Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes

Well, I ordered this book, not knowing it was the British version of "Old Weird America". Nothing in the blurb about this book said so. It's a good book, but I already read it. So I said I wanted to return it. They refunded my money, but so far, they have yet to let me know how to return it. I've asked several times to no avail.

Wanted this book for years! I love it!

Greil Marcus's book isn't so much about Bob Dylan's album "The Basement Tapes" as it is "inspired by" the Basement Tapes. One reviewer here describes it as "fan fiction". I see the point, and to a degree agree with it, but I think there is a bit more meat to the book than that description encompasses.The strange thing is that I didn't even think that much of Bob Dylan's "The Basement Tapes". I always thought of it as some jams by a great band with some half-finished lyrics slurred and snarled and mush-mouthed bluffed over it. The album made me wish Dylan could have stayed on amphetamines a little longer. His central nervous system and heart probably enjoyed the break, but the Basement Tapes ain't no Blonde on Blonde. With that said, I still love this book, maddening though it is.Like in his earlier book, "Lipstick Traces", Marcus is interested in making cultural/historical connections. Showing how music from the recent past ties into much older traditions. Some of these connections are brilliant, some are completely mad (but he gets points for audaciousness nonethless) and some I remain dubious about.What the Basement Tapes have to do with the West Virginia coal war of the 1920's I still don't have a clue, but what I learned of the coal war in this book made me interested enough to order a book Marcus recommended.Even if the connections aren't really there this book does stimulate your curiosity.And I can see where the divisiveness comes into it. It's the old argument that "folk music is about social protest" versus the "folk music is about flowers growing from the skulls of murdered lovers in their graves".Woody Guthrie versus Harry Smith. Marcus comes down on the Harry Smith side and perhaps disparges the Guthrie side more than is warranted. After all there is a bit of both in Dylan himself. From Masters of War to Hurricane to Jokerman. From Boots of Spanish Leather to Mr. Tambourine Man to Desolation Row. If you're looking for a straightforward biography of Dylan or a historical record of the Basement Tapes sessions, this isn't it. This is as much about union wars of the 1920's and songs about men murdering their pregnant girlfriends and old coal-mining, bootlegging banjo players who sang a few songs back in the 1920's that still get played today and how they might all be connected (or maybe not). Its the kind of book that makes you want to read even more books, or listen to even more music with this book as a starting point.

There are numerous problems with this book. The writing is often highly metaphorical and jumps back and forth between Marcus' various musings; even if I reread certain sentences 2 or 3 times, I still couldn't grasp their full content. Also, the book is not about the Basement Tapes, but about the Basement Tapes, Bob Dylan before the Basement Tapes, and everything else that Marcus thinks the Basement Tapes points to (in a highly speculative manner). Having said that, I loved reading (most of it). The description of Dylan circa '64 - '66 and the intense reaction of the folkies to his electric shift is worth the price of the book alone. I finally understand exactly why Dylan going electric at Newport in '65 elicited such an incredibly hostile reaction. Marcus' writing is at his best there. Also his descriptions of Dylan's concerts with the Hawks in this period is equally mesmerizing (as it is in the liner notes to the new Dylan live at Royal Albert Hall which I recently purchased). His descriptions of the Basement Tapes themselves, and how they came about, are scanty at best, and it was frustrating as he described many songs which not only am I not familiar with, but aren't out in public except in obscure, overpriced bootlegs which I don't have access to. Hence, Marcus would often be talking of things in an out of context manner which I wasn't able to put back in context. The last half of the books he shoots off in the statrosphere with his description of Harry Smith's American Hall of Fame Folk recordings which I have heard is an incredible album and which I enjoyed Marcus' analysis, metaphorical as much of it is. The tie-in to the Basement Tapes themselves is at times tenuous, but understanding how Dylan himself reveres the old "folkies" (they're not actually folkies, but lack of a better word) lends credence to at least some of what Marcus has to say. Anyone interested in rock and roll, and folk, as American culture (as opposed to just American music) will enjoy this book, and I intend to get Lipstick Traces and maybe even Mystery Train as soon as this hectic x-mas season is past. To Marcus: keep on truckin'!

Firstly, this book has precious little information about the Basement Tapes, the Band or Bob Dylan so the title is deceiving!!! The author uses the title to draw us in to a history lesson on the influences of the Band and Dylan and the time frame they existed in. While the history lesson was well written it was mostly information I already had. If the title did not suggest this was a book about the "Basement Tapes" and instead was a history lesson I would have passed on buying it.

Hard work to read at times as it's quite mercurial. But there's some great information and insight in there.If you can listen to Dylan you can appreciate this book.

"Invisible Republic" studies Bob Dylan and the Band's Basement Tapes, recorded 40 years ago and still largely unreleased. Those selections that have been released include such oft-covered classics as "I Shall be Released", "This Wheel's on Fire", "Quinn the Eskimo(The Mighty Quinn)" and "You Aint goin' Nowhere".The complete basement tapes, available only on bootleg, comprise over 100 recordings, some covers, most Dylan compositions. In the main body of this book, Marcus is not concerned with a laborious description of the making of each song, he takes a more impressionistic approach, focusing on certain songs to illustrate general points. Songs that are discussed in depth include "Lo and Behold!", "Clothesline Saga", "I'm Not There" and "Tears of Rage".Almost half of the book is given to describing the folk music that Marcus sees as the roots of the basement tapes. The weirdness and deliberate illogicity of Dylan's lyrics has precedent in 19th and early 20th century folk, a good selection of which was collected on the Harry Smith Anthology in the early 50's. Marcus gives an interesting account of Smith's life; the man was eccentric, to say the least. Marcus also pays particular attention to "The Coo Coo Bird" by Clarence Ashley, as well as the life and music of Dock Boggs.Though the main body of the book is only 220 pages, this is a wide ranging work, much is omitted so that what is contained gives the most complete feeling of the subject, as opposed to being academic or encyclopedic. This approach works here because Marcus is an excellent writer with a deep appreciation for his subject. On the other hand, there is an complete index of the basement recordings appended to the book, the songs listed in alphabetical order with running times, composer credits, and track listing on "the Genuine Basement Tapes" bootleg, as well as a short note containing information on compositon performance or other interesting facts. Some songs only get a few words; "Santa Fe" is unfairly dismissed in two: "A riff"Overall, an excellent companion to the great music of the Basement Tapes, unorthodox in structure but very well-written and a compelling read.

Hard to follow

It's OK for the die hard Bobcat but overly long and often laborious for the regular fan like myself who thinks that a lot of the Dylan canon is shrouded in the kings new clothes.Sadly, Marcus is up his own arse for a lot of the time as he tries to be far too clever in his prossaicism and his metaphore.I found it a real struggle and much preferred the earlier bios of Bob that simply chronicled his life and influences up to whatever ponit in time by the likes of Howard Sounes or Clinton Halin.Best of all of course is Bob's own recent Chronicles, Volume one.I mean, if you are going to read bollox about Bob then the best bollox will come from Bob!!!On the whole a bad choice book for me!Lawson