Product Description
Includes A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall, Blowin' In The Wind, Tangled Up In Blue, Don't Think Twice It's All Right, and Just Like A Woman. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Who Wrote this?
I'm not going to slam this book because I'm sure it has it's place in a novice's sheet music library, but I am going to give it one star based on my personal opinion as an intermediate/advanced acoustic guitar player.First of all if you're not a stickler and just want the main idea of a chord progression for afew dylan songs then ignore this review you won't mind or notice what I have. On the other hand if you want to learn to play these songs in the same key and note for note from the greatest hits album then this book isn't what your looking for. In my opinion this is a fake book. The degrees seem to be right and for the strumming songs you could transpose and a adjust for dylan's free style vocals but for "don't think twice, it's alright"-which is the the main song I bought the book for-the tabs are wrong. There are no trills or hammer ons or pull offs which can distinctly be heard even by a novice. Also the tab for "Blowing in the Wind" is missing a few notes and the intro in addition to most of the other songs in the book
is totally different like the writer heard the song once picked it out by ear and then just decided to make up whatever else he felt like.Nothing personal to the author, but in addition to other books I've seen this one should deffinitly have the word fakebook on the cover. Anything that doesn't, I'd expect more from.

Best Dylan songbook
This is great Dylan songbook! The best starting point for a Dylan fan who wants to learn how to play those legendary songs. Simply the best songbook there is!

Bob Dylan - Musical Brilliance
Bob Dylan's music has touched the hearts of millions over the decades and this collection is a wonderful gathering of his masterworks.Whether you're looking to sing, strum, or tickle the ivories, this collection is amust. ... Read more

Product Description
Focuses on the production of the Basement Tapes, the suppressed recordings made by Bob Dylan and The Band in 1967 in Big Pink, Woodstock. This book returns to the folk/mythological preoccupations of Greil Marcus's "Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music". ... Read more

Product Description
Bob Spitz, drawing on hundreds of interviews with Dylan's family, friends, lovers and fellow musicians, presents the true Bob Dylan in a vast array of guises: the early years in Minnesota, when loner and local weirdo Bobby Zimmerman reinvented himself as Bob Dylan; the cataclysm that occurred when he went electric; the mad years, when drugs corrupted his gospel of peace and love; and his flirtations with political causes, various religions and superstardom. Photographs.Amazon.com Review
Writer Bob Spitz, author of Barefoot in Babylon, thestory of the 1969 Woodstock festival, spent years researching BobDylan's life, interviewing people who had known him ranging back tohis earliest days in Hibbing, Minnesota. Spitz did get people to talkon the record, and while his book collects myriad quotes from Dylanassociates, the overall tone of Dylan: A Biography tends toveer toward being unaccountably mean-spirited. The book doesdocument the recollections of some people important in Dylan's life,but it's an uneven read thanks to the persistently negative tone andSpitz's penchant for writing scenes in a hipster style that usuallytends to work against the subject (who is, after all, more than hipenough on his own). --Robert McNamara ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A facinating biography of Bob Dylan
A few months ago, I read Bob Spitz's biography, The Beatles. When the Beatles first came to America in 1964 the one person they wanted to meet was Bob Dylan, who according to Spitz turned them on to marijuana as the Plaza Hotel.I found Spitz's book so entertaining and engrossing that I ordered his biography of Bob Dylan, even though it was published in 1985.

As a teenager growing up in the 1960's, Bob Dylan was one of my great folk heroes. I was also a great fan of Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Phil Ochs, Peter Paul and Mary and of course Joan Baez.Bob Spitz's biography of Bob Dylan takes us on the incredible journey as Robert Zimmerman travels to New York to reinvent himself as Bob Dylan.One of the problems of reading a detailed biography of a famous person is that there are risks that as you turn the pages of the book, you may discover unsettling and disturbing facts about the main character.

If you need to perceive Bob Dylan as a kind and empathetic person to enjoy his music, don't read this book.Spitz reports how Bob would use his friends, steal from them and manipulate and abuse the people who loved him.He also examines his genius of writing and performing songs that transformed the music business.I loved the book and while Bob Spitz showed me the dark side of Bob Dylan he also has whetted my appetite to revisit and listen to many of his CDs'.

Spare us.
Mixed metaphors make a mess of this. I am in the publishing business and only hope this writer goes back to his job in the music business as he has no business writing.

bad attitude, great research
Mr. Perle's disclaimer does this book an injustice:Spitz's sequel to the Scaduto and Shelton biographies bears the aspect of a "tabloid-style hatchet job" unmistakably.Nevertheless the amazing quality of Spitz's even-then-still-timely research remains irreducible, and his book cannot be responsibly neglected by scholars of the topic.

As for Perle's claim that "An autobiography by Bob Dylan was also available," well, if only!Won't that be the day!

Spitz' Writing Misunderstood
(This was written for a course assignment.)

Though already ten years old, "Dylan - A Biography" by Bob Spitz is an incredible, often uncomfortable look into singer/songwriter Bob Dylan's life. "Uncomfortable" because Bob Dylan, admired and even idolized by so many,named the spokesman of his generation in the early 1960s, and supposedly aprophet of peace and goodwill, is uncovered as a frequently complete andutter jerk.But at the same time, Spitz writes with an understanding pen. "Dylan" is by no means a tabloid-style hatchet job, Spitz having set out to"unmask the hero."If anything, "Dylan" shows us that Bob Dylan, the man,the myth, is indeed both a man and a myth.He is and always has been ahuman being, and one with his fair share of faults.

Reviews of "Dylan" onthe Internet are rather critical of Spitz, using terms such as"mean-spirited."Due to Spitz having dramatically different reviewsfor his other works, it seems as though these other "Dylan" readers don'twant to face the idea that their icon is not the quintessentialhumanitarian, despite the legend.Spitz interviews and quotes countlesspeople from Dylan's past who give first-hand accounts of his ownmean-spirited dealings with those who've cared about him.In doing so onefeels foolish thinking of Dylan as among the world's greatesthumanitarians.

Lack of personal knowledge created the void that "Dylan"was hoped to fill.Two topics in particular were eagerly awaited to beexpounded on.These included Dylan's mid-1960s & life-alteringmotorcycle accident and Dylan's flirtation with Christianity, followed byhis return to Judaism.Neither topic was satisfactorily covered, though itappears that the second part of the latter simply occured after the bookwas published a decade ago.As for the first topic, it appears due to theless-than-heavy emphasis and the implication that the accident was notnearly as serious as the public was lead to believe that it is for thisthat the topic was given little concentration.

The 550 pages that make upthe main text of the book, including the prologue, chapters, and epilogue,certainly comprise a work that is significantly longer than easier-readalternatives for the topic, but it was hoped that the book would live up toits promise.At the bottom of the cover is a quote from esteemed writerGreil Marcus, "No other book captures it so well, understands so well..."Anautobiography by Bob Dylan was also available, but to get the objectivestory, it is best to stay away from such self-promotion.In the author'snotes preceding the prologue, Spitz writes that he was offered exclusiveinterviews with Dylan as well as access to countless treasures includingphotographs in return for allowing Dylan control over the final manuscript. Based on Dylan's notorious history of publicizing half-truths and outrightlies about himself, Spitz refused.

"Dylan" is a recommendedread.

This book rocks
This Bob Dylan book by Bob Spitz i felt was quite intrigueing. I have always wanted to learn more on Bob Dylan and this book, i felt really expressed a lot of his thoughts and how his has lived his entire life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Sharp Edge of an Hasaidic Education
Definitely one for the affiacondo. Needless to add, the thesis is based on Dylan/Zimmerman's Jewishness, which is incontestable. How much his immersion in its outlook translates into his work is, of course, contestable, be it intutitive or conscious. Pickering insists on its informing base. It would greatly help if you had a briefing in Hasaidic lore, which I don't, nor was encouraged to by reading Pickering's text. Still, it puts a whole new light on Dylan's musings and made me listen differently to,'John Wesley Harding' for instance. The blurry black and white photos were worth the price of the magazine, back then and its now a certifiable collector/completist's item.

Good photos, some good articles
I had to add a few comments after reading the other review from 1999.I bought this book just after it came out.While I was open to Mr. Pickering's opinions about the importance of the Judaism on Dylan's work, I was put off by his condescension.In fact, I often felt he was using Dylan to make arrogant remarks about issues important to him rather than to Dylan or his fans.
On the other hand, I loved the pictures; most are b&w.Most are from the 1974 tour, but included are earlier photos, some rare photos of the benefit concert Dylan did with Phil Ochs, even a high school photo. There are some reprints of articles by better writers.It's worth a look if Dylan is of particular interest to you.

Dissapointing
I expected commentary on Dylan's lyrics from a Jewish perspective; there is certainly plenty to say on the issue.Unfortunately, this book offered only a blow by blow of a Dylan concert tour, interspersed with drawings ofEin Sof and random quotes from the Kabalah, Elie Wiesel, and Walt Whitmanof all people.Great if you want to know every detail of a Dylan tour;otherwise not much use. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (8)

Material is better than the writing
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.

British Myopia
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.

WHAT A PAGE TURNER!
This book is a must buy for dedicated Dylan fans written by a veteran writer and editor.It is an account of the sessions that produced "Highway 61 Revisted" plus a VERY good weave of related happenings, people and other vital information that all fits in very very well.This book was a page turner, and I couldn't set it down.The book is very well written and will not disappoint even the intellectuals out there.There are very good choice descriptive words and good vocabulary all in all. There are only a sprinkling of photos, among them a stunning Dan Kramer light & shade photo of Bob that highlights the top gentle curvature of his nose and high cheekbone.This photograph makes Bob look like a ancient Roman statue except for the comical part--the cigarette stuck on the side of the harmonica.

To make this book complete, I recommend the DVD "The Other Side of the Mirror" and the Bootleg Series #7 in which are some of versions of the songs described in this book, along with, of course, the CD "Highway 61 Revisited."

Just a couple of editing misses, but Great Writing and Very Well Done!!

A MUST READ
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.

What you see is what you get
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. ... Read more

Product Description
Revealing the people, places, and events behind the songs of the preeminent musician of his time, "Don't Think Twice, It's All RightBob Dylan, The Early Years" charts a chronological course from Dylan's first album to 1969's "Nashville Skyline". 90 color photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a good book
this book tells you a lot about bob dylan, a folk singer turned rock singer whose songs are really good and literary.if you want to understand his lyrics and whatnot pick up this book.it is good.i liked it though i didnt read all of it.

Invaluable reference
Bob Dylan is one of the few musical figures from the 20th century that we have truly seen become a legend in their own time. Some would argue, indeed, that Dylan is THE quissential cultural figure of the second half of the 20th century - recording undoubtedly some of the greatest albums ever put to tape, becoming, in the eyes of many, a composer for our times on par with Mozart and Beethoven, arguably the greatest, at the very least most infulential and far-reaching poet of the century, and mapping out emotional blueprints for an entire generation with songs like Blowin' In The Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin', Mr. Tambourine Man, Like A Rolling Stone, and Just Like A Woman. And, although he has since recorded albums every bit as good as his 60's highlights, - not least among them, his magnum opus Blood On The Tracks, and his 1998 Album of The Year, Time Out of Mind - his works from that time still stands as the absolute apex of a culture that was the most turbulent decade since the 20's. Rarely has an artist, at any time, been so in tune with the tenor of the times. This book chronicles Dylan's remarkable 60's period - from his, largely interpretative, debut album through his shocking move to country music with Nashville Skyline. It indeed has the "stories behind every song", and it avoids stooping so low as to try and convey what the songs are "about." Rather, this book, much more usefully, gives the background to the songs: how and when they came about, insight into the characters mentioned in them, and what woman, person, or particular muse the song may be referring to, or have been inspired by. There may not be a lot here that Dylanologist don't already know, but it is nevertheless a useful (not to mention beautiful - it's an immaculately laid-out book, with dozens of generous photographs peppered throughout), and nice to have a reference to all these early songs in one place. An absolutely essential book for Dylan fans.

How Does It Feel?
This was when Dylan was making groundbreaking music.This book offers fine analysis of every track and an excellent companion to the CDs of that time period.A must-have book for Dylan fans. ... Read more

Product Description
Since the early 1960s, music fans have found Bob Dylan's spirituality fascinating, and many of them have identified Dylan as a kind of spiritual guru. This book, written by a scholar who is a longtime fan, examines DylanÂ's mystique, asking why audiences respond to him as a spiritual guide. This book reveals Bob Dylan as a major twentieth- and twenty-first-century religious thinker with a body of relevant work that goes far beyond a handful of gospel albums. ... Read more

Product Description
Includes 13 of his greatest hits, specially arranged for fingerstyle guitarists at all levels. Titles include Buckets Of Rain, Just Like A Woman, Simple Twist of Fate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

It is a waist of money
Lyrics are not included.
Jerry Willard's transcriptions are easy to play.
Sadly, his transcriptions bare little resemblance to the songs.
To make Dylan sound hollow without heart or soul is sad.

Disappointing
I bought this book after having learnt 'Don't Think Twice' from a magazine and was very disappointed with the transcriptions.'Don't think twice' was a very poor representation; even a averageguitarist would be able to see it was quite far off the recorded version.Another problem was the lack of good songs - Fantasic fingerpicking pieces were missed out:'Spanish Boots', 'Girl from north country', 'One too many mornings', etc did not feature.Also no words were included.

Accurate and Complete
I recently purchased this book and was quite impressed with the quality of the transciptions contained within. They very accurate andcomplete. As a guitarists and a serious Bob Dylan fan I know how hard it can be to findaccurate Tablature for Bob Dylan and Mr. Willard has compiled an excellentcollection of some of the lesser well-known Dylan tunes. ... Read more

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, ... Read more

Product Description
This book argues that Dylan actually embraces two radically distinct world views at alternating periods. Throughout his various stages, Dylan's work reveals an affinity with the Zen world view, where enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation and intuition rather than through faith and devotion. Forgoing Christianity and Western Views for Zen and Buddhism, "Bargainin' for Salvation" will capture your attention and direct it toward the East. One of the mysteries of Bob Dylan's incredible corpus is why he seems to veer and zigzag so drastically and dramatically from one extreme standpoint to another. Throughout his career, rapid, radical transitions in musical style and public persona have either inspired or shocked different sectors of his fans. Is Dylan's work complex and contradictory, or is there an underlying consistency and continuity? Steven Heine, Director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University, argues that Dylan actually embraces two radically distinct world views at alternating periods.One is prevalent in his Protest (early '60s), Country (late '60s), and Gospel (late '70s) phases; it finds Dylan expressing moral outrage in endorsing a single higher truth based on a right-versus-wrong philosophy. The second view appears during periods of Dylan's disillusionment in the mid '60s ("Desolation Row"), mid '70s ("Tangled Up in Blue"), and mid '80s ("Jokerman"), finding him disenchanted with one-sided proclamations of truth and wandering, seemingly aimless amid a relativistic world of masks and disguises where nothing is ever what it claims to be. Throughout his various stages, Dylan's work reveals an affinity with the Zen world view, where enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation and intuition rather than through faith and devotion. Whatever his current beliefs are, though, one can go into reading this book knowing that there are no others like it. Forgoing Christianity and Western views for Zen and Buddhism, "Bargainin' for Salvation" will capture your attention and direct it toward the East. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good concept, but falls short
I actually heard Steven Heine speak about this book, which is why I decided to buy it. He made some very interesting points and I thought it would be a new approach to Dylan's work.

However, I am at once satisfied with the concept and disappointed with the execution. First of all, the book is filled with mistakes. I really do not believe the book was edited for either grammar and spelling or verity of information. For example, in the last paragraph of page 124, the author quotes a line from "Gates of Eden," and attributes it to "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."

Second, Heine has a way of stringing together bits of lyric or song titles in an attempt to make a point which only comes off as confusing and nonsensical.

That being said, the concept of the book is very interesting and he does make insightful analyses of many songs, although in regard to some works, it seems he is way off the mark. I don't like to criticize anyone's conception of what any work of art means to them because the meaning of any decent work is in the perception of the observer. But in some cases, it seems he hasn't even read the entire work.

The most interesting part of the book is the breakdown of "Dylan Discology in Relation to Career Periods," which makes sense and provides a believable explanation for many questions about the wide-ranging positions reflected in Dylan's work. The identification of the last several years as Dylan having found the Middle Path is an intriguing concept of his latest work. But, if we know anything, it's that Dylan's music will eventually take another direction. So, where to from the Middle Path?

All in all, it is a good way to pass time, but I don't think I'll be picking it up a second time.

You will always hear Dylan in a new light after reading this book!
I agree with a number of others I have talked to that once you read this book explaining the full history of Dylan's songwriting, you will always hear the music in a new light. This book explains how and why Dylan has moved in so many different directions over the years based on his spiritual quest, and how he has found a middle way perspecive in recent times. Now it is clear why Dylan has been so successful with his records since Time Out of Mind in 1997, because he has found a creative way to balance the various attitudes he has held based on either making ethical judgments (which the author calls Duality) or acknowledging relativism (or Non-Duality) into a harmonious, yin/yang pattern.

In response to another reviewer who loved the book but commented on the subtitle, it should be noted that this ends with a question mark. The author is not dogmatically asserting that Dylan is related to Zen, but in an inventive Zen-like way he uses the Buddhist approach to comprehensively examine Dylan's life work.It is also great that the author does not dismiss but instead fully engages other religious influences on Dylan, as well as the role of the Blues and the Beats which he ingeniously compares with Eastern culture. Another intriguing thing about the book is the way it shows how Dylan has woven Asian imagery about karma, nothingness, and illusion into his songs, especially in the 1970s before his fundamentalist phase.

A marvelous study of the meaning in Bob Dylan's works.
I liked most everything about this one except for the title. Bob Dylan is certainly no Zen master. A lot of his music yields to a Zen interpretaion, but it just as easily yields to a Christian interpretation, or a Marxist interpretation, or to any other school of thought based upon human universals.

A better title would be: BOB DYLAN: A BUDDHIST INTERPRETATION.

That said, this is a marvelous rendering of Bob Dylan's music and meaning in a scholarly and well-written book.It includes abundant annotations, a complete bibliography, and a useful glossary of Buddhist mystical terms.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
In a tour de force of lyrical theory, Joshua Clover boldly reimagines how we understand both pop music and its social context in a vibrant exploration of a year famously described as "the end of history." Amid the historic overturnings of 1989, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, pop music also experienced striking changes. Vividly conjuring cultural sensations and events, Clover tracks the emergence of seemingly disconnected phenomena--from grunge to acid house to gangsta rap--asking if "perhaps pop had been biding its time until 1989 came along to make sense of its sensibility." His analysis deftly moves among varied artists and genres including Public Enemy, N.W.A., Dr. Dre, De La Soul, The KLF, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, U2, Jesus Jones, the Scorpions, George Michael, Madonna, Roxette, and others. This elegantly written work, deliberately mirroring history as dialectical and ongoing, summons forth a new understanding of how "history had come out to meet pop as something more than a fairytale, or something less. A truth, a way of being." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"I am not smashing together the high and the low just because I can"
"1989" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Clover's book interview ran here as the cover feature on February 24, 2010. ... Read more

Product Description
23 top hits from folk-rock icon Bob Dylan arranged for the ukulele: All Along the Watchtower * All I Really Want to Do * Blowin' in the Wind * Don't Think Twice, It's All Right * Forever Young * I Feel a Change Comin' On * I Want You * I'll Be Your Baby Tonight * It Ain't Me, Babe * It's All Over Now Baby Blue * Knockin' on Heaven's Door * Lay, Lady, Lay * Like a Rolling Stone * Maggie's Farm * Mr. Tambourine Man * Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) * Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 * The Times They Are A-Changin' * You Ain't Goin' Nowhere * and more. Includes full lyrics and easy-to-read chord boxes. ... Read more

Product Description
Bob Dylan, enigma and superstar, has intrigued millions of fans over the past five decades. His life, music, and influences have been explored through numerous mediums and the market for Dylan-related products continues to grow. Nonetheless, the oral records of his career-his interviews-have been unavailable until now. Gathered here are the most revealing and personal of Dylan's interviews. As a group they show a brilliant, adored, and eclectic musician, unsettled and angered by the fame and reverence surrounding him. In one interview with Time magazine he denigrates his newfound celebrity status, belligerently attacking the interviewer, pushing him nearly to tears. In a later Rolling Stone interview Dylan announces that the archangel Gabriel has visited him, and that he is a born again Christian. Collected from small publications and zines like Positively Tie Dream, Trouser Press, and New Music Express as well as mainstream outlets as disparate as Seventeen, Playboy, Spin, and the New York Times, Dylan's interviews illuminate his journey from ornery folksinger to acclaimed Grammy-winner. Included are interviews by Pete Seeger, Nora Ephron, Susan Edmiston, Studs Terkel, Jon Pareles, Nat Hentoff, Kurt Loder, Steve Allen, Ron Rosenbaum, Bono, Jonathon Cott, Jann Wenner, Robert Shelton, and many others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mistitled
"Younger Than That Now" is subtitled "The Collected Interviews with Bob Dylan," which implies you'll find every interview Dylan has given through the years. That may be an impossible task, but certainly it would be practical to collect the interviews he gave to major publications in one thick volume.

"Younger Than That Now" doesn't do that. Notably absent are the interviews I was hoping to find, particularly Dylan's hilariously elusive conversation with Jann Wenner in a 1969 issue of Rolling Stone in which Wenner tries and fails to get Dylan to acknowledge that he's a "youth leader" and a spokesman for someone other than himself. Then there's the 1978 interview with Jonathan Cott, also in Rolling Stone, that, in hindsight, hinted at his conversion to Christianity while also demonstrating his sense of humor.

So, "Younger Than That Now" isn't definitive. As long as you know that before you dive in, it's a worthwhile read collecting many memorable exchanges Dylan had with the press through the years.

Brian W. Fairbanks ... Read more

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LP RECORD ... Read more

Product Description

CHRIS O'DELL WASN'T FAMOUS. SHE WASN'T EVEN ALMOST FAMOUS. BUT SHE WAS THERE.

She was in the studio when the Beatles recorded The White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be, and when Paul recorded "Hey Jude," she sang in the chorus.

She was at Ringo's kitchen table when George Harrison said, "You know, Ringo, I'm in love with your wife." And Ringo replied, "Better you than someone we don't know."

She typed the lyrics to George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. She lived with George and Pattie Boyd at Friar Park, developed a crush on Eric Clapton, and unwittingly got involved in the famous love story between Eric and Pattie.

She's the subject of Leon Russell's "Pisces Apple Lady," a song he wrote to woo her. Other rock legends with whom she was intimate include Ringo, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan.

She worked with the Rolling Stones as their personal assistant on their infamous 1972 tour and did a drug run for Keith Richards.

She's "the woman down the hall" in Joni Mitchell's song "Coyote" about a love triangle on Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour. She's the "mystery woman" pictured on the back of the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street. She's the "Miss O'Dell" of George Harrison's song about her.

Miss O'Dell is the remarkable story of an ordinary woman who lived the dream of millions -- to be part of rock royalty's trusted inner circle. Illustrated with private photographs and jam-packed with intimate anecdotes, Miss O'Dell is a backstage pass to some of the most momentous events in rock history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (77)

Fascinating book...
I can't really add anything to the description of the basic story...others have done that well. What I can add is that the writing style is so comfortable, so familiar...it's almost as if you're having a conversation with someone rather than reading words on a page. I think that's what makes it such a quick, easy read. Anyone with an interest in rock music history from the late sixties through seventies would appreciate this book. These are stories you have probably not heard before.

Forest Gump, Indeed!
Do the people who wrote the reviews before me REALLY believe this crap? If this is not entirely made up, it is CERTAINLY embellished to no end! I started out enjoying it until about the umpteenth time of Forest, eh, Chris being in the place where all the action is AGAIN!
Yeah, she was there for every important album and tour of the late 1960's and through the 1970's. Sure. She constantly had people calling her up out of the blue to offer her a job with every act in the R&R Hall Of Fame, even when she had moved and didn't even have the same phone number. Sure.
You get the idea. Read the thing if you like Rock and Roll. And Fiction.

Please enter a title for your review.
This book allows you to go on a trip through a cool time in music.She tells a good tale without selling anyone down the river yet still telling us some great stories about herself and the persons she knew.I found her journey fascinating.If you are a Beatles' fan I think you will get to know the members just a little bit better than you did before.There are not shocking revelations but just stories to add to, and confirm, your knowledge of the group.I like the book.I'm glad she told her story.

An excellent memoir
I really enjoyed MISS O'DELL. It's a truly enjoyable book about a woman plucked out of virtual obscurity to become a part of the inner circle of many top Rocks of the 1960s and 70s. It's a compellingly written account of a very unlikely life. As someone from so-called Generation X (typically defined as the generation born during the 1970s), this book is something of a history lesson for me. I know the Stones, the Beatles, Queen, etc., are "rock gods," but I don't know much about them. So, it was great to learn about them, and to learn about them from a behind-the-scenes perspective. I just really enjoyed this book. Even if you aren't a fan of the various rock groups the author worked with, you will still enjoy this highly readable book.

A Great Trip Back In Time
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo went through their creative process? How about being a fly on the wall when the love triangles involving George, Ringo, and Ringo's wife when George tells Ringo "I'm in love with you wife?" Well Chris O'Dell was a fly on the wall during these very tumultuous times. She lived in the mansion with George Harrison and Pattie Boyd and saw that marriage fall as Eric Clapton openly went after and won Pattie's love. What is it about Pattie that inspired George to write "Something" and Eric to write "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight", and "Have You Ever Loved A Woman". This is the closest I've come to understanding more about Pattie than her obvious beauty as she and Chris were (and remain) very close friends.

Chris worked at Apple records at the height of it's place as an important center of the music world then, when Apple was collapsing, used her organizational skills to become a tour manager. This put her in close contact with The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and many more. She gives an accurate depiction of life in the music world, onstage and off at a time when substance abuse was at its heigth. Chris O'Dell writes with humor, and honesty which make her personal journey very interesting as well. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is a must have for anyone interested in Bob Dylan's music.It covers 43 officially released albums with extensive commentary on each track.Included are details of label, credits, year of release, timings, and collaborative efforts.It is packed with information and details about each song ever recorded and released—including the live and bootleg versions that have been appearing in recent years.Bob Dylan's influence on popular music is boundless.As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of music from confessional to narrative.He redefined the role of the vocalist and is an inspiration to musicians across allgenres—from country and folk to traditional and progressive rock. This book is the perfect reference for anyone interested in Bob Dylan and his work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Big Little Book of Bob
This book is small in physical size (slightly larger than a compact disc) but enormous in scope, for content on the recorded output of Bob Dylan. This thick volume (464 pages) covers all of Bob's official recorded works from 1962 through to 2006. A section on Bob's recorded contributions to other artists records is useful, as a (small) section devoted to selected bootlegs.

But, the official recordings are the spotlight of this book. From the debut album: "Bob Dylan" through to "No Direction Home - Bootleg Series Vol. 7" with commentary covering each individual tracks of each record. Color reproductions of all the cover art is included, as are credits & comments on every recording included within. This book, is a pleasure and a great reference point for all music, Dylan.

As, you may not agree with every comment found herein, (my favorite Dylan songs may not be your favorite Dylan songs) this thick little book doesn't leave out hardly anything, and is as useful as it is entertaining. You could spend a lot more money for a book of this sort (my copy was $3.99, brand new from a bookseller) but, it is up to you as the consumer. This is a great little book, and a handy reference source that I use a lot.
Four Stars !!!

Completeness is a Virtue
Notable for its completeness, but sometimes awkward for its Britisih slant in describing disc contents and album covers.

Pleasant, comprehensive book is likely to satisfy most readers
Brian Hinton's discography of Bob Dylan is a first-rate book. Although it is small in size, the book is lengthy, totaling more than 460 pages. Most of it is dedicated to covering Dylan's official releases through the "No Direction Home" soundtrack and Gaslight CDs (in other words, it excludes "Modern Times"). Hinton includes a copy of the cover of each album; production information (recording dates, musicians, length of recording); an overview of the album, including its context in terms of the ups and downs of Dylan's career; a song-by-song review; and brief notes on outtakes. The album overviews and, especially, the song reviews are the items that readers will find compelling. Of course the elite sector of Dylan fanatics who know a billion and one facts about the singer/songwriter/musician may quibble that the book does not contain enough details, or they may disagree with certain interpretations. For most of us, however, Hinton presents a nice balance of information so that newcomers to Dylan as well as long-time fans will be entertained, rather than overwhelmed. The latter part of the book contains a listing of albums where Dylan contributed, as well as a list of singles. It also features information on some of Dylan's better known bootleg albums.

I initially thought the price ($24.95 list) might be a bit steep for a book that contained information that I was largely familiar with. However, the production values are quite good, and, again, Hinton has done a great job of assembling information and providing enough fresh insights to satisfy most old-timers, as well as furnishing a nice package to introduce newcomers to Bob Dylan's prolific and impressive output of recordings.




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Product Description
After focusing on the start and roots of the Never Ending Tour, Williams surveys Dylan's work in 1990, and the 1997 Time Out of Mind and 2001 Love and Theft albums. There's also an essay on a fine examples of a Never Ending show from 1998. Paul William's writing about Bob Dylan has been praied by such distinguished Dylan fans as Sam Shepard, Jerry Garcia and Allen Ginsberg. One member of Dylan's band says he found reading William's books on Dylan helpful when he first joined the band and needed to become more familiar with his new boss's huge output of work. ... Read more