Dylan: Behind the Shades

by Clinton Heylin (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1992

  $3.25

  Bob Dylan - poet, singer, songwriter and rock icon - is regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern culture and music. Seeking to retain the sense of Dylan as a man as well as a myth, this biography, written by a co-founder of the British Wanted Man magazine, relies heavily on Dylan's own words and those of his closest associates to place in perspective all periods of Dylan's life and work. Equal weight is given to each of three decades of Dylan's performing career: the early days as a radical folk singer up to the time he went electric in 1965; the mature period of world fame, covering his motorcycle accident, Woodstock, and the production of albums ranging from the widely-panned Self Portrait to those regarded as being amongst his best (eg Blonde on Blonde , Blood on the Tracks ); and the difficult 1980s which saw his conversion to Born Again Christianity and attempts to resurrect his career.

• Used

  Paperback
  2001

  $3.25

  This paperback edition is published to coincide with Dylan's 60th birthday in May 2001. First published to great acclaim in 1991, this new edition has been completely rewritten to take account of ten years' further research by the author. The result is a definitive account of arguably the greatest figure to have come out of popular culture in the 20th century.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2000

  $4.20

  This new edition of Behind the Shades has been completely rewritten and substantially enlarged to take account not only of the last decade, but of ten more years of original research by the author. The result is a fully comprehensive and highly illuminating biography. This text follows Bob Dylan along one of the most extraordinary paths taken by any artist in the 20th century: from his Jewish upbringing in Minnesota to the writing of his youthful protest masterpieces in New York; from the amazingly creative drug-fuelled mid-60s to the subsequent retreat to Woodstock with his family; from the break-up of his marriage (and the masterly Blood on the Tracks that came out of it) to the flirtation with fundamentalist Christianity; and finally to the recent restless years of endless touring. In virtually all areas of Dylan's life - his immigrant antecedents, his business dealings, his various addictions and his romantic attachments - Heylin is able to provide information about the man who changed the whole course of popular music in the 1960s and, over 30 years later, won three Grammys, including best album of 1997. As before, Heylin has given full weight to Dylan's own words and to those of his closest associates. Over 250 people are quoted in the book, and many of them were interviewed especially for this new edition. They help to provide an intricate portrait of a great and complex figure who, for too long has been the subject of myth-making rather than true biography.