MacFormat España 17/MacFormat 17 (Spain)/MacFormat 17.bin/DATABASE/SHARED.DIR/01515_51.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 4.2 KB | 290 lines

@
"A strange young
man called Dylan
with a voice like
sand and glue,"
was how David
Bowie chose to
characterise
him. His songs
were about
political anger and
personal anguish,
and their effect
was somehow
heightened by his
nasal, off-key
drawl
#
Born Robert
Zimmerman, he
changed his name
to Dylan in
honour of the
poet Dylan
Thomas. He
signed with CBS
Records in 1962,
and immediately
established
himself as the
most significant
singer-poet of his
generation
#
Live
performances
were the natural
medium for
Dylan's intimate
brand of protest,
but it was his
recordings,
in particular
Freewheelin' Bob
Dylan in 1963
that cemented his
reputation as the
spokesman of a
generation in
revolt against
war, parents
and tradition
#
Dylan refused to
be pigeon-holed
by his admirers,
and he abandoned
acoustic folk for a
more rock-based
style while also
experimenting
with country.
Traditionalists
were outraged,
but others
applauded his
willingness to
experiment
#
In the mid-Sixties
Dylan was at his
creative peak. His
1966 double
album Blonde on
Blonde and John
Wesley Harding,
recorded in 1968,
defined the tastes
and the feelings
of millions of
young people
around the world
#
In 1969 Dylan
appeared at the
Isle of Wight
festival in Britain
- it was a kind of
English version
of Woodstock.
Hundreds of
thousands of fans
turned up for a
festival that came
to symbolise the
'counter-culture'
of Sixties Britain.
Dylan, as usual, let
his music do all
the talking

@
After the
triumphs of the
Sixties Dylan
seemed to lose
his way. Several
albums flopped
while attempts to
explain himself in
print met with
critical disdain
#
As the critics
became more
hostile, Dylan
became more
reclusive. His
only public
appearance for
three years, a
brief one at that,
was made at the
1971 concert for
victims of war in
Bangladesh,
organised by ex-
Beatle George
Harrison
#
Just when
everyone thought
his light was
fading, Dylan
produced a new
masterpiece. His
1976 album
Desire marked a
return to form
while his 1978
tour showed he
had lost none of
his ability to
surprise
#
From protest
music in the
Sixties to
Christianity in the
Seventies then a
traditional
morality in the
Eighties, Dylan's
musical and
philosophical
evolution seemed
to roll with the
pasing decades

#
For the first time,
Dylan is older
than the US
president. Now
past fifty, he may
be weary of
singing protest
songs. But the
issues - war,
corruption in
government,
corporate greed -
have not gone
away, and a
generation
unborn when he
first spoke out is
still interested in
the things he
has to say
@
The Beatles split
was blamed by
many on Yoko
Ono. John doted
on her, and Paul
was deeply
distrustful of her,
But the two
songwriters'
paths had already
diverged, and the
worst that can be
said of Yoko is
that she hastened
the group's
demise
#
The once happy
and fruitful
Beatles
partnership slid
after the break-
up into personal
sniping and legal
bickering. Lennon
released a very
poor song, How
Do You Sleep,
which was a
bitter and vicious
attack on Paul
#
After the Beatles
fell apart the
members moved
on to other
projects. Lennon
moved to New
York, Ringo Starr
got interested in
film, Harrison
made some
respectable
albums in Britain
, and McCartney,
after a period of
peace and quiet,
re-emerged with
what he called a
working skiffle
band - Wings
#
John Lennon was
killed outside his
home in New
York. He had
done little in the
previous five
years, but had
just re-emerged
with a new
album. His death
put paid to the
perennial
rumours that the
Beatles were
about to get back
together
#
If prophetic
photographs are
anything to go by,
it seems Lennon
knew he would
be the first Beatle
to die. Sales in
Beatles records
naturally
rocketed after his
death, and with
his corpus of
work now
complete, the
appraisal of his
legacy, with the
Beatles and
without them,
could begin
#
Paul McCartney's
solo output has
remained
impressive, but
as with Lennon,
the quality
varied. Though
both men strived
to create a
separate musical
identity for
themselves after
the Beatles,
neither could
quite ever escape
the shadow of
their youthful
moptopped selves