Book: Positively 4th Street
Author: David Hajdu
Year: 2001
Tackling the lives of four iconic figures of the 1960s in a single book seems insane and more than a little impossible. Nonetheless, in this monstrous, four-headed biography, David Hajdu manages to create an incredibly compelling and well-researched document of the lives of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Mimi & Richard Fariña. The personalities and quirks of these four characters jump right off the pages, especially Dylan’s mind-numbing strangeness. You definitely get a sense of just what a weird guy he is and you wonder how anyone ever allowed him near a recording studio in the first place.
The book also functions as an excellent primer on the early folk scene (something I knew virtually nothing about before reading this book). Hajdu traces the music’s evolution from traditional ballads into protest music and finally into the folk-rock of the Fariñas and Dylan circa Bringing It All Back Home and beyond. Accomplishing so much in a single book is really quite incredible. Positively 4th Street is one of the best music biographies I’ve read and I strongly recommend it.
The book also functions as an excellent primer on the early folk scene (something I knew virtually nothing about before reading this book). Hajdu traces the music’s evolution from traditional ballads into protest music and finally into the folk-rock of the Fariñas and Dylan circa Bringing It All Back Home and beyond. Accomplishing so much in a single book is really quite incredible. Positively 4th Street is one of the best music biographies I’ve read and I strongly recommend it.
Read Bob Dylan's "Chronicles". It's one of the more interesting and uniquely written music autobiographies.
ReplyDeleteFuck that, what am I saying? You've probably read it.
Read "Long Time Gone" by David Crosby, Carl Gottlieb and just about every other conceivable California musician/person who had anything to do with Crosby at any time. Definitely makes for an interesting read.
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