Reviews

Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan

stevenp33's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

4.0

trooperkix's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

zakcebulski's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative fast-paced

5.0

jkowski's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

3.75

Some great insights on Dylan’s evolution from an iron range kid to one of the greatest poet philosophers of modern times. But also a lot of name dropping of people and places unknown to me

kovalyov's review against another edition

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3.5

hadnt been able to get into bd's music before this

lolitasousa's review against another edition

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4.0

great, amazing!

rynanda's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

patmole's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

pipercb's review against another edition

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5.0

yay Bob Dylan 

modern_analog's review against another edition

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3.0

Bobby D. candidly Chronicles his early years, putting down stream of consciousness observations and recollections to page. He traces his meanderings as a young man, before he was deemed the voice of a generation, when he spent time in the the Midwest, reading Kerouac and listening to Woodie Guthrie records. Music nerds will devour the passages where he details his influences, telling how he dissected songs he loved to figure out what made them tick.

Outgrowing the stagnant scene in the Midwest, he tells how he picked up and moved to New York to play in beat coffeehouses with other now well-known artists, and how he captured the flashes of inspiration and creativity that became some of his most famous songs. In his own words, "Folk music was all I needed to exist."

The narrative then jumps to later in his life, skipping over his most famous days of touring with Columbia records, to a time when he became disenchanted with the expectations of fame, yearning to be a simple family man and live a quiet undisturbed existence. He describes the pressures of recording material when he wasn't feeling particularly inspired and didn't have anything urgent to say.

Overall, if you're a Dylan fan, this autobiography will give you a peek inside his head, but at times his meandering thoughts are just insignificant tangled memories that you get lost in and sometimes he doesn't exactly help you find the way out.