Robert Allen Zimmerman was not meant for small things.
From the beginning of his career, when the man who rechristened himself Bob Dylan was hailed as a dynamic new voice within the tight-knit and often-critical folk community, he made a mark. As the years went by, the mark grew bigger and bigger, until the conclusion became inescapable: whatever one makes of his inscrutable public face, his daring artistic decisions, or his acquired taste of a voice, Bob Dylan is one of the most important musical figures of the 20th century. His words ignited the imagination of an entire generation, spurring artists as diverse as the Beatles and the Byrds and Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell to reach higher, to strive harder to write songs that not just entertained, but enlightened and provoked and demanded more from their audience than passive listening.
Over the course of a career that is still vital and relevant today in 2008, Dylan has evolved through phase after phase, from folk icon to folk-rocker (a genre he virtually invented) to visionary to man of faith and, after a relatively fallow mid-career period, resurgent elder statesman. Working with some of the finest musicians of our time, from the group that would become the Band to the group that was the Traveling Wilburys, Dylan made music that resonated not just with his audience, not just with the music community, but with an entire nation — no, planet.
The Daily Vault has dedicated monthly retrospectives to a number of the biggest acts in the history of rock music already — the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin, and the list goes on. But the list can never be complete without the one man who might truthfully lay claim to being the voice of a generation — our January Artist Of The Month, Bob Dylan.
Starting this Saturday, January 5, the Daily Vault’s writing staff will cover 27 selected highlights from Dylan’s massive catalog. With some artists it’s not just possible but easy to cover their entire repertoire in a month; not so with Messr. Zimmerman. We will hit the high points and include a few odds and ends (collections, live albums and DVDs), but this will be an overview of rather than a comprehensive look at Dylan’s huge body of work. Many of these reviews will be appearing on the Vault for the first time.
Founded in January 1997, the Daily Vault has featured more than 5,000 reviews of more than 2,400 artists covering almost the entire musical spectrum, written by a volunteer review staff from around the world. Previous Artist Of The Month retrospectives have spotlighted the work of artists from Tori Amos to Frank Zappa, including the Beatles, Garth Brooks, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Pearl Jam and many others. Themed retrospectives have included punk, hip-hop, dynamic debuts, classic jazz, women who rock and “the first album I ever bought.”
