Customer Reviews

Bob Dylan: Concise

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

What's wrong with the songbook is outweighed by what's right about it. Every song has complete lyrics. Almost every well-known Dylan song is included, including those he covered or co-wrote. There are no photos, graphics or pics to get in the way when you're trying to turn pages as you perform a song. Simple (i.e. melody) sheet music with guitar tablature is included, giving most Dylan wannabes or admirers with acoustic guitars and harmonicas more than enough to get by on for a nice set.

Problems: The songs are arranged in ROUGH chronological order, making it frustrating to find what you need in a hurry--especially if you're playing "unplugged and seated" at a coffee house and need to get to the next song quickly. Also, the guitar tabs and melody notation is nice, but how hard would it have been to include piano chords and bass lines for our non-guitar playing musician friends? Here's the big hurdle you'll face if you buy this book: The sheet music is hit-or-miss when it comes to getting the correct keys and chords of the original songs. Though many of them are close enough that a savvy player can make a quick mental note to transpose (eg., songs listed in F major that are actually in E major can be played by thinking 1/2 step down), some of them are not only in the wrong key--their chords are nothing at all like the original versions! I'm talking about substituting minor chords that should be major and augmented chords that should be simple triads (i.e. basic "cowboy chords" in the first position). If you have a pencil, pen or marker, you can make your own changes above the incorrectly notated chords, but that's not much help if you get a request during a gig, or worse, refer to the sheet music while you're playing and hit a chord that's not even close to what it should be.

The sadly out-of-print songbook, "The Very Best of Bob Dylan," didn't have the notation problems, and even though it is a much slimmer collection, it's worth seeking out.

If you plan to learn lots of Dylan's songs to play with a band or solo guitar/vocal, this book is a good starting point, but be sure to listen carefully to the original tracks when you're learning songs from this book. You may be surprised to learn that the chord progressions are way off the mark.

This book is an excellent example of the addage "you can't tell a book by its cover."

Overall, the collection makes an excellent one-stop resource for a majority of Dylan's work. Others have commented that some lyrics are incorrect (true to a point, but then who has ever heard Dylan do ANY of his songs twice the same way?)or that the chords, or tunes are not quite on the money. All that is more or less acceptable and curable with even a modicum of musical chops.

As far as the book's organization, that's more problematic. It departs from its primarily alphabetical format at the most inconvenient of times, leaving the reader scratching his or her head. An index of first lines would have been worth its weight in gold.

Ultimately, however, the single greatest drawback to this collection is the shabby quality of its binding. The cover on my copy completely broke loose by the time I'd played 10 songs. While this problem was easily corrected with a liberal application of good quality contact cement, it's the principle of the matter. To charge more than $35 for a volume with a binding that's less adequate than an old ten-cent Scrooge McDuck comic is unacceptable.

Great book - lousy cover.

At first glance this book is fantastic. Any casual Dylan fan will be blown away at the sheer volume of songs covered in this collection, no doubt many of which they have never heard of, while the Dylan fanatics will find several features lacking but still sufficient. In order to adaquately review this book claiming to be 'Definitive' it must be seen critiqued from multiple sides.

1. So firstly, for the casual Dylan fan. It seems obvious enough to me that a casual fan would not necessarily be looking for a 'Definitive' songbook, but you are pretty much guaranteed to find the songs you seek in here. It really is one of the more definitive songbooks for Dylan, boasting some 330 songs.

However, if you have much experience at all playing guitar or keys or whatever, this book is surprisingly mediocre. The transcriptions of these songs come with simple notation, and extremely basic chord charts (as well as full lyrics for each song). Many of the transcriptions are downright wrong, and sound nothing like any studio or live recordings I have heard. Some songs that come to mind are "It's all over now, Baby Blue" "Ballad of a Thin Man" and many others.

The downside for guitar players is that everything has been shifted to standard E tuning. This means that there are no songs transcribed with open tunings (as he did for "Oxford Town" and half of Blood on the Tracks). But most disturbingly is the total lack of capo transcriptions. Not one song has been transcribed for capo. Dylan was surely one of the most notorious capo users of pop music, and yet this has been bypassed. This obviously will dramatically alter the tone, especially on songs like "Mr. Tambourine Man" which sounds far too bass heavy in this transcription.

The other issue for the more experienced musicians is the lack of lead and/or solo transcriptions. There is no TAB whatsoever, and perhaps this is the reason for the exception of solos, but it would have been fantastic to have some of the guitar or organ solos from some of his Highway 61 days. I suppose though if you were a truly experienced musician you wouldn't have much use for this book anyway.

In any case, if these seem like nitpicky comments to you, there is little else that comes to mind under the casual fan category. Although there are several glaring errors in transcription, I would say most songs are more or less accurate, and the errors are something a decent guitar player could fix himself by simply writing the corrections in the more than ample margins.

2. Now then, onto the really interesting and nitpicky things. The capo issue and chord charts are worth raising again. The chords are very basic and sometimes seem entirely wrong, but still, this isn't the first songbook I have found that problem in. If you want to get the right sound across though, stay away from this book. Since Dylan used Drop C and D so frequently for some of his older acoustic songs, this book is entirely inadequate.

Next on the list, I'm not sure exaclty how many songs are missing from Dylan's catalogue, but off the top of my head I can remember there being at least a few I wanted to see in those pages. One for instance would be "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down." There are several arrangements on traditional songs that are included, but I don't recall any covers in there. Furthermore, only a handful of his live songs are listed (well known songs like "Mama you been on my mind" are certainly in there though).

The songs are only transcribed for one instrument, or melody, so it is hardly definitive in that regard. This could be a very good thing, in that it is not just for guitarists or keyboardists. It does leave things a bit lacking though depending on which instrument you actually are playing (especially if its harmonica - whatever you do, don't buy solely for that).

Perhaps the most understandable omission from this songbook are the radical changes these songs have undergone from their original conception. For instance, take the studio recordings of "One Too Many Mornings" or "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall." Then compare them with the versions for the Royal Albert Hall and Rolling Thunder Revue. It is quite a transformation, and also quite a shame not to have multiple versions in this book (as they are so totally different), but I suppose this truly is nitpicking.

All in all, if it is for an inexperienced musician, or a casual fan, I could give this a recomendation. But for the elitists, the perfectionists, and the true afficionados, this book is Positively 4th Street. Don't be afraid to send this one to Desolation Row.

Back in 1968 or 1969, I bought my first Bob Dylan Song Book. Published, in paperback, by M. Mitmark & Sons, it cost $4.95 and was, at the time, a reasonably thorough compendium of his songs - most of which he was still performing in something close to their original incarnations at the time. It has 46 tune in it from his earliest truly creative era. I still have and use it! Many years have come and gone - for Bob, for me and for the world we live in.

IN 2004, a volume called Bob Dylan: Lyrics was published by Simon & Schuster. (See my review of this on epinions on 7/9/06) and, unlike the earlier book I mentioned, is a compilation of lyrics only -organized one album at a time - from 1962 to 2001 - emphasizing the poetry sans music. As a tome of poetic achievement, it is a monument to one of our most prolific and generationally expressive writers. However, it deliberately did not include the music.

I recently discovered the book at hand, first published in 2001 by Amsco Publishing. It combines the best of both worlds (for an amateur musician and long-time Dylan aficionado) by laying out the melodies, chords AND full lyrics to over 325 of his songs.
This is a BIG book, even in paperback -788 pages. A full sampling (not all-inclusive) of each of his periods - from the earlier years when he modeled himself after Woody Guthrie and took up social causes, to the creative boom of the 60's when his savant-like creativity flowed like a veritable tsunami of music with meaning to the latter phases where he has continued to write - but, by his own admission, without the `magical' and inexplicable inspiration that flowed spontaneously from him earlier in his career.

Unlike the Lyrics volume, this one is organized alphabetically - so you need to know the name of a song to find it. The organization, by album, of Lyrics made it much easier to locate specific pieces. This arrangement is more like playing a DVD with the tracks scrambled randomly - so paging through it is lie a roller coaster ride in and out of eras rather than a smoothly flowing chronological presentation. This is not a major criticism as I found looking through his work in this way kind of provocative and even challenging. Also, for a person very familiar with his work, finding songs listed by title is not a problem. The black and whiter photo of him on the cover is from the late-early period: He is still quite young - probably still in his late 20's - but his gaze is a feature that has never changed and captures the forever quality of the best of his work.

For musicians and folk-music fans, this volume is the most comprehensive collection of his songs I have seen and is a worthwhile (and delightfully functional) addition to your collection of sheet music and lyrics.

A couple other reviewers noted that the chords here are wrong. I figured I would give the book a shot anyway, thinkin I could just transpose it or use a capo. No. I've had to pick out the correct chords and just write them in. I guess it is good ear training, but it is not why I bought the damn book. As was said before, you buy it for convenience. If you want lyrics and rhythm go ahead and buy this book, if you want to be able to play the songs approximately, but in the wrong key, buy this book. However, if you want the songs as ol' Bobby wrote 'em, this is not what you are looking for. Nor is Bob Dylan Anthology for that matter, also by Amsco. Dylan needs to cancel Amsco's rights and let Hal Leonard put out a songbook for him like they did for the Beatles. Alfred would be even better.

When I buy a songbook, it's because I want the convenience of having music and lyrics before me that I can simply read, instead of figuring tunes out by ear. THIS BOOK IS FULL OF WRONG CHORDS, LYRICS, AND KEYS! It therefore defeats the entire purpose. Amsco Publications: Please go into a different business, you failed at this one. Don't buy this book.

I read the customer comments and thought they may be exagerating, so I bought the book because I'm a long time fan and have enjoyed playing and singing Dylan songs. This book is a disgrace to his music. Whoever is responsible for the random placement of all the wrong, rediculus chords should be tarred and feathered and dragged through the streets of Desolation Row. No person that plays guitar uses the chords that are thrown helter skelter throughout the songs. Unless you already know these 300+ songs by heart, this book is totally useless. To see His masterpieces destroyed makes me sick. I will never purchase any product again from this publisher or anyone involved with this disaster. My real feelings about this are much stronger but I restrained myself. DO NOT BUY THIS SONGBOOK. IT IS A RIPOFF. Bob bless you. Paul.

The review by Kyle is right on. Based on trying out "Blowin' In the Wind," the chords are just wrong. And its not a matter of transposing the chords (or of a missing transition chord) -- the chords are incorrect in whatever key you play it. The whole point of buying a guitar songbook is to be able to read and play; but I had to pick up the right chords from listening to the song, with a little help from an internet search!

This is a big book, and on the surface a good value -- although there are some very critical omissions IMHO.

But the biggest problem I have with this book is that it's not "as played" accurate -- and therefore not "definitive". Yes, you can whip this book out and start playing and singing Dylan songs for your friends and 98% of them won't know the difference. But if you want to play them right -- the way Bob plays them -- you will have to use your ears.

This is a common problem with chord/tablature books, and is not limited to this one... but what the publishers of this type of books should know is this:

Anyone who is interested enough in Dylan to buy a book like this will also probably invest in a capo!

We had to return this book because it was filled with wrong chords and wrong keys. How on earth did it get published?? Don't waste your money!