, which I aspire to be. He knows a lot about history, influences, social context, resonances--things that make music more meaningful for me. He seems often to write to impress, in that he makes allusions and assumptions that sometimes leave the reader (me, anyway) behind. This book is a collection of essays, most of them reviews, from over 40 years. It is not a book about that 40 years of music written in retrospect. If it were written in retrospect I expect it would be less strikingly judgemental.
It is interesting to compare GM to another music critic I enjoy reading--Paul Williams. Reading PW in the mid-1990's made me into the fan I am of Bob Dylan (and later Neil Young). But you might almost say PW is a cheerleader (or proselytizer) as much as a critic. His approach seems often to be finding what value he can in most anything (by Dylan). He wrote a multi-volume account of Dylan as a performing artist--v. 1 (1960-1973), v. 2 (1974-1986), v. 3 (1986-essentially 1990). (He has had to discontinue the series because of failing mental health.) 1986-1990 is considered to be perhaps Dylan's fallowest period, yet PW devoted a whole volume to it, where most would virtually skip over it. Reading his v. 2 was what made me a Dylan fan, especially his discussion of the music from 1975-1983. He finds much to love in this era of Dylan's work (which includes the much-maligned "Christian phase"). He tries to understand Dylan through empathizing with him, or trying to see what Dylan saw. GM dislikes huge swaths of Dylan's work--such as, basically, 1975-1996. There is little he appreciates between Blood on the Tracks of 1974 and Time Out of Time from 1997. He worships the 3 albums from 1964-1966 (Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde). Those are two very different ways of approaching writing about an artist. I suppose they both have their role, which is why I read both. But I enjoy reading PW. I can't quite say I enjoy reading GM. I endure reading GM (endure the negativity and the arrogance or condescension) for the wisdom I can find in GM. You might say PW writes about the feelings evoked in him by his listening experiences. That feels like the difference--though maybe I haven't captured the difference correctly.
I got this book as a birthday present from my parents. I had seen that GM was speaking at the Akron Public Library, and I asked them if they'd go (and sit through his lecture) and buy the book and have him autograph it for me--which they did. How many parents in their 80's would do that? I enjoy collecting signed books. His signature is perhaps indicative of his self--it is a large illegible scrawl that looks like nothing so much as GOD, or perhaps COD. (Don't ask me how that could be his signature, but it must be, since it is directly below the words "to Jim". The only signature I have that is equally illegible is that of Gorbachev, which is written in cursive Cyrillic.) Reading GM is like witnessing God on the Judgement Day. Reading PW is like being with the Intercessor.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find myself less awed by Marcus' prose and his (occasionally ponderous) tangents than I used to be. But one of my favorite writers writing about my favorite musician over the course of more than 40 years? Yes, please. There's so much here that I'd never read before, particularly much of the stuff from the '70s, that by the time I reached the more familiar entries, they read like new. Even the pieces that seem unrelated help contextualize Marcus' take on Dylan, while also being themselves contextualized by virtue of inclusion in this book.

Another bonus is that the book really benefits from the timeline of Marcus' own career. While Dylan's '60s work necessarily hovers over this book, reappearing throughout as context rather than as primary subject matter, there's something refreshing about a book that concentrates mostly on Dylan's career after his early peak. That more than half of Marcus' book comes from the last decade or so is actually its main strength, and Marcus makes a compelling (if implicit) case that the '00s may have been Dylan's second-finest decade of work. In tracing Dylan's late-career rejuvenation to his solo folk excursions of the early '90s, Marcus makes much sense of Dylan's wonderful, surprising Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times without making them seem any less mysterious.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of his many articles, reviews, etc. dealing with Bob Dylan. Some of the more interesting pieces are only partially about Dylan, such as a good essay about "The myth of the open road" in American music (Springsteen, Bob Seger, Chuck Berry.........).

The besetting vice of any column collection is repetitiveness. Most of us have only so many ideas. I'm sure that if I had read these at the pace at which they were published, a few per year, it would have been fine, but going back to back makes skimming a must (I get it, you love "Like a Rolling Stone" and hate the albums he made after converting to evangelical Christianity).

I am actually not a big Bob Dylan fan -- picked this up at a book swap thinking it might help me make sense of what I consider the central dilemma of his career; why is this guy a performer rather than a songwriter only? I'd climb a thousand walls to hear Jennifer Warnes sing "Sign on the Window", and I'd cross the street to avoid hearing Bob Dylan sing it. Same with "When I paint my masterpiece" (The Band), "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Warren Zevon) and many more.

Along these lines, the author occasionally acknowledges that Dylan's voice isn't for everyone, but that's about it.

[Jerry Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marcus can make me crazy with his pretensions and his opinions and the way he can go on and on and on but at the same time I wouldn't miss reading one his books...what can I say? He's a lot like his subject. I might not like everything he puts out but it's always worth reading - or listening to.
Even when Greil Marcus doesn't like a song, that doesn't mean he won't come around and change his mind even years later when it reaches him for some reason.
There probably isn't anyone one writing who understands and appreciates his Bobness more than Marcus when it comes right down to it. And I always want to keep on reading and put more Bob on the stereo.
Great book, great writer. Don’t always agree with his assessments and critique of Dylan’s work but compelling reading nonetheless. There are concert tours and albums that Marcus gives zero time to that are some of his greatest moments to me as a hardcore Dylan fan who faves some of his quirkier performances. I’m curious how the author would feel about Dylan’s last three Sinatra based albums, by far the hardest albums for me to appreciate. Here’s hoping Greil writes the next volume on Dylan in a few years after Bob has a chance to put out a couple albums of new original material once again!

[Drew]

For lovers of books about music, take a look at: Pitchfork's 60 best music books: http://p4k.in/qbMu65

Plenty of good stuff here including two by Greil Marcus, Miles Davis' Autobiography, Revolution in the Head, England's Dreaming, Lester Bangs' collected works, Bob Dylan's Chronicles. I was a bit surprised to see Daniel J. Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human ObsessionThis Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, which I found pretty banal in terms of its "insights", but many of the others are firm favourites.

By the way: I've not read this yet but as there isn't a way to add an update that isn't tied to a book I thought I'd hijack the Dylan tome.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greil Marcus has been writing about Bob Dylan for over forty years. ! This 400+ tome is a chronological selection of articles, reviews, musings, and fragments he has written about Dylan (or subjects touching on Dylan, or in rare cases that just mention him in passing but which still belong in the book). It doesn't include anything from the whole books he has written on Dylan ("Invisible Republic" aka "Old Weird America", about the Basement Tapes, or his one about "Like a Rolling Stone" or his masterpiece "Mystery Train", which has a huge chunk about The Band, which would be relevent here -- this book just contains short pieces. I read every page. He always has something to say that adds to my understanding of Mr. Dylan and the people and world around him. Just like one can keep finding new things in Dylan's music, even after hearing a song a few hundred times, I find that in Marcus, there is always gold to be found.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Mystery Train and The Doors better than this book. Probably would have enjoyed this more if I were more acquainted with Dylan's lyrics. Having not lived through the '60s, I have kind of always viewed Bob Dylan as someone who started a revolution of sorts and then got rich and comfortable later. He even says in Chronicles that he wanted the picket fence just like everyone else. (He called the cops on some hippies when they broke into his house. What happened to your revolution Bob? I thought it was all about love and peace. Hmm...) I always thought the '60s counterculture was really a scam to get girls and drugs--aka Bill Clinton. But, they did have way better music then than we do now for sure. So, it wasn't a total bust.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to read this one out of duty more than anything; lots of pieces in here I didn't' remember reading when they first appeared (lots I did). But I ended up enjoying a lot more than I expected to. I'll probably pick up a used or remainder copy. :) There are a few pieces in here I'd like to come back to, such as the longer piece about Harry Smith. But some Marcus flaws can really wear on you. The style is hyperbolic and the judgements often too extreme. Still, if you're a person like me, it's pretty much a Must Read.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific book.

I am, admittedly, a Dylan fanatic. But don't be put off by the subject even if you are not a fan of Dylan's music. Greil Marcus uses the music as a lens to examine American culture and human nature in a manner that is utterly brilliant.

One great artist shares his take on the work of another--and in the process brings insight, illumination, and inspiration to the reader.

[Charity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcus compiled years of material on he had written on Dylan for this book. The pieces crossing the decades offer wonderful samplings of the impact of Dylan and the things that impacted him. Thoughtful and insightful reviews that delve into the music, the culture, and the history that influences Dylan.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so good, 2.0. I was expecting w biography and the book is mainly in-depth analysis of Dylan's music over the decades with much reproduction of Marcus's writing on the topic over the years. Interesting at times but I was disappointed and actually just skimmed a lot the the last third of the book.

[Roderick Mcgillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the price of admission for the essay on the road in American literature and music and for the overview of the song "Masters of War." Some of the shorter pieces are forgettable and Marcus's prose is often too precious for my liking. But finally this is a book filled with interesting bits of history and some fascinating insights.

[Guillaume · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'auteur est d'une pédanterie très désagréable, le livre est complètement déstructuré et on en ressort sans en avoir appris plus sur Bob Dylan et sa musique. Par contre Greil Marcus nous a bien fait sentir et comprendre que lui, il s'y connait.
Deux étoiles parce que je garde en mémoire un chapitre qui surnage et que j'ai apprécié.
En tout cas, je le déconseille franchement.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of repetition and, being familiar with Marcus' writing, it gets to be a little bit of a drag in times, but in small bits, I have always enjoyed his insights and the knowledge that he shares within his articles. These tidbits are why I continue to read musical critiques, as I often found myself going out and looking up some songs and artists that I had not heard before or in awhile.