Another side of Bob Dylan, by Victor Maymudes and Jacob Maymudes

 

I picked this book up a few years ago at a Book Expo or ALA conference, and just got around to reading it. Based on recordings made by Victor Maymudes in the year or so before his death from an aneurysm, it tells about his years working with Bob Dylan at the beginning of Dylan's career and from the mid-80s to the late 90s. Interspersed with Victor's memories are recollections by his son Jacob, as Victor was never able to complete the memoir he was planning, and Jacob took up the challenge many years later. I found the book interesting as an account of what it was like to travel on road tours. It's a fast read and covers many years, so I think it's a worthwhile read if you're interested in popular music of the 60s and later. But I don't really think it shows us "another side of Bob Dylan," as the book doesn't share much that was not previously known. But it does reveal the lopsided relationship between these two men, one highly admired and holding the reins of power and money, and the other doing the admiring. I think that if Victor had lived and if he had a co-author or ghost writer who could really delve into the project and question him about his experiences with Dylan that this might have made a more valuable contribution to the history of Dylan, but without Victor's further input, the skeleton of the recordings that he left weren't substantial enough to provide significant insight. This is primarily a collection of anecdotes about work that Victor did for Dylan, not breaking new ground but still interesting. And neither men come away looking admirable.