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The Dylan Tapes: Friends, Players, and Lovers Talkin’ Early Bob Dylan
The raw material and interviews behind Anthony Scaduto’s iconic biography of Bob Dylan draw an intimate and multifaceted portrait of the singer-songwriter who defined his era
When Anthony Scaduto’s Bob An Intimate Biography was first published in 1971, the Nobel Prize–winning songwriter, at thirty, had already released some of the most iconic albums of the 1960s, including Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde . Scaduto’s book was one of the first to take an investigative journalist’s approach to its subject and set the standard for rock music biography. The Dylan Tapes , compiled from thirty-six hours of interviews, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Scaduto’s landmark book—and a close-up encounter with pivotal figures in Dylan’s life. These reel-to-reel tapes, found in a box in Scaduto’s basement, are a never-bootlegged trove of archival material about Dylan, drawn from conversations with those closest to him during the early years of his career. In the era of ten-second takes, these interviews offer uncommon depth and immediacy as we listen to friends and lovers recall the Dylan they knew as he created his professional persona and perfected his craft—from folk music, protest songs, and electric rock through the traumatic impact of a motorcycle crash to his later, more self-reflecting songwriting. Echo Helstrom, Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country,” is here, as are Suze Rotolo, who graced the cover of the Freewheelin’ album, and Joan Baez, remembering her relationship “to Bobby.” We hear from Mike Porco, who gave Dylan his first gig in New York City; Sid and Bob Gleason, who introduced him to his hero Woody Guthrie; folk artists from Greenwich Village, like Phil Ochs and Ramblin’ Jack Eliot; John Hammond Sr., who gave him his first record contract; plus a host of musicians, activists, folk historians, and archivists—and, of course, Dylan himself. From these reflections and frank conversations, many published here for the first time, a complex, finely observed picture emerges of one of the best known yet most enigmatic musicians of our time.
When Anthony Scaduto’s Bob An Intimate Biography was first published in 1971, the Nobel Prize–winning songwriter, at thirty, had already released some of the most iconic albums of the 1960s, including Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde . Scaduto’s book was one of the first to take an investigative journalist’s approach to its subject and set the standard for rock music biography. The Dylan Tapes , compiled from thirty-six hours of interviews, is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Scaduto’s landmark book—and a close-up encounter with pivotal figures in Dylan’s life. These reel-to-reel tapes, found in a box in Scaduto’s basement, are a never-bootlegged trove of archival material about Dylan, drawn from conversations with those closest to him during the early years of his career. In the era of ten-second takes, these interviews offer uncommon depth and immediacy as we listen to friends and lovers recall the Dylan they knew as he created his professional persona and perfected his craft—from folk music, protest songs, and electric rock through the traumatic impact of a motorcycle crash to his later, more self-reflecting songwriting. Echo Helstrom, Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country,” is here, as are Suze Rotolo, who graced the cover of the Freewheelin’ album, and Joan Baez, remembering her relationship “to Bobby.” We hear from Mike Porco, who gave Dylan his first gig in New York City; Sid and Bob Gleason, who introduced him to his hero Woody Guthrie; folk artists from Greenwich Village, like Phil Ochs and Ramblin’ Jack Eliot; John Hammond Sr., who gave him his first record contract; plus a host of musicians, activists, folk historians, and archivists—and, of course, Dylan himself. From these reflections and frank conversations, many published here for the first time, a complex, finely observed picture emerges of one of the best known yet most enigmatic musicians of our time.
- GenresMusicNonfictionBiography
400 pages, Hardcover
Published April 26, 2022
About the author
Anthony Scaduto
14 books11 followersAnthony Scaduto was a journalist and biographer of rock musicians who also wrote under the name Tony Sciacca.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 1, 2021
The Dylan Tapes: Friends, Players, and Lovers Talkin' Early Bob Dylan is a collection of transcribed recorded interviews Anthony Scaduto had from his landmark biography of Dylan.
My rating is not about the readability of this as a single book so much as a valuation of it as a wonderful source of information as well as a wonderful example of how to interview people. Most of the interviews do make good reading, so I guess you could view this in a similar way to how you view a collection of themed essays or stories.
What I really found intriguing was how much of each interviewee's personality came through. I found myself not particularly liking a couple, liking some, and for the most part feeling like I was right there for the interview.
For the Dylan fan this offers even more insight into who he was in his youth and early years. It has been decades since I read Scaduto's biography but I think it would be interesting to see how much made it into the book and how much didn't.
While definitely a great read for Dylan fans I would also imagine that aspiring journalists and writers could learn a lot from how these interviews went. I found them engaging and it seemed like the interviewees were mostly put at ease, though someone in the field may well find things that maybe aren't recommended when interviewing. But the results presented here are phenomenal.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
My rating is not about the readability of this as a single book so much as a valuation of it as a wonderful source of information as well as a wonderful example of how to interview people. Most of the interviews do make good reading, so I guess you could view this in a similar way to how you view a collection of themed essays or stories.
What I really found intriguing was how much of each interviewee's personality came through. I found myself not particularly liking a couple, liking some, and for the most part feeling like I was right there for the interview.
For the Dylan fan this offers even more insight into who he was in his youth and early years. It has been decades since I read Scaduto's biography but I think it would be interesting to see how much made it into the book and how much didn't.
While definitely a great read for Dylan fans I would also imagine that aspiring journalists and writers could learn a lot from how these interviews went. I found them engaging and it seemed like the interviewees were mostly put at ease, though someone in the field may well find things that maybe aren't recommended when interviewing. But the results presented here are phenomenal.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
May 2, 2022
A fantastic, very valuable book. It consists of transcriptions of the interviews Anthony Scaduto conducted as research for his landmark first biography of Dylan, including a couple chats he had with Dylan towards the end of the process.
The causal Dylan fan, who is not up on the biography, probably shouldn't read this one, and for the early years should look at Clinton Heylin's most recent bio. Lots has been learned since then, for starters. This is kind of a first-draft, and even considering the interviews were conducted just a few years after these people knew Dylan, there are lots of minor details that are wrong or unnecessary. And many of these people's memories include some grudges that may or may not have been settled since then, as many of them have had continuing relationships with Bob.
That said, if you DO know Dylan's life (and I read the Scaduto when it first appeared, and have read all the bios since then), this is really good for many personalities. Though Izzy Young doesn't come off too well, and the one with Carl Oglesby adds nothing about his knowledge of Dylan as a person, it's just some sort of criticism of Dylan because he didn't sing about the things he wanted Bob to sing about. Very highly recommended for those who know.
The causal Dylan fan, who is not up on the biography, probably shouldn't read this one, and for the early years should look at Clinton Heylin's most recent bio. Lots has been learned since then, for starters. This is kind of a first-draft, and even considering the interviews were conducted just a few years after these people knew Dylan, there are lots of minor details that are wrong or unnecessary. And many of these people's memories include some grudges that may or may not have been settled since then, as many of them have had continuing relationships with Bob.
That said, if you DO know Dylan's life (and I read the Scaduto when it first appeared, and have read all the bios since then), this is really good for many personalities. Though Izzy Young doesn't come off too well, and the one with Carl Oglesby adds nothing about his knowledge of Dylan as a person, it's just some sort of criticism of Dylan because he didn't sing about the things he wanted Bob to sing about. Very highly recommended for those who know.
September 16, 2022
As a Dylan fanatic and someone who has read over one hundred books about Bob, I found this interesting because it is the actual interviews with Baez, Van Ronk, Izzy Young, etc. However, Scaduto clearly has an agenda in these interviews. He is blatantly trying to get his subjects to badmouth Dylan. If they start talking in any remotely positive way about Bob, he immediately shuts down that answer and changes the subject. It shows, clearly, why Dylan distrusted (distrusts?) journalists.
December 1, 2023
I never read Scaduto’s Dylan biography that resulted from these raw interviews. I feel like I have now for sure. This book did teach me some things about Dylan I didn’t know but man it was a slog to get through. Editing out all the questions these contemporaries of “Bobby” couldn’t answer would have made it far slimmer and more fun to read. I was fed up with “I don’t know” by a quarter of the way in.
January 13, 2024
Las cintas al crudo de las entrevistas que hizo Anthony Scaduto para escribir la primera biografía sobre Bob Dylan. Es curioso observar la evolución que el autor tuvo de pensar un libro crítico contra Dylan a un libro más complaciente después de que este diera su placet y aceptara colaborar. Bastante interesante, y aporta numeras cosas que no están en Bob Dylan: A Biography.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews