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OUTTAKES ON BOB DYLAN: Selected Writings 1967-2021
[published Route UK hardback 3 Sept 2021]
"I've just finished reading Michael Gray's 'Outtakes On Bob Dylan : Selected Writings On Bob Dylan 1967 -2021' I can't recommend this book highly enough. Reading it is like having the world's largest box of chocolates to dip in to... I read and read and read until I ran out of pages! You have deepened my appreciation of Bob Dylan. It is wonderful to experience that."
"An absorbing and characteristically provocative read. Staggering attention to textual and performance detail throughout. "
"Michael, I really like your book! I started with Chapter 1, then about 'Rough & Rowdy Ways' and now reading chronologically. Ah, the bootlegs and what we knew about them - and always searching the real gems. There's so much I'd like to talk about with you."
"After 11 months of people trying to talk about, write about, make sense of and capture the essence of Rough And Rowdy Ways, it unsurprisingly turns out that we’ve all just been waiting for Michael Gray's book."
"Most critics get lost in the foothills and briars of Bob Dylan studies, entangled in the abrasive personality. Michael Gray is one of the only authors who have ascended the Everest of Dylan and written beautifully about the Shanghai La beyond. Brill to get an early copy of Outakes."
"It's very nice to be reacquainted with your way of approaching Dylan, particularly with regard to some of the more recent years."
"Your long & astute appreciation of Rough and Rowdy Ways is worth the price of admission all on its own and is easily the most perceptive reading I’ve yet seen of this flawed yet fascinating album. What a pleasure still to be enjoying your ideas on new Dylan records in 2021!"
"An essential addition to the Bob Dylan bookshelf and Michael Gray collection."
"Always a good day when a new Bob Dylan book from Michael Gray arrives. Respected, informed, writing."
u nailed RARW: such a great chapter."
"Just arrived in a beautiful sparkly red jiffy bag. The new Michael Gray tome with bonus postcard. Some fascinating and enjoyable reading in store for sure."
"Very pleased to have the book. A scan through the contents was enough to move all other books to the back burner."
"I'm delighted by it. I immediately read the lovely preface and then jumped straight to the essay about Rough and Rowdy Ways. As always your writing is excellent and a very rich learning experience for me."
"Packaging almost too gorgeous to open. But I did. And it looks great. Looking forward to hearing your voice. Bravo!"
"Congratulations and mazltov on the publication of your terrific new book. I hope you are as pleased as you should be about this book. It's so great (and as you know, so rare) to read serious writing about Dylan that isn't academic or pedantic or obscurantist, or vapid and tabloidian, but writing that actually deals with and elucidates Dylan's art. But that's always been your m.o. and I have always appreciated your approach."
"I read the RARW chapter first. It’s the definitive word on that album. I look forward to reading it again."
"I cheated and jumped to the Rough & Rowdy Ways chapter, and was instantly reminded of how reliably potent your writing is."
"I’ve been snacking away at random bits of your book since it arrived and finding it deliciously interesting and fun."
"Relaxing in the summerhouse with [Michael Gray's Outtakes] & a few hours of blissful solitude dipping in & out of his great great tome of essays appreciating detail, honesty & knowledge. His love of Dylan’s artistry shines through but it’s real, raw & not sugar-coated."
"[I'm] halfway through and am glad to report that it's a fascinating read, throwing out Dylan connections in all directions."
"Not the least of the pleasures that comes from having a substantial new album from Bob for the first time in so long is that it has prompted a wonderfully alert and sympathetic reading from you: I'm getting so much off of every page in the Rough & Rowdy Ways chapter in Outttakes."
"I am absolutely loving dipping in and out of this wonderful book. What I enjoy most is that even when I disagree with what you say, Michael, I love the way you say it."
"It’s been a while since the book hit my door, but since tonight it has been on my bedside table, facing me and whispering: read me, I’m yours. Never opened it until tonight, for too many reasons, but... I want to share this. I started from the introduction, but then I jumped to the last chapter on Rough & Rowdy Ways. That is really something... You must have this book."
"Enjoyed the book very much. The early parts of the book brought back memories of my own Dylan journey... Well worth the price, the postage, the wait and the Swedish VAT. Glad to see a serious in-depth review of the current album. I say current because there's still so much to discover and digest."
"It's a great book, not only because of Michael's observations and critical analyses but especially because of being written in a wonderful, meticulous and witty language. (Which sets it apart from too many other books on Bob.)"
""Always a good day when a new book from Michael Gray arrives. Respected, informed writing."
"This is worth getting for Michael’s 60-page essay on ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ alone - wonderful piece of writing which made me go back to the album and listen to it all over again. Lots of other gems too - highly recommended."
[Re the R&RW essay:] "Your measured and tempered enthusiasm is far more valuable than the ecstatic response the album seems to have had more generally. I enjoyed it so much. An astonishing compendium of fact and opinion, all managed with stylish flair, discriminating intelligence, and some wit and good humour. I'm grateful to have had the chance to think about this in response to your very fine piece. You are, par excellence, the no bullshit Dylan critic."
"The book was a great pleasure. The writing was consistently fine and the various articles, in addition to being endlessly interesting and often very funny (the Stockholm account is hilarious), were always illuminating. I especially enjoyed the Isle of Wight, Chelsea Hotel, Minnesota footsteps pieces. The Rough and Rowdy Ways section is excellently done and full of interesting insights and information."
"Highly recommended! Even Michael's asides are very much worth reading."
"Just got my copy and it's a lovely looking book and what makes it intriguing is that these are Michael's contemporary takes on Bob."
[Re the R&RW essay:] "And every one of them words rang true, And glowed like burning coal, Pouring off of every page. It's a wonderful read. Thank you."
"I've enjoyed the book immensely. So many interesting articles and so well written. The writing really is a cut above the others. I particularly loved the article on Christmas In The Heart and the pieces on the 1978 concerts. And the final chapter is monumental: by far the best piece of writing yet on Rough & Rowdy Ways."
"A really cracking miscellany - honest, forthright and compelling. I enjoyed this immensely!"
"Outtakes on Bob Dylan--wonderful essays, insights--as I expected they would be. I especially enjoyed [the] discussion re Rough and Rowdy Ways. Among other things, [it] made me re-think my first impression of both "Murder Most Foul" and the "Key West" song-recitations. Anyway, a welcome alternative to the Heylin would-be-super-bio of Dylan... "
"I've really enjoyed the book. The essay on Rough and Rowdy Ways is what Rough and Rowdy Ways was made for!"
"Wonderful book - completely fascinating as well as, of course, beautifully written. A joy."
"[An] impressive essay on Rough And Rowdy Ways. Your close reading with all your references and different perspectives is amazing and very interesting to read. I also appreciate your sober attitude to Dylan’s artistic output, and your critique of the cult-like uncritical outpouring about Dylan. As you say about the Dylan cult: 'They are deluded'. And I think that Dylan would agree with that."
"I thoroughly enjoyed it, I loved the way your voice was YOUR voice throughout. Always alert to Bob being alert, as it were... I think my favourite piece was the one on 78. It brought back the utter thrill of it all; nothing will ever match that for those of us who weren’t around in the 60s. This collection is not a collection but a real Michael Gray book. You can’t get much higher praise than that!"
"I would highly recommend ordering; a great read."
"I just finished Outtakes On Bob Dylan. Compelling reading, inspiring, a real trip all along... I also love [the] writing on the Dylan places - Chelsea, Duluth - and so funny with the perspective of time, the text about the Sweden show in 2002."
"a truly excellent book."
"I’m entertained by the breadth and provenance of the writing. You really have been at it for a long time (and may that continue). You really are a very good writer."
""Gearing up to review Outtakes, by the unassailable Michael Gray. For now all I’ll say is please, Bob Dylan fans, do yourself a favour and purchase a copy right away."
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Published Reviews Of My Previous Books
HAND ME MY TRAVELIN’ SHOES:
In Search of Blind Willie McTell [2007, 2008, 2009]
JONATHAN LETHEM:
“A superb meditation on a rare American figure…a brilliant exhibition of how musical study becomes cultural study; and an elegant and passionate book that expands until its subjects seem to be time and memory themselves.”
100bookshelf (literary & music blog)
“Michael Gray’s Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes is not just one of my favorite music books, it’s one of my favorite books in general… a beautiful portrait of a time and place – both past and present – as well as a fascinating glimpse into a most mysterious man.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH:
“A vivid social and cultural history of the American South, a colourful account of Gray’s own journeys in McTell’s footsteps, and an absorbing study in the business of biographical detective-work.”
THE GUARDIAN:
“A wonderful book about a spellbinding musician.”
THE OBSERVER:
“Gray’s wonderful book, part travelogue, part musical journey, part social history, is painstakingly researched and frequently illuminating. It brings to light not just an elusive artist but a lost world.”
UNCUT:
“* * * * * Gray, the author of titanic tomes on Dylan, is a fastidious researcher and here presents not just an authoritative portrait of the great bluesman, but also vivid history of the South… Gray is also a sharply observant travel writer and some of the book’s best writing is devoted to brilliantly evocative descriptions of the backwaters he visits and the people he meets.”
MORNING STAR:
“Gray’s credentials as an assiduous researcher are already, surely, unbeatable… this is a wonderful book, fascinating in its detail, wide-ranging in its vision, not only of an artist…but also of an era and geography…”
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY:
“More than a search for the bluesman Blind Willie McTell, this is an evocation of a whole vanished world… Part biography, part genealogy, part history, part travel writing, this wonderful book is suffused with empathy for its subject.”
MOJO:
“Genealogical detective tale, scrapbook of a musical life, an account of Georgia now and then… At the end of a fascinating journey we know much more not only about McTell, but about the world of intractable otherness that blues musicians of his time had to negotiate. **** ”
JAPAN TIMES, TOKYO:
"One of the best books bar none that I have read in a very, very long time."
MILWAUKEE SHEPHERD-EXPRESS:
“A detailed, atmospheric, cultural rendering of rural Southern life during McTell’s lifetime. The story of the artist and his times are clearly delineated by a brilliant historian and the specifics of a way of life are captured in ways that only a poet knows. Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes is a travelogue, biography, cultural doctrine and social and political history… Gray is as insightful as anyone could possibly be on all fronts.”
SEAN WILENTZ, WORD:
“A wonderful biography.”
RECORD COLLECTOR:
“The blues is the bedrock of popular music, and while its story has been told many times, rarely has it been told as effectively as this.”
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THE BOB DYLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA [2006, 2008]
LIBRARY JOURNAL:
“Amazingly well-researched and surprisingly readable...”
VILLAGE VOICE:
“A work of oceanic immersion. It has wit, opinion, style and asks to be read, not just consulted… staggeringly erudite, meticulously sourced, coherently schematized.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:
“Michael Gray outdistances them all with this voluminous collection… covering the topics thoughtfully and thoroughly… Gray’s knowledge of his subject is seemingly boundless, yet he manages to maintain a critical eye… this impartiality… fuels the book and gives it weight. Insightful and entertaining, Gray’s tome will broaden appreciation of the artist, his influences and his legacy.”
TIME:
“Seriously now, do get… Michael Gray’s The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, which has all you need to know, and more, about the little big man.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH:
“This is a book to fall in love with.”
FOREWORD MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS:
Music Book of the Year.
EVENING STANDARD (LONDON):
“It stands comparison with David Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Cinema as a sustained piece of entertaining, opinionated, heartfelt and argumentative writing… The book is thronged with life… [and] leads you irresistibly from one connection to another… Throughout there is a rich sense of what these people have meant to Dylan - and what he has meant to them, and to all of us who have merely listened and been moved.”
THE VICTORY REVIEW (Pacific Northwest):
“Extensive, perceptive, thoughtful analysis and commentary on each entry, not just as they relate to Bob, but where each stands in its own right. The book offers some of the keenest, most carefully researched information and commentary on each person, place or thing as is likely to be found in succinct form.”
WHAT’S ON IN LONDON:
“Utterly brilliant... Its breadth of scope is extraordinary... Strikingly intelligent, poetic, subtly humorous and buzzing with an awareness of the richness of life, [Gray is] the perfect match for his subject.”
THE GUARDIAN (UK) Book of the Week:
“Michael Gray’s book embodies a lifetime of critical engagement with Dylan’s art. It’s probably the most comprehensive work on the subject, and also one of the most entertaining. The scale of research is colossal… There’s also original material… Gray has read everything remotely related to the subject; he has also listened to everything, and with great care… alert to the fluidity of ideas and associations in Dylan’s art and microscopically attentive to his choice and delivery of words… The living, breathing, struggling Bob Dylan is always there, an individual with a unique voice, responsible for his achievements and failings.”
PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER:
“You certainly can’t go wrong with The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia… The book is meticulously researched… Insightful and witty.”
GQ:
“Michael Gray’s magisterial book The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia is…particularly welcome, as it analyses Dylan’s life, music, cultural relevance and legacy with style, humour and authority. A must-buy for any music or Dylan fan with any interest in the last half-century… provides a limitless well of knowledge.”
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (Nov. 2010):
"Michael Gray’s Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan and The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (Continuum, 2006; revised edition 2008) are both very much worthwhile."
COLLECTIVE MAGAZINE:
“A masterpiece for the coolest of coffee tables.”
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SONG & DANCE MAN III:
The Art of Bob Dylan (2000)
CHRISTOPHER RICKS:
“Immense and immensely illuminating… It is wonderfully comic and serious and sharp. I am enjoying it hugely and learning from every page.”
ANDREW MOTION, naming it one of his Three Best Books of the Year 2000, in the Observer:
“Wonderful… The best book there is on Dylan, now better than ever.”
ROLLING STONE:
“Monumental, endlessly illuminating.”
THE TIMES, London:
“In examining the influences that shaped Dylan into one of the most influential postwar artists, Gray draws on everyone from Elvis to Eliot, Robert Johnson to Rimbaud... This huge work is overwhelming… ‘It’s all been written in the book,’ sang Bob Dylan. Now it really has.”
RECORD COLLECTOR, London:
“The original ‘Song & Dance Man’ was a pioneering piece of rock scholarship… Written with great intelligence and passion… the result was the first important book about a rock artist’s output, not just their life… But these 250 pages are merely a fragment of the 900-page monster which Gray has [now] unleashed… magnificent… soaked in insight… contains gems of perception on almost every page.”
UNCUT, London:
“* * * * *The third edition of Michael Gray’s pioneering tome… confirms once again Gray’s position as the doyen of Dylan scholars... even in its initial modest form, [it] was profoundly significant... His book invented a new school of rock criticism which made most of the writing that had gone before seem superficial, irrelevant and trivial... The third edition of Gray’s lifetime study displays an almost insane degree of scholarship... an intellectual tour de force... ”
GREIL MARCUS:
“Extraordinarily useful… I have always admired Gray’s reach, tone, and acuity but the research here is just amazing.”
ASAHI, Tokyo:
“Essential… a marvellous work of literary archaeology, cool analysis and inspired guesswork.”
Q, London:
“This book is an event... the vibrant complexity of its ideas ties synapses in a sheepshank... delivering prodigious analyses of Dylan’s artistry and his polymath sources in pre-war blues, nursery rhymes, fairy tales and Hollywood movie dialogue... Gray maintains a ruthless integrity regarding Dylan himself. * * * * * ”
FOLK ROOTS, London:
“This major update of a seminal work deserves to be read and studied by anyone with even the slightest interest in song lyrics and it’s essential as a storehouse of knowledge on folk, country and blues records.”
STEPHEN SCOBIE, Professor of English, University of Victoria:
“His research is formidable, and his knowledge is encyclopedic… [he puts] an argument with great cogency, confidence and authority… a quite splendid critic… Line by line, word by word, syllable by syllable, Gray can explain how the text [of a song] works poetically. It’s a rare gift: many of us can feel instinctively the poetic value of a line without being able to explain nearly so clearly how it actually works… indispensable.”
AIDAN DAY, Professor of English, Edinburgh University:
“This brilliant work establishes itself at once as the book on its subject, the one to which all those in the field will refer for many years to come.”
THE OBSERVER, London, 2003:
“A mammoth work of scholarship, often enthralling and never less than illuminating… A must for anyone interested in the great adventure that is Bob Dylan’s work.”
JEFFREY CARROLL, English Professor, University of Hawaii, 2010:
“Song & Dance Man III is staggeringly good.”
TIM MARTIN, Daily Telegraph, 2011:
"Those seeking serious insight into the man and the music should look out for the formidably learned Michael Gray’s Song and Dance Man III and The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, the definitive works."
EVERY SMITH BLOG, 2012:
"Ever since his seminal Song & Dance Man was published in 1972, Gray’s meticulous and exhaustive excavation of Bob’s work has been a fundamental source of information and inspiration for me. Yes, I have read Heylin and Ricks, Greil Marcus and Paul Williams, Robert Shelton and Howard Sounes, Andrew Muir and Stephen Scobie. I have shelves full of The Telegraph, The Bridge and Isis. But it is to Song & Dance Man and The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia that I return constantly to check a fact or a reference and then find myself, an hour or so later, reading a third or fourth entry and forgetting the nature of my original enquiry. This is primarily because of the fascination of the subject matter of course; but also because Michael Gray writes very well."
