KEY POINTS:
Born in 1941, Robert Zimmerman of Minnesota was the perfect age to become a fan of rock'n'roll. The caption for his high school year book picture in 1959 recorded his ambition: "to join Little Richard's band".
THE TURNING POINT: He read Woody Guthrie's autobiography and, changing his name to Bob Dylan, hitched to New York City to see the dying folkie in '61. Played folk clubs in Greenwich Village, wrote Guthrie imitations, then found his own voice in songs like Blowin' in the Wind and Masters of War.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan ('63); The Times They Are A-Changin' ('64).
ALSO: The recently re-issued DVD Don't Look Back, film of Dylan's '64 tour of Britain as political lightning-rod and folk singer.
IT AIN'T BOB, BABE
Hailed as "the voice of his generation" for songs such as The Times They Are A-Changin' and Blowin' In The Wind. Old folkies saw him - at 23 - carrying their torch to a new generation. Dylan became wary and withdrawn, looked to the Beatles and the Stones, and plugged in electric guitar. In a stroke he invented literate folk-rock - and was reviled by folkie-fans. His six minutes-plus single Like A Rolling Stone is one of the best rock songs ever written. He spoke of "a thin, wild mercury sound". Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, on his double album Blonde on Blonde, was 22 minutes long.
THE TURNING POINT: At the Newport Folk Festival in '65 Dylan brought on an electric band. In a noisy 20 minutes he farewelled the folk scene which had created him.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING: Highway 61 Revisited ('65); Blonde on Blonde ('66) Also: The Martin Scorsese documentary No Direction Home, a detailed account of Dylan's career from school days to enigmatic mid-60s superstar.
THE DRIFTER'S ESCAPE
By 1966 Dylan's life was being lived at, and on, speed. It ended abruptly and he retreated to upstate New York State with his wife amid rumours of his death. In the 18-month sabbatical he rehearsed with The Band. When the hippie world was playing Sgt Pepper's, Dylan returned with the musically spare, country-framed, acoustic album John Wesley Harding, full of dense lyrics and Biblical references.
THE TURNING POINT: In July '66, while riding his motorbike, he braked too hard, flipped and cracked some vertebrae. It was the excuse he needed to get away from public scrutiny so he retreated to Woodstock.
ESSENTIAL ALBUMS: John Wesley Harding ('67); Nashville Skyline ('69); The Basement Tapes (released in '75) Also: Sam Peckinpah's '73 Western Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, in which Dylan plays an enigmatic character named Alias, and for which he wrote the loose, acoustic soundtrack which included Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
ANOTHER TWIST OF FATE
In '75 Dylan released his return-to-form album Blood on the Tracks, and went on the road with The Band, then with a travelling circus called the Rolling Thunder Review. He knocked classics from his catalogue into different shapes (Blowin' in the Wind as a reggae song). Also wrote Hurricane about jailed boxer Rubin Carter.
THE TURNING POINT: Dylan separated from his wife, Sara, was emotionally rootless, buried himself in writing, touring, drink and cocaine. His life became fast and fascinating. Again.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING: Blood on the Tracks ('75); Desire ('76) Also: The Rolling Thunder Logbook by Sam Shepard catalogues the most crazy mobile musical party of the mid-70s. Dylan's surreal film Renaldo and Clara ('78) also captures this strange period. At four bewildering hours long, it died in cinemas.
GONNA CHANGE MY WAY OF THINKING
In the late-70s Dylan released a series of albums which revealed him as a born-again Christian. He would preach in rambling messages on tour, and seemed resentful of his diminishing fans.
THE TURNING POINT: At a '78 concert in San Diego a fan threw a cross on the stage which Dylan picked up. Coincidentally his girlfriend and various band members at the time were members of a Christian fellowship. The leader became a follower. Later he re-embraced his Jewishness. Strange times, for him and listeners alike.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING: Street Legal ('78); Slow Train Coming ('79) Also: Howard Sounes' book Down the Highway is good on all aspects of the singer's career and offers rare detail and insight into this Christian period.
WHEN DID YOU LEAVE HEAVEN?
In the 80s Dylan was rudderless: now a non-Born Again, his new songs were often throwaways; albums were poorly recorded; he made the silly "rock" movie Hearts of Fire; had Sly'n'Robbie, Slash from Guns N'Roses, and various ring-in players on his lousy albums; and wore dreadful clothes. Only Oh Mercy from this long wilderness period suggests he still had a gift. But he followed it with Under The Red Sky which opened with the execrable Wiggle Wiggle. Dylan seemed lost forever.
THE TURNING POINT: The murder of John Lennon in 1980, a lawsuit against his former manager Albert Grossman, death threats, and the death of a close friend all within 18 months seemed to spin Dylan. He became eccentric and unreliable (not turning up to studio sessions), and in '88 embarked on what became known as The Never Ending Tour, playing well over 100 nights a year sometimes.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING: Oh Mercy ('89) Also: In '91 Dylan released the three-CD set The Bootleg Series Vols I-III, an enlightening, chronological collection of (mostly) unreleased songs from all periods of his career. Songs Dylan didn't release during the 80s were often vastly superior to those he did. A cornerstone in any sensible Dylan collection.
NOT DARK YET
By the late-90s Dylan was still endlessly touring, playing everything from stadiums to small community halls. In '97 he released Time Out of Mind, immediately hailed as a work of genius. It announced a golden period for Dylan as a modern day troubadour who usually dressed like a dapper 1860s Mississippi riverboat gambler. He was still wayward - the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, in which he plays a famous singer called Jack Fate, is baffling, although worth seeing for its self-referencing - but the recent albums have been emotionally dense and the equal of anything in his career.
THE TURNING POINT: In the early 90s for two albums, Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong, Dylan recorded old folk songs. At the time it looked like writer's block, in retrospect he was rediscovering the music that inspired him at the dawn of the 60s.
ESSENTIAL LISTENING: Time Out of Mind ('97), Love and Theft (2001), Modern Times ('06)
ALSO: In '04 he finally delivered the first part of his long-promised autobiography, Chronicles. It just picked pivotal periods in his career - but is enigmatic, elusive and allusive, and full of wit and insight. Much like the career of the man himself.
LOWDOWN
Who: Bob Dylan and band
When and where: TSB Events Centre, Wellington Friday August 10; Vector Arena, Auckland Saturday August 11
