Blonde on Blonde recorded Oct 5, 1965-March 10, 1966; released May 16, 1966.

Background: By this point, Dylan, rather than assimilating the mood and tenor of the world around him then reflecting back what he has encountered through the his music, is now sending out his music into a world that is ripe for his influence. No longer is it the reflection, it is the image. This album was produced entirely after the Newport confrontation between the folkies and Dylan’s undeniable destiny. In a way, it is a statement that confirms that he has chosen his path. In Chronicles I Dylan explains, “The folk music scene had been like a paradise that I had to leave, like Adam had to leave the garden. It was just too perfect…The road out would be treacherous, and I didn’t know where it would lead but I followed it anyway. It was a strange world ahead that would unfold, a thunderhead of a world with jagged lightning edges. Many got it wrong and never did get it right. I went straight into it. It was wide open. One thing for sure, not only was it not run by God, but it wasn’t run by the devil either.”

The Recording: Produced by Bob Johnston, at the Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville, Tennessee. Joining Dylan instrumentally were, once again, Charlie McCoy and Al Kooper along with Wayne Moss, Ken Buttrey, Hargus Robbins, Jerry Kennedy, Bill Aidens, Henry Strzelecki, Jaime Robertson and the legendary Joe South. (Note that despite the fact that Dylan had appearing live with The-Hawks-eventually-to-be-The-Band during this time, none of them yet appears in the studio.) With its 14 songs, many longer than 5 minutes, including the 11-plus minute Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands this album is the first rock ‘n’ roll 2 record set.

Conclusion: Now more than forty years old, nearly half of the songs (Rainy Day Women 12&35, Visions of Johanna, I Want You, Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again, Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, Just Like a Woman and Absolutely Sweet Marie) included have found their way onto the setlists of recent performances of the ‘NeverEnding Tour’ while Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) attracted new attention in a Mark Ronson remix version this spring. Listening to the entire album, there is little that falls between the cracks. Even the few songs that are no longer played live and are resurrected less often on oldies stations, etc. (Temporary Like Achilles, 4th Time Around and Obviously Five Believers) do not seem dated nor unfamiliar like some of the lesser known tracks on the earlier albums. This collection is arguably the cornerstone of the portion of Dylan’s oeuvre that is most readily recognized by current mainstream rock ‘n’ roll fans

Highway 61 Revisited recorded May 12-Aug. 4, 1965, released Aug. 30, 1965.

Background: Close on the heels of Bringing it All Back Home, Dylan seems to be propelled by the force of his search for that “high, wild mercury sound”, adding the support of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (then of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band), and Paul Griffin, Bobby Gregg, Harvey Goldstein, Charley McCoy, Frank Owens and Russ Savakus. Dylan’s ideas, both lyrical and musical seem to have been torrential at this time. One pictures Tom Wilson and Bob Johnson rushing to find a way to capture it all before it succumbed to the acoustical equivalent of evaporation. When Dylan arrived on the scene 4 years earlier his music was a product of history and his environment. By the time this album is released he is making musical history and affecting a seismic shift in the musical, if not social, environment. The state of world affairs, national economy, the political climate are becoming irrelevant to the journey upon which he has embarked. He is propelled by his own vision now.

The Recording: What is there to say but to list the titles? Like a Rolling Stone, Tombstone Blues, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, From a Buick 6, Ballad of a Thin Man, Queen Jane Approximately, Highway 61 Revisited, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, Desolation Row. There they are: strung along like a choker of quality gems—sparkling each on their own and, at the same time, contributing to the overall brilliance of the work as a whole.

Conclusion: Dylan has said at some point in his career that he was most satisfied with his accomplishments on this recording. Although I haven’t been able to trace the timeframe for that statement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time when there would be a strong argument to completely negate that opinion. He has also said that Like a Rolling Stone (emphasis on 'rolling', not 'stone') was his greatest contribution to popular music. (And whether or not it’s an honor he seeks, Desolation Row, currently is seen as his greatest contribution to literature if one takes its inclusion in The Oxford Book of American Poetry as a reliable indicator.) Personally, I certainly can find no fault with these superlatives and have realized through this project that this is the album I find most entertaining.

Bringing It All Back Home, recorded January 13-15, 1965, released March 22, 1965

Background: On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson chose Ann Arbor, Michigan as the site at which to unveil his grand vision for the United States: The Great Society. His social plan would improve education, launch a War on Poverty, jumpstart urban renewal, the development of depressed regions, conservation efforts and institute the Medicare system—broad, sweeping, industrious goals all. In January, 1965, Johnson formally presented his plan to Congress, a tool, he, if anyone, knew how to manipulate and utilise. Soon the distinguished representatives on both sides of the aisle were working toward his objectives. Meanwhile, Dylan, whose cross-country road trip in 1964 had given him time to listen to the moptops from Liverpool, had adopted a new vision as well. Like Johnson, he was ready to produce concrete evidence of that vision in January.

The Recording: Subterranean Homesick Blues, Maggie’s Farm, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Mr. Tambourine Man, Gates of Eden, It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue and MORE! Although the arrangements are still simple and include his acoustic guitar and harmonica, percussion and electric guitar are heard on several tracks. Social injustices are still a theme, particularly in Gates of Eden and It’s All Right, Ma. The liner notes track Dylan's thoughts, but in a more subdued form than for the past two releases. Tom Wilson is once again producing—and can be heard laughing at the gaff at the beginning of Take 1 of 115th Dream. Arrangements are tight and energetic. Humour is more prevalent. (Even without If You Gotta Go, Go Now which was recorded in these sessions but not released.) You cannot listen to this album without tapping your foot or without a smile coming to your lips and you cannot look at its cover without knowing that the times are truly a-changin’ for Dylan. A chic dark-haired female (Albert Grossman’s wife) has replaced the innocent-looking Rotolo and trappings of modern affluence have taken over for snow-covered New York streets as a setting. (Is this to be the face of the Great Society?)

Conclusion: The next phase of Dylan’s career begins here. The stage is being set for Newport. If the Greenwich Village enclave did not know it before, they know it now: their Guthrie-would-be has found more modern influences. The only question that remains is how far will those influences take him? And the answer, this time, will not be blowin’ in the wind.

Another Side of Bob Dylan, recorded June 9, 1964, released Aug. 8, 1964

Background: Late winter/early spring 1964, following the release of The Times They are A-Changin’ in January, are busy months for Dylan. He introduces the stunning Chimes of Freedom at a Denver concert in February. His relationship with Suze Rotolo comes to an end in March (said to be documented in Ballad in Plain D). With a friend he drives cross- country. During the summer (after recording the tracks that will comprise this album) he writes the poems that will be published under the title “Some Other Kind of Songs” as liner notes to this album. In July he is billed as a major performer at the Newport Folk Festival where he introduces several songs that will appear on this album as well as Mr. Tambourine Man. These performances—including a duet of With God on Our Side with Joan Baez do not meet with the adoring acceptance of previous Newport appearances. (The following year his short set at this event will incite Dylan’s ousting by the folk community.)

The Recording: The history of this recording is, no doubt, a contributing factor to the legend regarding brief amount of time Dylan spends in the studio compared to other performers. The entire album, along with several songs that are not released at the time, was recorded during a single, 3 hour session according to CBS records. With Tom Wilson once again at the helm (and visible in one of the photos in the 2003 re-release’s booklet), two songs (To Ramona and All I Really Want to Do) were recorded in one take. Standouts in my 2007 playback are Spanish Harlem Incident, Chimes of Freedom, To Ramona, My Back Pages, and I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met). (As with the previous albums, I think that the overexposure to All I Really Want to Do and It Ain’t Me Babe over the years takes away what would have been their original impact to the 1964 listener. Overall, I was conscious of the less-than-perfect renditions of many of the tracks, particularly the slurring of words and lackluster guitar accompaniments. On the other hand, his guitar has a lively calypso feel on I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met). There is no additional instrumental support on any of these tracks, but Dylan does play piano rather than guitar on Black Crow Blues (probably my least favorite track). Ballad in Plain D is heart-wrenching and foreshadows his future use of song to explore the pain of love gone wrong that reaches its epitome in Blood on the Tracks more than a decade hence.

Conclusion: My perception of this album is that Dylan had written a slew of new songs and Columbia was anxious to get them on vinyl. He and Tom Wilson spent a few hours recording them without being overly critical, knowing that Dylan’s fans were not expecting Andy Williams or Johnny Mathis. There are, of course, great songs here that he’s still playing today, but they, for the most part, remain unpolished in this recording. (Dylan has said that many of these early recordings were really meant as demos.) One never knows what choices are made in the name of marketing by large corporations such as Columbia Records. With that said, it’s still a thrill to hear some of these songs, especially My Back Pages, in their original form—his young, innocent sound in contradiction to the wisdom of his words.

The Times They Are A-Changin', recorded Aug-Oct 1963, Released Jan 13, 1964

BACKGROUND: Once again, Dylan’s words precede the events. The seminal title track soon proved less relevant to events that had already occurred than to those that were on the bleak horizon. Between the time the recording sessions were completed and the time the album was released, a great change had already taken place: Lyndon Baines Johnson assumed the presidency in the wake of JFK’s assassination in Dallas. The image of his swearing-in aboard Air Force One with a bloodied Jacqueline Kennedy at his side was seared into the national memory. Most likely, as the album appeared on record store shelves in January, the public assumed that the country’s tragedy had served as Dylan’s inspiration. At this point Tom Wilson has replaced John Hammond as Dylan’s producer at Columbia Records. During 1964 he will also produce Simon & Garfunkel's debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m. (He can be seen in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Don't Look Back watching Dylan work at the piano on a very early version of I'll Keep It With Mine.)

THE RECORDING: The Songs: The Times They Are A-Changin’, Ballad of Hollis Brown, With God on Our Side, One Too Many Mornings, North Country Blues, Only A Pawn in Their Game, Boots of Spanish Leather, When the Ship Comes In, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Restless Farewell. (Other songs recorded during the same sessions, but released years later: Eternal Circle, Moonshiner, Only a Hobo, Percy’s Song, Lay Down Your Weary Tune, Paths of Victory. At this point, one can only conjecture about the production choices made.) Listening to the CD this week had a surprising effect. There were, of course, the songs that seem, at this point, as familiar as Amazing Grace or America, (the title song, With God on Our Side, Only A Pawn in Their Game and When The Ship Comes In) that bobbed to the surface immediately, quickly followed by The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll which I’ve come to know well during the months I’ve been combing through Dylan’s discography trying to find the important songs I’d previously missed. But, beyond those (yes, I know, those are amazing) many of the others seem lackluster, not just in comparison to the gems, but in comparison to those on Freewheelin’. I did become rather enamored of One Too Many Mornings in its haunting dejectedness. When I took the time to isolate the tracks that were not standing out among their companions, I realized that they (Boots of Spanish Leather, North Country Blues, Ballad of Hollis Brown, Restless Farewell along with Hattie Carroll) were a product of Dylan the storyteller, not Dylan the composer. And wonderfully told stories they are—a true folk tradition, but they are long and, as songs, they offer little for the listener to claim musically. Contributing to this effect is the absence of the intricate finger-picking evident on Freewheelin’ and Gaslight that, in those recordings added a level of lyricism to Dylan’s performance. Instead, bare-bones, flat rhythm chords accompany these tales.

Note: It is with this album that Dylan begins to use liner notes as another outlet for his writing. Included here are the often quoted and perpetually culled for biographical tidbits "11 Outlined Epitaphs."

CONCLUSION: Whether a result of the change in record producers, the increased demands on Dylan’s time for public appearances, the rapidity with which he was turning out new material or Columbia Record’s possible desire to release the new Dylan album as soon as possible, this record, despite the important songs it contains, is uneven and less engaging than Freewheelin’. And, frankly, I wonder why Percy’s Song was not included in place of a few of the others. It, too, is a story, but with much more musicality, so that even at nearly 8 minutes it has a presence that some of the ones included here do not—at least in the form they took at the time of this recording.

Musings I: Sources and Resources

Having recently posted the Sources: Print, Sources: Media and Annotated Bibliography here, I feel I should explain the criteria for the inclusion of materials on the 3 lists (and one that is still to come). First, the 2 source lists are comprised of what I feel are the most reliable documents from which I am gleaning information about the recordings on a regular basis. Generally, I will mention them, at least by title, when stating information derived from them and will, sometimes, quote from them as well.

On the other hand, the materials in the Bibliography will probably not be used as resources for explaining the recordings. These books are but a fraction of those available in bookstores, libraries, etc. about a myriad of Dylan-related topics. People who write about Dylan tend to be very thorough, I have found, in their chosen subject area as if they want to make sure that there is no way someone else could find additional information relevant to the little piece of virtual-turf they’ve staked out for themselves. The ones listed here are not particularly better or worse than the ones that I haven’t included, these are just the ones that I’ve actually come across along the way and have had time to evaluate. My annotations are very subjective (which is fun for me since, in my job, I would be required to be much more formal, objective and compleat in the production of a bibliography). Therefore, my reactions are not definitive, merely mine.

I expect not only to add to the Bibliography as I come across more materials in my travels, but to also create a similar section that will explore the Dylan-related websites with which I am familiar. They, too, are of a great number ranging widely in scope, depth and quality. The best of them, like my Sources, have already been listed in “Major Dylan Info Sites” links section at the top of this page.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, recorded 4/62-4/63, released 5/63

BACKGROUND: May, 1963. Sharp edges are beginning to wear through the cloak of contentment and complacency purchased for the U.S. by the Allied victory in WWII. If the rumblings of the Cold War and plight of southern blacks that has made its way to the national news in its coverage of school busing, sit-ins, and, most recently, the magnificent sight of the tens of thousands of demonstrators framing the reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial as Martin Luther King spoke is not enough to grab the attention of Middle America, the assassination of JFK will soon do the trick.

Once again recorded under the tutelage of the renowned John Hammond, Dylan’s second studio album was produced at a more leisurely pace than Bob Dylan, taking a year to record. During this period, Dylan came into Albert Grossman’s sphere of influence and had signed, at Grossman’s behest, with M. Witmark & Sons as his music publisher. This alliance delivered Blowin’ in the Wind, Quit Your Lowdown Ways and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right to collective lap of Peter, Paul and Mary, the widely popular trio conceived and contrived by Grossman as a vehicle to bring folk music to the record-buying masses. Their version of Blowin’ in the Wind (the fastest selling single in the history of Warner Brothers Records at the time) succeeded in introducing Dylan’s music to the nation. Most likely, many who first purchased Freewheelin’ had found Dylan by way of PP&M. Time magazine, in their July 19, 1963 issue remarked, “Blowin’ is young Dylan at his lyrical best. It sounds as country-airy as Turkey in the Straw, but it has a cutting edge.”

Dylan obligingly provided the a poem-like piece that served as the liner notes for PP&M’s In the Wind album, also released in ’63. It begins “Snow was piled up the stairs an onto the street that first/winter when I laid around New York City/It was a different street then—/It was a different village—“ and end with “But all ‘f us find our way a knowin when it’s morning—/An once yuh know the feelin it don’t change—/ It can only grow—/For Peter’s grown/An Paul’s grown; An Mary’s grown/ An the times’ve grown.”

THE RECORDING: During the two previous weeks I stood in line, bought my ticket, climbed aboard and fastened myself into a seat. This week I’ve actually begun to experience the exhilaration of the roller coaster ride that traces the Dylan discography.

First, let’s just enjoy the cover: snow underfoot, a VW bus parked on one side of the street, an early fifties (late forties?) model car on the other side; Suze Rotolo—the quintessential girlfriend—smiling, long red hair flowing, snuggled up to Dylan’s suede-jacketed shoulder. Both look cold, yet happy…

But we should get on to the music.

Blowin’ in the Wind leads off the 13 song selection—an old friend these days and, as mentioned above, most likely a familiar song, albeit in a more mellifluous form, for the contemporary listener. Four other songs, A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall, Girl from the North Country, Masters of War and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right included here are still strong members of the Dylan canon. And, though Dylan himself may derive great pleasure from finding new settings for his standards in live performance, these are the renderings which the Dylan fundamentalists consider to be the ‘real’ versions. They are sparse, vocal/guitar/ harmonica-bridge arrangements—his signature sound at the time. Guthrie’s influence on young Dylan’s vocals is still unmistakable.

The lesser known (to modern audiences) songs include Down the Highway—an almost recited rather than sung piece—that was presumably written in response to Suze Rotolo’s parentally-forced estrangement; Bob Dylan’s Blues (which includes a spoken introduction that makes the distinction that this tune was written in the USA rather than in Tin Pan Alley!) and Talkin’ World War III Blues both in the talkin’ blues tradition. These, along with I Shall Be Free, are peppered with sardonic humour, both in content and performance, and sixties socio-cultural references. Oxford Town is the first recorded effort concerned specifically with a civil rights confrontation. The upbeat rhythm of Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance has an obvious rock ‘n’ roll influence as does Dylan’s arrangement of Corinna, Corinna which, surprisingly, is recorded with piano, bass, additional guitars and drums. Finally, there’s Bob Dylan’s Dream, a poignant song about the loss of youthful enthusiasm and naïveté—a striking example of the understanding-beyond-his-years quality of Dylan’s compositions of the time—that has since fallen by the wayside in Dylan’s own repertoire (perhaps replaced philosophically by Forever Young) but has been beautifully covered by Judy Collins as well as PP&M and others.

Lyrics 1962-2001 provides an additional 5 titles from the time of this recording: Whatcha Gonna Do, Walls of Red Wing, Who Killed Davey Moore?, Seven Curses and Dusty Old Fairgrounds. Some, along with several of the twenty-seven earlier unreleased compositions, were either recorded during the Freewheelin’ sessions or shortly thereafter, but do not surface officially until Biograph or The Bootleg Series: Vols. 1-3.

CONCLUSION: As is my long-standing predilection, after multiple playings of an album, a few songs begin to rise to the top like cream. These are the ones that I eventually skip/ff to or just set on ‘repeat’ until I’m satiated. I was surprised to find that the first one in this set to have that effect was bluesy-rock rendering of Corrina, Corrina, which, rather than being among the majority of original compositions, is a reworking of a traditional song and it is one of the two tracks (the other being Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right) that has additional instrumental support. Does this mean, at least for me, that Dylan’s original, fundamental style fails to resonate in 2007? I don’t believe that that is truly the case. Rather, the phenomenon operating here (besides the fact that several of the songs are as familiar today as the national anthem) is that this song gives the listener a taste of what is to come from Dylan in the future. With Corrina, Corrina he does not have to be concerned with the success or failure of the language/story/image component of the song. That is already tried and true. Therefore, he can concentrate solely on presentation: chord changes, rhythm, vocal expression, etc. Later on, as he becomes more confident about the truth of expression within his own compositions, his talent for choosing (and, is the case these days, rethinking) the musical setting for his lyrics comes into play. Here, that talent is apparent in its fledgling stage.

As a whole, the album is a triumph, a showcase of Dylan’s growing talents. Listening, even without the knowledge of hindsight, one knows that there is more to come. The excitement and enthusiasm of Bob Dylan is still here. You know that he’s having fun with this and that he’s bursting with more ideas, more things he wants to try, more things he has to say.

[One last note: Times have changed. When Freewheelin’ (and Bob Dylan and several of the titles that will follow) first appeared, it was a monaural recording. ‘Record players’ were the popular method for listening to 45s, and LPs (that’s “Long Playing” for the uninitiated). Stereophonic systems were for the elite and well-heeled—Dave VanRonk’s ‘bourgeois class’. Finding a ‘stereo’ version of an album in the bins of your local record store (the kind that had listening booths in which Dylan, in No Direction Home, admits to being able to commit a song to memory after “one—or two” plays) was usually a difficult task. For that reason, I presume, this ‘Super Audio CD/Direct Stream Digital/SACD Stereo’ version to which I’ve been listening, for all its forced techno-glory, delivers Dylan’s vocals and harmonica riffs from one set of speakers and his guitar from the other. This division was, no doubt, digitally derived from the sound picked up by the two separate microphones into which he played.) The odd experience for today’s listener, though, is the perception that Dylan is either in two separate pieces or lying horizontally!]

"Bob Dylan" (recorded 11/20&21/61, released 3/62)

BACKGROUND: So here’s our boy at age twenty. He’s been in New York City since the previous winter. Less than two months ago Robert Shelton’s fabled rave review of his set at Gerde’s Folk City ran in the New York Times. On this day he’s recording his first album. It’s a Monday. Outside the studio Americans are looking forward to Thanksgiving. The turkeys on their holiday tables three days hence will cost less than 30 cents a pound. This evening they are likely to tune into episodes of Surfside Six, Ben Casey, The Andy Griffith Show, Pete and Gladys, 87th Precinct and The Price is Right after watching the day's news digested into a half-hour run down by Walter Cronkite on CBS or Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in her syndicated My Day column, is concerned with the recent death of House Speaker Sam Rayburn. John F. Kennedy is in the tenth month of his already remarkable presidency.

The studio is sparsely furnished: moveable partitions/sound baffles, two microphones—one for Dylan, one for his guitar, a table with a stainless water pitcher, a glass tumbler and an ashtray. Dylan’s open guitar case is on the floor. Visionary record producer John Hammond surveys the scene of what his colleagues will soon call “Hammond’s Folly”. Photographer Don Hunstein is ostensibly on hand to capture the event for posterity.

THE RECORDING: Listening to the CD, it’s impossible to miss Dylan’s desire—need—to perform. Each song of the thirteen songs has a unique personality, a unique sound that Dylan melded from the performances he’s heard and studied with nearly religious fervor. At the time, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Dave VanRonk were probably among the strongest influences. Yet, there’s a distinctive quality that permeates them all. If I could only use one word to define that quality, I’d probably choose ‘exuberance’. It’s in his voice, his breath, his harmonica, his guitar. But there’s more: humour—most definitely humour—and there’s joy and there’s the sound of a singer who is captivated by each song’s story.

All of that said, I must admit that I’ve tried to imagine what recorded music consumers in the early 60’s would have thought when they first heard this thirty-seven minute grab bag of styles and moods that was about to launch a musical Sputnik, particularly those who trusted the red Columbia label to bring them the likes of honey-throated Johnny Mathis, etc. From that perspective I would guess that many of the tunes would have been too rough and grating for their delicate ears. Still, I don’t think even those listeners would have missed the sincere, heartfelt offering in Song to Woody, the fun-poking of Talkin’ New York Blues, the humble introduction to and sing-along quality of Baby, Let Me Follow You Down or the counterpoint of vocal/harmonica melody with guitar-picking rhythm in Man of Constant Sorrow.

CONCLUSION: There's much here—some endearing, some enduring, and some fueled as much by nervous energy as talent. If this were the first Dylan album I heard, as it would have been in the early sixties, I would be cautiously on the look-out for a follow-up, wanting to see what this youngster will offer in the future, but not surprised if Columbia soon found a way to homogenize his sound.

The Quest Begins

Well, I have gathered and numbered my Dylan recordings in preparation for tomorrow: Day 1, Week 1. The list is posted here under "The Recordings". I have set a few parameters which I believe will not only enhance the historical aspect of this experience, but present the material in the fairest manner:

1. No unsanctioned bootlegs.
2. No compilations (greatest hits, etc.)
3. No recordings where Dylan is not the primary focus (i.e. Traveling Wilburys).
4. Listen in the order in which they were recorded, not as they were released. (This places a live concert from 1966 in 1966 when it was recorded, not in 1998 when it was released.)

The recordings are numbered in the order I'll be hearing them. Asterisks denote recordings that will not be included in the project but that I wanted to include in the list for chronological perspective. I'll be listening to these recordings on my commute to and from work each day devoting one week to each album (about 100 miles driving each week) which will give them approximately equal listening time (taking into account the luck of the draw with rush hour traffic) and similar listening circumstances.

I plan to do a bit of research about the historical (what was happening in world & national news, etc.)timeframe for each recording and, if I am aware of actual Dylan comments about the recording and/or composition process for particular songs I will take them into account. (These would include mentions in his autobiography, Chronicles, Part I, recorded interviews and reliably published interviews.) Any such references will be duly cited.

I do not plan to critize or analyze Dylan's work either on a musical or literary level, but rather to approach them as one who enjoys listening to good music or reading good writing. Nor will I refer to the myriad of subjective musical and literary criticism out there or to unsubstantiated connections to events in Dylan's personal life that may or may not have a bearing on the composition or performance.

Elsewhere in this blog I hope to create an annotated bibliography (gee, I'm a librarian...what do you expect?) that will present bibliographic information and my personal reactions--both positive and negative--to the published critical and biographical materials with which I am familiar as well as a 'webography' with similar information about several of the numerous websites dedicated to some aspect of the Dylan phenomenon.

Finally, along the way I expect I'll have some thoughts not only about this project, its process and purpose, but about Dylan's role as a creative being. Frankly, creativity is a subject by which I am thoroughly intrigued and which is, truly, the foundation for this effort.

For those of you who join me on this journey, welcome aboard. I hope you find it both enjoyable and, with any luck, thought provoking.