Legendary Sessions: Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited

I thought it was a great review of what happened as young Bob Dylan made his Highway 61 album. He was still so young and flying by the seat of his pants. It has the best background and explanation of the Newport Folk Festival that I have ever read and I've read a lot. The descriptions of the studio happenings and interaction with the musicians, as the album was made, with a description of what happened as each song on the album was recorded. Great book with some more inside information about what makes Dylan tick.

This book covers the making of Dylan's greatest album, and sheds an interesting light on the highly unorthodox way it was made. Comments from band members are included. Unfortunately, the writing doesn't measure up the content, and some of it is a slog to get through. Still interesting for the Dylan fan.

Great!

This book has some interesting information that was new to me, but mostly details. The author pushes a kind of British left-leaning political line, and like most British Rock critics is gushing in his praise of the subject matter. As usual, trips to England become career-shaking. The US gets pretty rough treatment. Etc. Not worth the price to me.

This book is a straightforward story of the recording of Highway 61 Revisited in 1965. That is what it promises and that is what it delivers. The good: no pompous highbrow attempts to interpret the songs, no speculative forays. The bad: not much in here is new. But it compiles what is out there in one book, puts it in coherent choronological fashion, talks a little about the context in Dylan's life and other works and doesn't muddy that with anything else. It's like a chapter of Dylan's biography about the album, supersized. Reads quickly.

THIS IS THE 1ST DYLAN BOOK I'VE PURCHASED IN SEVERAL YEARS. WHAT CAN ANYONE TELL ME I DON'T ALREADY KNOW. WELL, SOMEONE HAS. IRWINS' INSIGHTS INTO THE POSSIBLE SOURCE OF DYLANS' LYRICS ARE INCREDIBLE. A WELL WRITTEN INFORMATIVE PIECE OF WORK. I RECOMMEND TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN DYLAN, OR FOR THAT MATTER, THE HISTORY OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK TO READ THIS BOOK.

This book provides the details and insight into the times and making of this landmark album. It's excactly the kind of information that can satisfy the seemingly insatiable thirst for anything Dylan. Really freakin' great. I loved it.

If you have read dozens of the books written about Dylan, or none at all for that matter, this is the one book you need to read.