Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an American song-writer, author, poet and painter. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Hibbing, where he went to school. Just like most of his peers at that time, Bob was into rock and roll, but after entering the Minneapolis University he shifted his focus to folk music. In a short while, he began his own musical career performing his own repertoire to the acoustic guitar and harmonica. In 1959, he gave up the university studies, took up the pseudonym Bob Dylan (after his favorite poet Dylan Thomas) and moved to New York. In the sixties, Dylan recorded his most celebrated works with a strong civil right message. Having signed a contract with Columbia, he produced his first albums Bob Dylan (1962), The Freewheelin` Bob Dylan (1963) and the most popular The Times They Are A-Changin (1964), and became one of the leading figures in the civil right movement. In 1965, Dylan made an unexpected step from folk to rock and gave a performance in Newport to accompaniment of the blues band The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In his lyrics, he gradually abandoned the political issues and shifted to the the philosophical research of human existence. Dylan’s recording and concert activity became the foundation for conceptual rock and influenced the music of a great variety of groups.

It is right to say that Dylan broadened the universe of rock music and discovered the new opportunities for rock performers. His poetry changed the views of many outstanding musicians. Many of them, having read Dylan’s poems, came to a conclusion that their lyrics could express much more than love experience and personal feelings. By the middle of the sixties, Bob Dylan had achieved the status of a leading personality in the newborn youth subculture. His albums, Highway 61 Revisted (1965), Blonde On Blonde (1966), gained incredible fame, while their songs entered the repertoires of many well-know performers of that time. By that time, Dylan had already applied electrical instruments. In June 1966, Dylan suffered a terrible accident as his motorcycle crashed near his house. Bob was forced to vanish for a while as he was taken abed due to numerous fractures and partial paralysis. In 1968, he came back with the album John Wesley Harding, ranked first in the UK and second in the US. It was followed by another successful album, Nashville Skyline (1969). In 1971, Dylan released his novel ‘Tarantula’ written under the influence of Kerouac. He also played in the movie ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid’. The film did not meet high acclaim, but one of its musical themes, Dylan’s song Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, became an international hit and one of the most often covered songs in his entire discography.

In the late seventies, Dylan released controversial albums Blood On The Tracks (1975), and Slow Train Coming (1979). The latter contained evangelical mission as he returned back to the Christian beliefs. Many fans were not satisfied with Dylan’s new role of a prophet. In the eighties and nineties Bob Dylan’s albums received mixed reviews. Some of his works were not good sellers or music valuables, but there were those deserving praise and recognition, like Infields (1983), Empire Burlesque (1984), or Knocked At Loaded (1986). In 1988, he made a great success participating in the project Traveling Wilburis together with Tom Petty, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. In the nineties, Dylan almost abandoned the studio activity and focused on the Never Ending Tour, which was launched 1988, but never officially ended. Nevertheless, the singer made his fans happy by releasing his records: Love And Theft (2001), compilation The Essential Bob Dylan (2002) and Modern Times (2006). In 2008, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power”. Two albums were issued in 2009: Together Through Life and Christmas In The Heart. Bob Dylan is considered one of the most influential persons in the culture of the twentieth century. The release of an extremely strong compilation album The Original Mono Recordings took place in 2010. That record includes Dylan’s songs, presented in an original mono-format. There is no doubt that the vintage sound of compositions that had become classical a long time ago will be really enjoyed by the musician’s fans: for many people The Original Mono Recordings will discover new edges of Dylan’s creativity.