Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary

by Tim Riley

Hard Rain ranges over thirty years of Bob Dylan's recordings, films, and concerts to deliver astute insights into—and sometimes heretical judgements of—his prodigious corpus of work. This updated edition includes a new epilogue that examines Dylan's thirtieth anniversary celebration in 1992; his albums Good As I Been to You, World Gone Wrong, and Time Out of Mind; his 1997 performance before the Pope; and his 1998 Grammy Award comeback. The result is unparalleled rock criticism.

Genres: Music, Poetry

378 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

NPR CRITIC, AUTHOR, PIANIST, and SPEAKER TIM RILEY reviews pop and classical music for NPR's HERE AND NOW, and has written for the HUFFINGTON POST, THE WASHINGTON POST, SLATE.COM and SALON.COM. He was trained as a classical pianist at Oberlin and Eastman, and remains among the few critics who writes about both "high" and "low" culture and their overlapping concerns.

Brown University sponsored Riley as Critic-In Residence in 2008, and in 2009 he began teaching multi-media courses as Journalist In Residence at Emerson College in Boston.

His first book, Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary (Knopf/Vintage 1988), was hailed by the New York Times as bringing "new insight to the act we've known for all these years..."

A staple author in college courses on rock culture, he gave a keynote address at BEATLES 2000, the first international academic conference in Jyväskylä, Finland. Since condemning the rap group Public Enemy for anti-semitic remarks in his 1990 Boston PHOENIX column, Riley has given lively multi-media lectures at colleges and cultural centers like the Chautauqua Festival on "Censorship in the Arts," and "Rock History."

His current projects include the music metaportal, the RILEY ROCK INDEX.com, and a major new biography of John Lennon for Hyperion, fall 2011.

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is there a book about Bob Dylan that doesn't overuse the word 'mercurial'? Tim Riley is especially fond of it, though having read many a Dylan book I can say he isn't an exception.

I wasn't overly impressed by Riley's writing style, but I liked the format, a chronological analysis of Dylan's recording career on an album by album basis (including essential singles and rarities), and I mostly agreed with his opinions. He rightfully views '65-'66 as Dylan's pinnacle, while acknowledging the sharp drop in quality of his work from the late '70s onward. Riley is at his best when writing about Dylan's rock heyday; his treatment of the early folk days isn't as thorough and comes across rather dry. I've read reviews complaining how Riley slights Dylan's '80s and early '90s albums, so if you're a Dylan fan looking for an insightful investigation of Oh Mercy or Empire Burlesque you're going to have to look elsewhere.

The updated edition of Hard Rain, which I read, was published shortly after Time Out of Mind. Though many fans view that album as the beginning of a fruitful late period of work from Dylan, I tend to agree with Riley's assessment of it as an album written "in the humorless tone of a world-weary crank." Again there might not be overwhelming consensus on this opinion, but I don't fault him for it.

I do have to add that I liked the discography and selected biography included at the end. I'm always a sucker for these things, and when looking at an artist's output I find it easier (and often more complete) to view it listed in a book than on the internet. Perhaps it's just me. Anyway, I found it a valuable resource.

[Dan Geddes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Riley's Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary is one of the sharpest books you'll ever read on Dylan's songs. Riley stresses the importance of humor of Dylan's work, as well as its often self-referential nature; even when he seems to be addressing lovers or enemies or anyone else, Dylan is probably also addressing himself. Riley loves Dylan's best work (largely from 1962-68 plus Blood on the Tracks (1975), but he doesn't try to apologize for the loads of inferior products Dylan has hashed out over the years, or Dylan's later shameful indifference to his fans and even his bands. Hard Rain is nearly as good as Riley’s book of commentary on the Beatles (Tell My Why), but unlike in that book, Riley doesn’t really cover every Dylan song, sometimes treating albums thematically and so giving some of the songs scant attention. Still Riley writes with uncanny accuracy about Dylan's songs.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Dylan fans only, but a real deep dive for those who want to go there. Riley analyzes the music, the bands, the songs, the singing and of course the lyrics for Dylan's work -- including some live performances and bootlegs -- from the beginning up to the first volume of The Bootleg Series. He looks at attitudes towards women, the media, the fans, and concludes a lot of those breakup/relationshippy songs have at least two meanings, and one of them is always Dylan's attitude towards his fans. About right at 300 pages plus a discography, and the discography is a gem for those who want to obsess over recordings of Dylan's material by others.

[Jonathan]

None

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fantastic book is by Tim Riley, not Gwendoline Riley. I know Tim Riley. Tim Riley is a friend of mine. And Gwendoline, you are no Tim Riley.

[Roderick Mcgillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much to say about this review of Dylan's work.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a musician and I love Dylan. This guy analyzes Dylan's albums up to the 1990s, I kinda get lost in his sweeping coverage and upset at his harshly critical insights!

[Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of Bob Dylan's career. He is a confounding figure who appears to hide behind facades.