Book Review - Listening to Bob Dylan - Larry Starr
Larry Starr joins my Dylan library.
When I see a new Bob Dylan book on the market, I can’t resist. It’s why I’ve been to see the bard of Duluth cough 18 times cough. The same way I can’t resist his concerts and most importantly his music. I love him as an artist.
Another Bob Dylan book, I hear you say. What can it possibly say that isn’t contained in any of the books on the shelf pictured (there’s also a few titles missing)? This one is about ‘musical appreciation’ though, as Larry Starr explains, it’s as much about gratitude for the mans art. And this book is an especially welcome release so soon after Dylan’s excellent ‘Shadow Kingdom - the early songs of Bob Dylan’ performance where he re-interpreted some of his classic repertoire (though as a curveball he did give us one from 1989).
Different voices
One of the earlier sections focuses on Dylans various vocal identities - he’s a Gospel and blues singing, country crooning, rock folksinger, as we all know. There’s so many different voices, and I did enjoy this. How he uses his harmonica was another interesting chapter.
The parts I didn’t particularly find interesting were those that were completely over my head as a non musician. Sliding Scales, musical forms, minor and major keys - completely at sea with these. No matter how hard I tried, my eyes glazed over and I hurried through some of these passages, which are described in quite academic terms, though I should say Larry Starr goes out of his way to remove presumption in using these terms - technical terms are explained in context.
Composition
Something I did do however, which really helped throughout ‘Listening to Bob Dylan’, was to play the song in question, to help with my understanding - we all have ears, after all I really enjoyed the fact that the book is up to date - it even references Dylan’s most recent album, the excellent ‘Rough and Rowdy ways.’ I think unfortunately I just don’t have enough of a technical appreciation of the nuts and bolts of composition to understand this. If you are a musician and do know something of these terms, I suspect you’ll enjoy these sections. It’s my loss, but I hope at a later date to return to some of these sections, take them slowly and try to appreciate them a bit more.
There’s so much for the Dylan fan to appreciate in this book and many will no doubt lap it up. From his use of female backing singers, instrumentation, strumming versus finger picking, and one of my particular favourites, Dylan’s use of the Oom Pa Pa waltz beat.
Dylan Live
The best section of ‘Listening to Bob Dylan’ for me was the final one, and the reason I love Dylan so much - a focus on the artist as a live performer. Recently there’s been a law of diminishing returns when it comes to Dylan live, as his sets have become fairly stable on tour. Gone are the days when setlist constantly changed and you could hear a song performed completely differently on two successive nights (it may even have went from a rocker to an Oom Pa Pa waltz).
There was always something astonishing about hearing Dylan playing with these songs - it felt like they are in a constant state of flux. It must be like watching Picasso paint. There is no finished form. Larry Starr really shines here, documenting the musical shape shifter, and it took me an age to finish this chapter, as I played the different versions whilst reading. With a drink (I started out with Burgundy, but didn’t hit the harder stuff.) Perfect for the Dylan fanatic.
Three different version of ‘You’re a big girl now’, how his phrasing changes, the performance of a love song in public on the ‘Hard Rain’ album. Fascinating stuff. And just to finish, a look at a number of songs in their totality - in terms of lyrics, composition, performance and arrangement. Like I say, my favourite section and it took me a very enjoyable evening to work my way through them.
Summary
Parts of ‘Listening to Bob Dylan’ was over my head, not the fault of Larry Starr. I felt like the author displays a deep understanding of Dylan and it comes across as a meticulously reseached book. It’s probably not for the casual fan, but I don’t think it’s aimed at them. If it seems serious, it’s because the study of Dylan’s work is a serious field, as shown by my bookshelf.
I’ve certainly read books on the subject that have been more reverential. I found much to enjoy in it and if you’re a big Dylan fan, you will too. A lot of Bob Dylan books are reference books, for fans to lift when they need to - or they can read straight through, like I did with this one. I will purchase a hard copy as it’s another addition to my Dylan library that I will no doubt reach for in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest book review
Listening to Bob Dylan - Larry Starr
University of Illinois Press
152 Pages