Hidden Revelations

Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Vol. 1

At first glance, this autobiography is almost opaque; much of it is devoted to what appear to be meaningless anecdotes from Dylan's everyday life, and a reader could be forgiven for getting frustrated and shouting, "Tell me about how you wrote 'Like a Rolling Stone,' already!" But Dylan's writing, like his songcraft, soon wins you over. His streams of consciousness may feel aimless, but Dylan always returns to the matter at hand, no matter how long a tangent he takes getting from A to B or how colorful the characters he shows us in between.

Indeed, there's more transparency in this work than we had any right to expect from the usually cryptic Dylan, information about his priorities (his family and his privacy) and albums he released in an effort to reduce his popularity (Self Portrait, among others) or without any passion for his work (much of the 1980s). We learn who he admired before he was a star, how he landed his first real gigs and recorded his first album. We see, albeit it through mirrors aimed at other mirrors, a vivid reflection of Dylan as we've never seen him before.

This is Dylan's self-portrait of his artistic development--why he started playing music, why he chose the directions he did, what pitfalls he encountered along the way, how he dealt with them and got his groove back. No, it doesn't flow linearly from beginning to end, and no, it isn't the whole story--that's what Volumes Two and Three are for. But by itself, Chronicles: Volume One is a fascinating and revealing look at the man who never wanted to be the voice of his generation and ended up being a voice for every generation. Remarkable and highly recommended.