A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks

By Ric Machuga

Book Overview

"So fascinatingly behind-the-scenes that it will make you listen to the album as if you've never heard it before."--Esquire

In 1974 Bob Dylan wrote, recorded, reconsidered, and then re-recorded the best-selling studio album of his career. Blood on the Tracks was composed as Dylan's twelve-year marriage began to unravel, and songs like "Tangled Up in Blue" and "Shelter from the Storm" have become templates for multidimensional, adult songs of love and loss. Yet the story behind the creation of this album has never been fully told; even the credits on the present-day album sleeve are inaccurate. Dylan recorded the album twice-once in New York City and again in Minneapolis, with a rag-tag gang of local musicians, quickly rewriting many of the songs in the process. For A Simple Twist of Fate, the authors have interviewed the musicians and producers, industry insiders, and others, creating an engaging chronicle of how one musician channeled his pain and confusion into great art.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306814137
• ISBN13: 9780306814136
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Da Capo
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A Most Rare Book from Masterful Musicians All 'Round

First, I must apologize for not quite "getting it" (this book) at the outset. It is a most rare book not only because it is about Bob Dylan's creation of arguably his best album ever; but the authors have written from the masterful point of view of "the musicians" who worked with Dylan all 'round. One not only learns about how "records" back then were engineered and produced but the most fascinating material like why Bob Dylan...

True Blue Blood on The Tracks

Applause! Applause! to Andy Gil for 'A Simple Twist of Fate.' Gil stays true to its title and fastidiously stays focused on one, isolated aspect of Dylan's work, "Blood On the Tracks." Heralded as one of the break-up albums of all time and Dylan's best work, the album has many ghosts and layers leading up to its development which Gil finely addresses; the divorce, the double re-recording sessions, credits to the artists...

BLOOD ON THE TRACKS FACTS

It's a good time to be a BOTT fan. I recently found Mary Lee's Corvette's version of BOTT on CD as well as a bootleg CD of some of the New York sessions songs (which incorrectly listed the studio dates as September 12th, 16th, and 23rd instead of the 16th, 17th, 19th, and 24th and sounded more like demos then anything else). Anyway, imagine my delight at finding this book sitting on the shelf at a local bookstore while browsing...

A far deeper inspection of Dylan's relationships

Simple Twist Of Fate isn't just another biography of facts about rock musician Bob Dylan: it's a narrowed focus on the making of his Blood on the Tracks album, a break-up album written as his 12-year marriage unraveled, and it comes packed with insights based on first-hand interviews with musicians and producers, Dylan's friends and associates and relatives, and industry professionals. In using the album as a starting point,...

Essential for fans of this album.

For those who don't know, Blood on the Tracks was recorded in NYC in late 1974. Dylan then re-recorded 5 of the tracks with local Minnesota musicians and released the album in 1975. It went on to be one of his most successful albums ever. It's a great treat to have one book focus on one classic album. This book goes into every possible detail of the recording of these 10 songs, from who they were written about, how and...