The Deal: Photographer Barry Feinstein shares black and white photos, many previously unseen, taken of Dylan between 1963 and 1974.
The Good: The book shares a lot of intimate moments of Dylan that many people never have seen – backstage, candid and onstage. Each photo is accompanied by a short paragraph describing where, when and/or why the photo was taken. Some were taken on the direction of a record label, others were taken simply for Feinstein’s enjoyment or personal collection. You see Dylan in onstage photos taken from the back of the stage, sitting down for a meal, warming up backstage, greeting fans, traveling and in a variety of scenes not typically seen. There isn’t much in the way of biography or stories – the photos themselves do the majority of the talking. There are a few contact sheets of the negatives to show how a scene unfolded.
The Bad: Large images that take up two pages are “ruined” by the split in the middle of the book. A handful of artistic shots will only look blurry to some people.
The Verdict: A great coffee-table book or addition to the collection of any fan of Dylan.
This article appears in Oct 14-21, 2008.
