This series looks at Dylan’s work from the point of view of the ebb and flow of his writing – rather like a wave form. Sometimes Bob is on a high in terms of his artistic endeavour, sometimes he finds it hard to write anything at all.
Thus rather than examine a song and relate it to where the ideas came from in terms of literature and music, the series sees Dylan’s changing themes and styles within the music as a clue to what is happening in his life.
The early years
- 1: A song is like a painting, you can’t see it all if you’re standing too close
- 2: How Dylan’s lyrics empower those who wish to be empowered
- 3: The prelude to the explosion (1959-1961)
It begins
- 4: The explosion (1962).
- 5: Making a name, getting known, arguing about copyright
- 6: Learning the folk, moving on
- 7: For every hung up person in the whole wide universe.
- 8: Bob Dylan in 1964; (while we were still in 1963)
- 9: So far ahead of the game we lost sight
- 10: Everybody’s shouting, “Which side are you on?”
- 11: Beyond the remains of Desolation Row
After Desolation
- 12: 1966 – after desolation, dissolution
- 13: All directions at once: Bob in the basement.
- 14: Being where you don’t belong.
I read this book
- 15: Kafka says hello everyone looks the other way
- 16: All the world’s a stage
- 17: “You got something new to tell us Bob?”
- 18: Ain’t no reason to go anywhere
Coming back
- 19: When I paint that masterpiece I’ll be ready to tour again
- 20: Watch the river flow in all directions at once. Bob Dylan in 1971.
- 21: After the river: Bob, it’s good to see you’ve got your mojo back
- 22: Here comes the genius, approaching the edge of the cliff
- 23: Prepare for the journey from hell to heaven
- 24: “Wedding Song” and the return to touring
Right, I got it, let’s do it again
- 25: After the tour: Lily Rosemary and the Jack
- 26: Oh Bob you are a Big Boy Now
- 27: If you see her you’ll be twisted by fate
- 28: Seeing the world through a fractured glass
- 29: The greatest Dylan album ever?
- 30: Oh Sister, Abandoned love, farewell preliminaries, hello dead body
- 31: When it comes to Bob, does truth matter?
- 32: Does Dylan really care about these people he writes about?
- 33: All Directions at Once: Going Beyond Joey
- 34: All Directions: onward from manipulated reality
- 35: Durango ends the affair, Bob seeks a new way, Patti’s gone.
- 36: All hail the new direction
- 37: Where now Señor? There’s more than enough time to think
- 38: The end of Street Legal – filling in the gaps.
- 39: Beyond Street Legal: Bob and Helena unravelled (partly)
- 40: 100 twists before trying Christianity
- 41: the Slow Train to the end of the year
Interregnum: an overview of the start to 1978
- 42: The first five directions
- 43: Before the basement
- 44: Did Dylan really change in the Basement?
- 45: Bob starts the 70s… slowly
- 46: All Directions: the early 70s and Bob Dylan’s themes in his first 15 years
Moving forward: hello goodbye
- All Directions 47: the build up to religion (but everyone is wearing a disguise)
- All Directions 48: 1979 From multitudes to singularity
- All Directions 49: the end of constant Christianity
- AD50: 1981 – farewell to the Almighty, welcome back Bob
- AD51: Dylan post Angelina: step by step it’s falling apart in all directions at once.
- AD 52: All directions at once, tangled up
- All directions at once 53: how to describe a feeling of loss (as the walls came down)
- AD54: Reflective, invigorated, moving on. Towards the end of the 80s
- AD55: “After the loss the rebuild”
- All directions at once part 56: Most of the time Bob’s a genius
- All Directions 57: The 80s end on a musical high
The 90s
- All Directions 58: Going down down down
- All Directions at Once: 59… Dylan at the end of 1990 – and the gap years
- All Directions 60: After the interregnum, the compositions of 1996
- All Directions 61: 1996 part 2
- All Directions 62: Still completing the masterpiece
- All Directions 63: Completing Time out of Mind
The 21st century