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Bob Dylan Performing Artist 1974-1986 The Middle Years
Discusses the evolution of Dylan’s style and concerns. The most informed interpretation available of Dylan’s mature work. B/w photos.
334 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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96 people want to read
About the author
Paul Williams
50 books8 followersLibrarian note: There is more than one author on goodreads by this name.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 17, 2014
In November of 2010 I picked up a book on Dylan called Bob Dylan Performing Artist 1986-2001, the last of a three book series (so far) written by Paul Williams (founder of Crawdaddy! magazine). I managed to read the book in the spring of next year and I was really impressed with his writing style which includes many observations on performing and art and a whole logical and personal philosophy about it. I searched long and far in the depths of the Internet for the other two books that precede it.
Finally, in the early July of 2012, I got my hands on the part 2 of the series, describing the period from 1974-1986, roughly starting slightly before the recording of the album Blood on the Tracks and ending with a brief glimpse of the album Knocked Out Loaded. I started reading it immediately and I was quite pleased with the first fifty or so pages, but because it was the last book I bought before acquiring a Kindle I was lured away by the prospect of reading any book I want. And so the book stood there in my room and what's more, it stood glaring at me from the shiny position of "books still reading" on the goodreads list.
So, this summer I decided to give it a go, a bit frightful I wouldn't like it at all because a lot of changes in thinking happen in 2 years. I wasn't disappointed with the content, but it didn't engage me as much as the previous book (probably something to do with greater familiarity and affection towards the recent Dylan material) when I downloaded a few bootleg concerts just to see what the author was experiencing. This time, I even found myself skipping certain recordings descriptions. I'm getting too old for this stuff, my Internet too slow and my Dylan fanaticism too refined (I guess).
Paul Williams did a great job with this book and I really recommend it to all Dylan fans.
Finally, in the early July of 2012, I got my hands on the part 2 of the series, describing the period from 1974-1986, roughly starting slightly before the recording of the album Blood on the Tracks and ending with a brief glimpse of the album Knocked Out Loaded. I started reading it immediately and I was quite pleased with the first fifty or so pages, but because it was the last book I bought before acquiring a Kindle I was lured away by the prospect of reading any book I want. And so the book stood there in my room and what's more, it stood glaring at me from the shiny position of "books still reading" on the goodreads list.
So, this summer I decided to give it a go, a bit frightful I wouldn't like it at all because a lot of changes in thinking happen in 2 years. I wasn't disappointed with the content, but it didn't engage me as much as the previous book (probably something to do with greater familiarity and affection towards the recent Dylan material) when I downloaded a few bootleg concerts just to see what the author was experiencing. This time, I even found myself skipping certain recordings descriptions. I'm getting too old for this stuff, my Internet too slow and my Dylan fanaticism too refined (I guess).
Paul Williams did a great job with this book and I really recommend it to all Dylan fans.
July 18, 2022
this guy gets it
February 9, 2008
Williams sometimes borders on fanatical, but his enthusiasm, attention to detail, and unique perspective of Dylan -- not primarily as a songwriter, but as a performing artist -- makes this book series a must for any serious Dylanphile.
February 29, 2024
Dylan Performs?
Paul Williams, along with Clinton Heylin, is a chronicler of Dylan - he is as expert on Dylan's performance as Heylin is on his recordings - and both men are mad as snakes. They not only take Dylan seriously but obsessively, religiously seriously - that's why neither blinks when Dylan loses his marbles for Jesus - it reflects their own religious obsession with a rather bizarre, talented Jew from Hibbing.
After all the blubbing about genius, Williams does offer genuine insight into the art of performance and those of his Saint Bob. Well, I have seen Dylan a few times live and most of this never occurred to me. Often, just my luck, Bob seemed about engaged in his performances as I do in mowing the lawn. He seemed to harbour contempt for the audience (1974 Band tour, 1978 Street Legal tour - I can't remember if I saw him again, as he seemed to gargle Draino in 1986). Yet Williams knows better. He revels in his voice, his bands, his spontaneity, his art. Me, I think it's a bit much. But there is pleasure in reading Williams similar to reading Heylin - they venerate Bob so much, they MUST be right about his genius. I admit to having skipped 1979-81, to avoid the Jew for Jesus evangelism of that period, but I have listened and they are both right - Dylan is genuinely wonderful live and on record (at times) in ways I was bowled over by. But I came away from this hugely detailed chronicle of performances unconvinced - Dylan is a lazy, surly man with huge talent and originality, but to call him a great performer - I don't think so. Sometimes, but by no means, not now and not even, then.
Paul Williams, along with Clinton Heylin, is a chronicler of Dylan - he is as expert on Dylan's performance as Heylin is on his recordings - and both men are mad as snakes. They not only take Dylan seriously but obsessively, religiously seriously - that's why neither blinks when Dylan loses his marbles for Jesus - it reflects their own religious obsession with a rather bizarre, talented Jew from Hibbing.
After all the blubbing about genius, Williams does offer genuine insight into the art of performance and those of his Saint Bob. Well, I have seen Dylan a few times live and most of this never occurred to me. Often, just my luck, Bob seemed about engaged in his performances as I do in mowing the lawn. He seemed to harbour contempt for the audience (1974 Band tour, 1978 Street Legal tour - I can't remember if I saw him again, as he seemed to gargle Draino in 1986). Yet Williams knows better. He revels in his voice, his bands, his spontaneity, his art. Me, I think it's a bit much. But there is pleasure in reading Williams similar to reading Heylin - they venerate Bob so much, they MUST be right about his genius. I admit to having skipped 1979-81, to avoid the Jew for Jesus evangelism of that period, but I have listened and they are both right - Dylan is genuinely wonderful live and on record (at times) in ways I was bowled over by. But I came away from this hugely detailed chronicle of performances unconvinced - Dylan is a lazy, surly man with huge talent and originality, but to call him a great performer - I don't think so. Sometimes, but by no means, not now and not even, then.
December 24, 2018
An excellent guide for anyone willing to do a close listen to Dylan's performances during this quality-whiplash period of excellence and dross. (Over several months, I listened to albums and followed the lyrics while reading this book; I found Williams' judgments very useful.) Williams can be overly generous, his devotion to "Renaldo and Clara" is inexplicable and his takes on concert tours/tapes are a service to history but not always to readers. Still, he was among the best Dylan commentators.
December 17, 2016
Paul Williams has a grasp on the Dylan-cult that has emerged since the mid to late 90s. Not only that, but Williams may have a larger hand in his Bobness' success than anyone since Al Grossman, kind of like Beethoven's critics creating a whole genre (Romanticism) around guessing one composer's next move.
Amidst its fandom and spiritualism, _Performing Artist_ remains an honest critique of Ludwig van Zimmerman's work during the period when so many questions emerged. For some reason, the archetypes of the Jewish singer/songwriter (Cohen, Reed, Dylan) all took a turn toward the woozy from 1974-1986.
Because of the dark horse nature of the period, the best parts of the book emerge from the Street-Legal stuff onward. I only wish Paul Williams, who campaigned tirelessly for electric Dylan after Newport, were around to tell us about the man's latest incarnation. Aznavour-does-Sinatra? Johnny Mercer for folkies?
Amidst its fandom and spiritualism, _Performing Artist_ remains an honest critique of Ludwig van Zimmerman's work during the period when so many questions emerged. For some reason, the archetypes of the Jewish singer/songwriter (Cohen, Reed, Dylan) all took a turn toward the woozy from 1974-1986.
Because of the dark horse nature of the period, the best parts of the book emerge from the Street-Legal stuff onward. I only wish Paul Williams, who campaigned tirelessly for electric Dylan after Newport, were around to tell us about the man's latest incarnation. Aznavour-does-Sinatra? Johnny Mercer for folkies?
February 27, 2009
Williams has a great point - Dylan was never about his recordings. Face it - most of them sound like hell. Dylan was about performing. How else could he remain so essential, while singing Tangled Up in Blue for the bazillionth time? Plus, he makes Street Legal seem like an essential collection. How's that for wizardry?
January 25, 2015
Amazingly connects to the act of performance, Williams loves his subject. He is passionate. He riffs on Dylan's various performances, reminding us just how wonderful the voices of Bob Dylan are. At times, he grows a tad ethereal, but for the most part he listens closely and he has worthwhile insights to share concerning Dylan as singer, songwriter, and performer.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews