April 2, 2001
Dylan was a pampered Midwestern teen who listened to African-American music on the radio. His father bought him a pink convertible and a Harley in the same year; his high school band appeared on television sporting mom-made cardigans emblazoned with the band name "Jokers." He dropped out of his first year of college to explore the Greenwich Village folk scene and meet his hero, Woody Guthrie, into whose hospital room young Dylan barged. "e instinctively played upon his baby-faced unworldly looks, and his considerable personal charm, to make friends would help him... giving him a place to stay or offering him a few dollars," attests Sounes (Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life) in this exhaustive, up-to-date biography. Though the writing is uneven, Sounes delivers a judicious portrait of Dylan's foibles and virtues. Dylan, he claims, used people variously—he mimicked his favorite performers and enjoyed of "the charity of kindhearted women." Much of the book traces his womanizing, from his relationship with Joan Baez to his eight years of marital bliss (before it unraveled) with Sara Lownds. Even his religious conversion was on account of the affections of his back-up singers, one of whom he had a child with and married, a little-known fact. Dylan has burned numerous bridges in his life, though many people remain loyal. Through extensive interviews Sounes aptly captures the contradictory facets of an American folk legend. (Apr.)Forecast:The 125,000-copy printing, bolstered by a $150,000 promotional budget, will sell well among Dylan's myriad fans, who will be celebrating his 60th birthday this year.
May 1, 2001
Sounes's Down the Highway challenges Clinton Heylin's revised edition of Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades (LJ 10/1/00) for the coveted status of "definitive Dylan biography." British journalist Sounes (Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life, LJ 3/1/99) was particularly successful in persuading a number of previously tight-lipped friends, lovers, and associates to speak candidly about the reticent star. As a result, the reader is treated to the most detailed account yet of Dylan's 1966 motorcycle accident and subsequent withdrawal from the public eye. Sounes also peels away layers of mystery surrounding Dylan's complex romantic life and surprisingly conventional approach to fatherhood. More so than Heylin, Sounes succeeds in portraying Dylan's human side; Heylin, on the other hand, offers far more insightful analysis of Dylan's work. Sounes, too, loses momentum as he goes, with the last couple of chapters seeming slight and poorly realized. Overall, Hey-lin's work is superior, but the two books together provide as complete a portrait of the enigmatic pop icon as there has ever been. [Heylin's Bob Dylan was originally slated for publication last October, but it is only being released this spring.--Ed.]--Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 20, 2000
After three years and 250 interviews, Sounes has come up with what is claimed to be the definitive biography of a singer/songwriter whose words are still blowin' in the wind.
Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 15, 2001
It seems of late that Dylan biographies are being cranked out as frequently as the man's own mediocre albums were in the '80s and '90s. Most of those records justified their existence with a gem or two amid the dross, and that is true of Sounes' documentation, once again, of Dylan's familiar career: the early days as a struggling folksinger, the rise to the forefront of the early-'60s folk scene, the controversial switch to rock, the motorcycle accident and the subsequent retreat from public view, and the latter-day de-emphasis of recording and concentration on the concert series known as the Never Ending Tour. Sounes somehow has uncovered some new information in that oft-scanned showbiz legend, mostly about Dylan's childhood and his jealously guarded family life. Some of it actually provides further insight into his songs, particularly those about his wife, Sara. Sounes also blows the lid off Dylan's heretofore unknown 1986 marriage to one of his backup singers. Such well-researched gossip will be fresh to all but the most committed Dylanologists. For overall thoroughness and critical analysis of Dylan's output, however, this book, for which the Big Push (coinciding with its subject's sixtieth birthday) is scheduled, is no match for Clinton Heylin's recent updating of "Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades" [BKL O 15 00]. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)