Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited

Rating:
Summary: Cold and condescending. What about the music?
Review: Clinton Heylin's original Behind the Shades was probably the best biography of Bob Dylan, at least until this updated (and apparently much rewritten) volume was released. What makes Heylin so good at documenting the ups and downs of Dylan the man and the artist is that Heylin is a fan--a diehard, intelligent and knowledgeable fan, who treats Dylan seriously as an artist. What makes Heylin even better is he never fawns over his subject. He may very well be Dylan's harshest critic, one who doesn't hesitate to label some highly regarded Dylan performances as junk or to suggest that Dylan found more inspiration in the bottle during the 1980s than he did in his work. The fact that Heylin deals with that often neglected decade in Dylan's career at all makes this a treat. Whereas most biographers give us exhaustive accounts of Dylan in the 1960s and skip over the 80s, Heylin follows the music through the highs (Shot of Love) and lows (Knocked Out Loaded) of that period.

Rating:
Summary: Thus far, the definitive biography
Review: Clinton Heylin's revised edition of Behind the Shades is, at this point, the definitive Dylan biography, and is not likely to be surpassed anytime soon. In spite of it's comparative neglect in relation to Sounes' Down the Highway (published almost simultaneously, to coincide with Dylan's 60th birthday), Heylin's book is a more informative and rewarding book.

In tone, Heylin's writing is not as journalistic as Sounes', and more judgmental of Dylan as artist and musician. It draws heavily on interview material with associates and friends of Dylan's, and is significant in giving detailed attention to Dylan's career in the 80's and 90's, which is necessary for anyone seeking to understand Dylan's recent critical resurgence.

Based on his knowledge as the world's pre-eminent Dylan scholar, Heylin gives extensive commentary on Dylan's albums and their recording, a process he has given even greater attention to in his companion book Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions (1994). This is one of the major differences between Heylin's book and Sounes'. Sounes does not focus so much on Dylan as a musician or even Dylan as a lyricist. Sounes' biography is more, well, biographical, providing tons of anecdotal accounts of Dylan's life and travels, while missing the point - Dylan matters because of his music and his lyrics above all else. His life, so cloaked in mystery and seclusion, is a mystery, and will remain so. A recording artist is ultimately most communicative through their recordings - through what they are, what they're not, and how they are presented to the artist's audience. Sounes attempts to fill in the mystery of Dylan's life, which is ultimately an impossible task, at the expense of communicating any real understanding of his music.

Heylin's biography is also superior in that it draws on an extensive knowledge of Dylan's unreleased recordings. When dealing with a subject whose own officially released canon is so often poorly representative of his recording career, Heylin's knowledge is wide-ranging and intensely critical. An informed and considered discussion of Dylan's unreleased recordings, which are in many cases superior to those he has chosen to issue, is especially important when examining Dylan's 1980's output, a series of albums sometimes marred primarily by the choices of which songs and takes of songs to include on the released albums. Sounes barely acknowledges the existence of important unreleased recordings, and that diminishes the importance of his biography considerably.

Sounes' one trump over Heylin's biography is the much-publicized revelation of Dylan's second marriage. How important this biographical detail is to understanding or appreciating Dylan's music, however, is very debatable. If you are looking for an easily-readable, readily-digestable account of Dylan's life with little detailed discussion of his music, go for the Sounes bio. Otherwise, Heylin's Behind the Shades, especially in its new revised edition, is the real deal and is the preeminant Dylan bio. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Elusive Bob
Review: Enigma Bob would be a difficult subject for any biographer. Unfortunatley, Clinton Heylin's biographical answer to decades of Dylan myths, exagerations and lies is a pedantic pinning down of mostly inconsequential facts. In this too-long book, readers learn who said and played what on which tour or studio session.
Heylin takes great delight at quoting eye-wittnesses who have mistakenly misrecalled a factlet and correcting them. But all this 'for the record' documentation is tedious, and, more imporantley, besides the point.
I'm interested in Dylan because his records are a warped mirror of his personality and America -- even long after his protest song phase ended.
Heylin forsakes this larger picture for a telescopic view of Dylan. Heylin's Dylan is only motivated to write by his latest relationship. Missing is a biographical assesment of Dylan's musical progress and how it relates to both himself and society.
Details of his personal life aren't wanting -- but except for the most egregious examples of Sara-era lyrics, the big mysteries of Dylan's inspiration are not addressed.

Rating:
Summary: Dylan deserves far more contempt than this
Review: From NOTES FROM HAMPSTEAD by Elias Canetti: "Contempt for one's fellows must be balanced with self-contempt. If the latter prevails, then the writer is lost: he will destroy himself like Gogol. If the former prevails, the result is a prophet: arrogantly certain in his belief, he is a threat to the world, and thus ecstatically he helps bring about its destruction. Finding the right balance."

Well needless to say, Dylan's self-contempt is nonexistent. And his arrogant self-righteousness is breathtaking. Here's a guy whose adulteries destroyed his marriage and yet he still has the arrogance to chastize other people for being non-Christians.

Rating:
Summary: Cold and condescending. What about the music?
Review: I read this biography not just because I'm a big and longstanding fan of Bob Dylan, but also because of the strength of many of the accolades the book has received, both in Amazon and elsewhere. I couldn't have been more disappointed. The biography is clearly well-researched, despite Heylin's proud but unconvincing defence of the fact that he has never met Dylan. However, the biography lacks any warmth or feel for Dylan and the huge and deep contribution his music has made to modern culture. The book comes down with detail, but much of it is incidental and irrelevant. Moreover, Heylin manages to be condescending and irritatingly opinionated, especially and unnecessarily so about other biographers. His constant use of direct quotes merely breaks the flow of the text and rarely adds much. Normally, when one reads a biography of a musician and songwriter who has played such an important part in one's own life, and especially when the author admits to being fan, one would expect to be driven back to the music with renewed vigour and interest. In the case of Heylin's biography this didn't happen. I can still recall the huge impact that some of Dylan's albums had on my life, and music more generally, but this does not come across in Heylin's often flat and at times self-important writing style. While there is plenty of gossip around Dylan's fondness for women, drugs and drink, few original insights are offered about his music. Indeed, Dylan's music is hardly assessed at all, apart from occasional references to the views of other critics. Dylan's life and music deserve a lot more.

Rating:
Summary: As Objective and Thorough as a Biography can be.
Review: In Behind the Shades Revisted, Heylin presents his findings with the astute, detached eye of a detective. Some reviewers are skeptical of an unauthorized biography, but Heylin effectively defends his approach: With authorized biographies, the subject has ultimate approval of the finished product. Consequently, the results are unavoidably subjective and incomplete. Heylin culls from a multitude diverse sources (interviews with musicians Dylan has worked with, friends, former girlfriends, ex-wives, to name just a few), presenting many different sides of his subject. Heylin has never interviewed or even met Dylan, and while this makes Behind the Shades feel somewhat detached, it offers more potential for objectivity. [Dylan is notoriously disingenous with reporters, so the value of first-hand interviews is probably negligible.]

Heylin describes Dylan's childhood and adolescence in northern Minnesota. Dylan's origins (both personal and musical) are described; Dylan has been enthusiastic about music at least since his early teens. Heylin provides detailed analysis of Dylan's early influences (mostly American pop icons like Little Richard) and follows his evolution during his early 20s, when he discovered folk and blues. He then proceeds to describe Dylan's artistic heyday during the mid-60's, his late 60s-early 70s hiatus, and his mid-70s resurgence.

One of the most impressive aspects of Heylin's writing is his willingness to discuss Dylan's largely derided work during the 80s-early 90s. While Dylan's work during this era has been understandably ridiculed (though Heylin's interpretation of much from this period is a little more positive than most other critics), his analysis provides essential insight into his subject.

Whether intentionally or not, Heylin creates a dichotomous portrait of Dylan. The younger Dylan (ca 1960-68) is a vibrant, often affable personality with unwavering idealism. As the story progresses, the pressures of fame and the demanding nature of celebrity begin to take there toll to the extent that it seems to impact Dylan's work. By the time Behind the Shades concludes, Dylan is presented as a weary, slightly confused and misanthropic curmudgeon no longer capable of producing new material that is inspired or surprising. This is the only arguable flaw with Behind the Shades. This conclusion might have seemed perfectly reasonable in 1999 (when the edition I read was published), but the release of Love and Theft in 2001 somewhat discredits Heylin's conclusion. Heylin can hardly be blamed for this; Love and Theft, Dylan's most inspired work in fifteen years (and his most extroverted since the 60s), was a completely unexpected triumph, but it does make the last chapter seem a little dated.

Despite it's slight flaws in the last chapter or two (hardly his fault) Heylin has created a rich, multi-faceted portrait. By interspersing numerous quotes from Dylan's associates within his own writing, Heylin creates a book of many voices. Heylin definitely has strong views, but tries to be fair and accurate, and makes every effort to present contrary perspectives. Despite it's seemingly intimidating length (700+ pages), Behind the Shades is compellingly readable; his approach is always well-defined, and often clever (he subtly reference Dylan's lyrics on numerous occasions). Behind the Shades is a critical, objective portrait of pop music's greatest (and most psychologically elusive) songwriter.

Rating:
Summary: As Objective and Thorough as a Biography can be.
Review: In Behind the Shades Revisted, Heylin presents his findings with the astute, detached eye of a detective. Some reviewers are skeptical of an unauthorized biography, but Heylin effectively defends his approach: With authorized biographies, the subject has ultimate approval of the finished product. Consequently, the results are unavoidably subjective and incomplete. Heylin culls from a multitude diverse sources (interviews with musicians Dylan has worked with, friends, former girlfriends, ex-wives, to name just a few), presenting many different sides of his subject. Heylin has never interviewed or even met Dylan, and while this makes Behind the Shades feel somewhat detached, it offers more potential for objectivity. [Dylan is notoriously disingenous with reporters, so the value of first-hand interviews is probably negligible.]

Heylin describes Dylan's childhood and adolescence in northern Minnesota. Dylan's origins (both personal and musical) are described; Dylan has been enthusiastic about music at least since his early teens. Heylin provides detailed analysis of Dylan's early influences (mostly American pop icons like Little Richard) and follows his evolution during his early 20s, when he discovered folk and blues. He then proceeds to describe Dylan's artistic heyday during the mid-60's, his late 60s-early 70s hiatus, and his mid-70s resurgence.

One of the most impressive aspects of Heylin's writing is his willingness to discuss Dylan's largely derided work during the 80s-early 90s. While Dylan's work during this era has been understandably ridiculed (though Heylin's interpretation of much from this period is a little more positive than most other critics), his analysis provides essential insight into his subject.

Whether intentionally or not, Heylin creates a dichotomous portrait of Dylan. The younger Dylan (ca 1960-68) is a vibrant, often affable personality with unwavering idealism. As the story progresses, the pressures of fame and the demanding nature of celebrity begin to take there toll to the extent that it seems to impact Dylan's work. By the time Behind the Shades concludes, Dylan is presented as a weary, slightly confused and misanthropic curmudgeon no longer capable of producing new material that is inspired or surprising. This is the only arguable flaw with Behind the Shades. This conclusion might have seemed perfectly reasonable in 1999 (when the edition I read was published), but the release of Love and Theft in 2001 somewhat discredits Heylin's conclusion. Heylin can hardly be blamed for this; Love and Theft, Dylan's most inspired work in fifteen years (and his most extroverted since the 60s), was a completely unexpected triumph, but it does make the last chapter seem a little dated.

Despite it's slight flaws in the last chapter or two (hardly his fault) Heylin has created a rich, multi-faceted portrait. By interspersing numerous quotes from Dylan's associates within his own writing, Heylin creates a book of many voices. Heylin definitely has strong views, but tries to be fair and accurate, and makes every effort to present contrary perspectives. Despite it's seemingly intimidating length (700+ pages), Behind the Shades is compellingly readable; his approach is always well-defined, and often clever (he subtly reference Dylan's lyrics on numerous occasions). Behind the Shades is a critical, objective portrait of pop music's greatest (and most psychologically elusive) songwriter.

Rating:
Summary: Good... if you want an encyclopedia
Review: This book is well researched.

It is written in a good language.

It is rather objective.

It has nothing to do with who Bob Dylan is.

Here you will find every single detail the author has ever found out about Bob Dylan. It doesn't matter whether it's important or not. This makes this book something akin to an encyclopedia - and, for me, there is a big difference between a biography and an encyclopedia. I read the former to get at least a bit closer to the essence of a fascinating personality. I've never read one of the latter from cover to cover.

If you want information, and lots of dry, even though well-presented, facts, you will find them here. All of them. A year-by-year, day-by-day account of Dylan's life.

I think Dylan is something more.

Rating:
Summary: Tiresome
Review: Yeah, well, by and large I pretty much agree with the judgement of the reader from Belfast, Ireland. Personally I don't mind the use of direct quotes that break up the flow of the text as many of the anecdotes - especially Dylan's - are quite fascinating, and the author writes well so he has to be given credit for that. Otherwise, to concur with the reader from Ireland, I find Heylin to write with a rather patronising and almost condescending academic-style truculence which bears no spirit to Dylan's music or the times he lived through. There's a faintly professorial smug sense of self-satisfaction that runs through this text, as if the author is "above it all" and is in total self-belief in having the one-and-only arcane rite to being the "Dylan authority". On the whole, he's cold, patronising, especially to those around Dylan, and he makes some appalling statements about the Beatles. Heylin is too self-important to allow a bit of funtime folklore such as the shared spiff on first meeting of BD & the mop tops in NYC in '64 to be just what it is and has to pontificate on the event with a detached, gravely authoritarianism. The closing sentence to the chapter which heralds the making of Highway 61 is appaling, something like "...while the opposition were tuning their Rickenbackers and wondering where to hide their love away, Dylan was off inventing his wild mercury sound..." - this totally discredits the true merit of both Dylan & the Beatles. He's horribly dismissive about Sergeant Pepper....sure, to be objective it is not the Beatles strongest set of songs but it's a very fine album nonetheless. It's also bizarre, and flatly irrelevant I think, that the author spends much word space in his preface to compare Dylan the genius, to Orson Welles, the genius. Most of us music fans may not know or couldn't care less about Orson Welles, we know he's some film guy, so what? Wouldn't it be more relevant to compare BD to Stravinsky, the medium is closer - and then one comes to realise that comparisons are meaningless anyway.
To Heylin's credit, he portrays Dylan as a human being with a linear life and steers clear of iconoclasm, but somehow it doesn't fit. Heylin hasn't fully conveyed the essence of the man's extraordinary songwriting, instead focusing on an overly academic-style objectivity which fails to capture the spirit of the subject matter, instead rendering it at times, a frustrating and irritating read.