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So we begin with 'Blind Willie McTell,' since it was the first song recorded for the album, and end with 'Death is Not the End' – sixteen songs in all. Then comes the heart of the book: Gans describes the recording sessions for each song in the order in which they were first attempted in the studio, regardless of whether they appear on the finished album or not. It begins with information regarding where and when Dylan composed the songs in 1982 (often sailing the Caribbean islands on a boat he co-owned,Water Pearl) how he went about finding a producer (ultimately settling on Mark Knopfler) and which musicians he hired for the project. The book is organized chronologically as it discusses the stages of the creative process. This is the book’s strength, and its limitation. So the book resists all attempts to compare, for example, the religious content of Infidels to that of the explicitly Christian perspective of the preceding three albums or the religious imagery in the later Oh Mercy. To paraphrase: if you want a meaning you can trust, trust yourself. We can all study clues, we can all enjoy songs and we can all cherish the journey of interpretation. my hope is to stick to the facts: the drafts, notebook jottings. In his Foreword, Gans clarifies his purpose in writing the book, which does not include interpreting what he discovered in his research: I will do my best to avoid hopeless traps like ’Bob must have thought’ or ‘Here is what Dylan meant’. though he himself refrains from such critical evaluations. And now we have Gans’s book to provide convincing evidence to support this claim. I would argue that Infidels is infused with a newfound purpose, felt on each track, and that the album is one of Dylan’s deepest meditations on the modern world, every bit as insightful and revealing as those found on Time Out of Mind or “Love and Theft”. Supposedly he only found this direction again with Oh Mercy in 1989.
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This is due in part to a common perception that the ‘80s were Dylan’s “Lost Decade,” one in which he lacked a sense of direction and purpose after he completed the Christian trilogy. Infidels usually fails to compete with the three mid-‘60s classics, the ‘70s masterpiece Blood on the Tracks, or such late-period triumphs like Time Out of Mind or “Love and Theft”. I for one am grateful that Gans devoted this time and hard work to this particular record, which tends to be overlooked when lists of Dylan’s “Ten Greatest Albums” are composed and compared.
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What we are given here is as thorough as it is revelatory. It is a fascinating journey Gans presents us with the results of his work in a well-ordered, meticulous manner that is a testament to the hours he spent listening to studio tapes and reading folders filled with Infidels-related material – and obviously taking copious notes. The title references Dylan’s working title for the album, and the book traces the evolution of the lyrics, melodies, and arrangements from his earliest ideas for the record in 1982 to its release in the fall of 1983.
#Bob dylan discography chronological order archive#
One of the first products to emerge from work in this archive is the new bookby Terry Gans, Surviving in a Ruthless World: Bob Dylan’s Voyage to Infidels, published by Red Planet Books. The depth and breadth of the tapes, manuscripts, notebooks, and handwritten notes are simply astounding.Ĭertainly the BDA is an inestimable gift to those who wish to study his work. Gaining access to multiple early drafts of lyrics as well as preliminary takes of officially released songs will significantly broaden our knowledge of both Dylan’s working methods and his artistic vision. The establishment of the Bob Dylan Archive in Tulsa marks the beginning of a new era of Dylan scholarship, revolutionary in scope and potential impact. The review is by Walter Raubicheck of Pace University. This review of Terry Gans' Bob Dylan: Surviving in a Ruthless World is taken from the Winter 2020 edition of Dylan Review and is reproduced in full.