The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966 [Hardcover]

Bob Dylan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2005

"The Bob Dylan Scrapbook" is the highly collectable illustrated biography of Dylan's life during the 1950s and 60s. Created in association with Bob Dylan, the Scrapbook is crammed with features including rare photographs, facsimiles of handwritten lyrics and rare memorabilia. The text includes interviews with Dylan and his friends and fellow musicians to form a uniquely personal view of the greatest singer songwriter of his generation. A special bonus audio CD contains sixty minutes of early interviews and a rare performance. In the bestselling tradition of "Lennon Legend" and "Elvis Treasures", "The Bob Dylan Scrapbook" is an altogether handsome slipcased hardback with over 100 photographs and illustrations,and is guaranteed to delight every Dylan fan.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Created as a companion piece to Martin Scorsese's PBS documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966 is a visual and educational treat for old and new Dylanphiles alike. Written by Robert Santelli, the director of Seattle's Experience Music Project and curator of the museum's Bob Dylan's American Journey exhibit, the book is very well researched and presented in a scrapbook format filled with removable reproductions, including handwritten lyrics of "Gates of Eden," "Blowin' in the Wind," and "Chimes of Freedom," programs of Dylan's historical performances, various bits of memorabilia, and endless amount of photographs. The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966 will provide the new Dylan fan with loads of background information and anecdotes that were left out of Scorsese's film. Lifelong Dylanphiles will likely know Dylan's late 1950s to mid 1960s history already, and will be enchanted by the endless reproductions that are strategically placed throughout the book. If that wasn't enough, the book also includes a 45 minute CD of 18 interviews, ten of which appeared in the No Direction Home documentary. If you ever want to open someone up to the world of Bob Dylan there is no better place to point them to this incredible trifeca: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan on DVD, No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7) on CD, and this wonderful book. --Rob Bracco

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.
A companion piece to Martin Scorsese's PBS documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, this book is a feast of information and reproductions of important documents pertaining to the musician's early career. The concise text by Robert Santelli of the Experience Music Project in Seattle focuses on the musician's formative years and explains how Dylan evolved from a derivative "junior Woody Guthrie" to a truly unique and compelling songwriter. Santelli knows when to step back and let Dylan speak for himself, especially when it comes to key moments, such as his prolific songwriting during the early sixties, an era that produced "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." "Those early songs were like almost magically written..." Dylan says. "There's a magic to that, and it's not a Siegfried and Roy kind of magic; it's a different kind of penetrating magic." But it's the inserts and reproductions that will garner the most oohs and ahs from fans. An engineering and design feat unto itself, the book is a trove of gatefold pages, pull-out reproductions of handwritten lyrics for songs like "Blowin in the Wind," an early press kit, newspaper clippings and even a promotional counter display for record stores. A CD with excerpts from Dylan's first radio interview and clips from the Scorsese documentary is also included. The result is an interactive book that is experienced rather than consumed, much like Dylan's music.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (September 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743228286
• ISBN-13: 978-0743228282
• Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 10.5 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( D ) > Dylan, Bob

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now this is Scrapbooking, September 14, 2005

By 

M. A. Filippelli "Marc12074" (Roseville, CA, US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966 (Hardcover)

Bob Dylan scrapbook.
This is a wonderful trip down memory lane.

The text of the book
The book basically a narrative of the years from 1956 to 1966. It provides a nice insight to Bob Dylan before the fame up to Blonde on Blonde. Most of it the true Dylan aficionado would already know, but it is very well written. The book is only 64 pages in length and can be read in a couple hours if you don't stop to examine the scraps.

The Scraps.
These are special. The book is heavily laced with reproductions of memorabilia from advertisements for Zimmerman furniture and electric,concert tickets, photos, newspaper clippings taped to the pages to advertisments for shows. My favorite scraps are the reproductions of hand written lyrics for Talking New York, Blowin in the wind, It ain't me babe, Chimes of freedom, Gates of Eden, Like a rolling stone and She's your lover now.

The CD.
This contains about 45 minutes of interviews that are chopped up into short segments. Sometimes you get to hear the interviewers question and sometimes you don't but you can usually figure out what the question might have been based Dylan's answer. On the CD Dylan will ramble on a little but it is all good. During some of the interviews when he speaks it seems like it is the same cadence as Like a rolling stone and other times more in the cadence of MR Tambourine man which is something I never realized until I listened to this CD. Some of the interviews are actual interviews from that time period and some are newer and are of Dylan reflecting on that time period.

Summary:
This is a really interesting to read, look at and listen to. A nice ride on Dylan's magic swirling ship. You will not be disapointed, a five star book all the way.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun -- even if you're not a Dylan fan!, September 21, 2005

By 

Peter Kobs "Peter Kobs" (Battle Creek, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966 (Hardcover)

The Bob Dylan Scrapbook is a gas, a hoot and an adventure to boot. You don't just read this volume -- you experience it. It's like stumbling across Bob's private memento box or riffling through his attic. Amazing stuff indeed.

When I went to the bookstore this week to ask about it, three excited store clerks stormed out from behind the information desk and escorted me to the display. "You've GOT to see this!," they shouted. "It is JUST SO COOL."

The Bob Dylan Scrapbook is just that -- a scrapbook with actual (authentic-looking) bits of memorabilia tucked inside little compartments and taped (by hand) to many of the pages. We're talking newspaper clippings, handwritten lyrics, advertisements, concert tickets, promo flyers, little bits and pieces of every day life -- starting way back in Hibbing, Minnesota, and continuing right up through Bob's explosive rise on the world music scene. What a classy bit of history -- all bound up in hard cover with its own special slipbox and a CD full of condensed radio interviews (plus movie notes about Martin Scorsese new flick, "No Direction Home.").

The text by Robert Santelli, whom I believe worked on the exhibit called "Bob Dylan's American Journey" at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, is mostly straightforward narrative without a lot of deep insights or analysis. That's OK -- there's plenty of complicated Dylanology out there for those who want it.

Bottom Line -- Even if you don't particularly like Bob Dylan, or don't "get" the whole fuss about his music and lyrics, you'll really enjoy reading this new book, if only as a cultural experience. Only one thing is missing: Winter photos of northern Minnesota (Duluth and Hibbing), where 18 inches of new snow is called "a light dusting." (I lived there for a while.)For a hint of that blizzardy childhood, listen to Bob's wonderful song "Winterlude" from his 1970 "New Morning" album.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great coffeetable book for the holiday., September 23, 2005

By 

dvdtrkr (San Diego CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966 (Hardcover)

Because Scorsese's documentary stops at 1966, this is not the comprehensive Dylan book (even Dylan's own book isn't THE comprehensive Dylan book, but I think out of respect for his kids he's kept that story via song), but this is great for the people who have gotten into Bob's more recent CDs and want to know about the early days, but more so for the people who remember him as the folkie turned rocker whose motorcycle accident is still surrounded by myth.

The book isn't out to dispel myth, but is what it is, a scrapbook with stories. I had an Elvis book similar to this, and this one seemed to be filled with more "scraps", reproductions of concert tickets, articles, album covers, lyrics, concert programmes, and promotional photos as well as a store promo and an interview CD. I was surprised that the book was not more expensive the way the layout is.

The downside (which there really is none)is that there seems to be a bit too much promotional material surrounding the documentary, between the Gaslight CD, the 6 song concert EP that some stores are selling, the soundtrack, the DVD, and that's without even mentioning the PBS broadcast.