Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994

Heylin's study of Dylan's recording sessions starts in 1960 with the period immediately preceding his signing with Columbia and ends in 1993 with World Gone Wrong (clearly an update is needed). Each chapter, starting with a sessionography, is dedicated to one of Dylan's official studio releases. Four chapters cover sessions that did not lead to official releases and one chapter is dedicated to soundtrack and tribute recordings Dylan contributed to. An appendix listing bootlegs that might have been available at the time of the book's release closes the book. Heylin is wonderfully opinionated and uses each chapter to highlight the merits and flaws of the released and unreleased content of each album. To his credit, and unlike many who write about Dylan, Heylin is not afraid to separate the dross from the gold. He clearly has a problem with the way Dylan's art has been made available to his fans (the book is amusingly "NOT dedicated to Jeff Rosen," the man responsible for overseeing Columbia's vast archives of Dylan's work). Reading the book both provides a glimpse into what Dylan's official oeuvre might have been and serves as a guide for collectors of unofficial recordings in determining what is worth seeking out. You might not agree with all of Heylin's opinions, but if you're a Dylan fan, this is essential reading.

Dylan fans love to read about the recording sessions; especially the songs left off the original albums, and this book gives the relevant and fascinating information wanted...a well written book by an unashamed fan.

I really can't understand what all of you are talking about. I liked the introduction. Just what the hell did the Beatles do w/all of that time in Abbey Road ? God knows they sure didn't record any of it.

OK, so it's not the comprehensive account of all of Bob's studio work that Lewisohn's Beatles book is, and maybe Heylin should have called it BOB DYLAN: THE OUT-TAKES 1960-1994, but this is a bible of information about Bob's album sessions. Would BLOOD ON THE TRACKS or INFIDELS have been better LPs if Dylan hadn't such an appetite for re-editing and revisionism? How and why did THE BASEMENT TAPES and THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOLS 1-3 fail to live up to their potential? It's questions like these that Heylin tackles with great insight and authority. He also provides a good bootleg discography, although this is by now somewhat out of date. Time for a new edition, Clinton!

This is a must have for Dylan fans and collectors, but there are some drawbacks which potential buyers should be aware of.First, the title is deceptive. Heylin and his publisher obviously chose it to dupe unsuspecting readers into thinking they are getting a detailed, day-by-day account of Dylan's work in the studio, along the lines of Mark Lewisohn's extraordinary BEATLES RECORDING SESSIONS (Hamlyn, 1988). This is not such a chronicle, as Heylin points out - at length - in his introduction (an introduction that web buyers cannot read; hence, this review). Heylin's self-serving swipes at Lewisohn in the introduction are also unfortunate, and is "Bob-made-better-records-in-six-days-than-the-Beatles-did-in-six-months" rant is simply misguided. Methinks Clinton is jealous because Lewisohn had unprecedented access to the EMI archive, while Sony's gatekeeper - Jeff Rosen - allowed a rival Dylanologist to document the bard's work. Heylin's childish un-dedication to Rosen is surely a first in the history of publishing, and tarnishes an otherwise exemplary book.If you can get past the petty dedication and bitchy introduction, you will find RECORDING SESSIONS to be a mostly informative, highly opinionated look at Dylan's career in the studio. You will need Michael Krogsgaard's authorised (sorry Clinton!) accounts in fanzines THE TELEGRAPH and THE BRIDGE for the most accurate session information (e.g. musicians and take numbers), but you don't read Clinton Heylin for these dry facts anyway. You read him because he has many insightful, provocative things to say about Bob Dylan, especially with regard to the songs and takes which were left behind, and have only appeared since on bootlegs, or Sony's pseudo-bootlegs. Here, Heylin simply shines.You may not agree with what he has to say, but you will be entertained by the way he says it. This work deserves a place in your collection, next to Paul Williams's PERFORMING ARTIST I & II.