Bob Dylan via Sean Penn

So Bob Dylan's autobiography came out. Well, the first volume anyway. Chronicles, it’s called… And as I was wasting time in Borders standing at the big cardboard display flipping through the book (no pictures!?) the guy at the counter felt the need to comment to me how good the book is. I was really in the middle of trying to do the math—figuring out which was cheaper—the book with the on-sale discount or the audio-book?… I asked him if he’d heard Sean Penn’s rendition. He said, no, I kind of like hearing Bob’s voice in my head while reading it. Ok, maybe there’s a point to be had there. I’m assuming he meant Bob’s voice 40 years ago. But I chose Sean Penn’s voice instead. And therefore also choosing to be read to rather than actually reading it.

The first audio book, and the only other audio book I’ve purchased was Robert Evans’ The Kid Stays in the Picture. And I’ll go out on a limb here and say that those 6 cds are probably going to be the best rendering of a book put to cd ever. The guy’s voice is like the purr of chain-smoking gin soaked panther on ludes. I loved every minute of it. I know, there have been many jokes on the subject on Patton Oswalt’s cd and Mr. Show, all very funny jokes – but these jokes all stem from the fact that the audio book is priceless.

Well, the Chronicles audiobook is of course a different beast. And I just wanted to chime in and say Sean Penn does a kick-ass job. Loses himself in the part as he always does. Kind of kidding there, but really—by the second disc you pretty much start to think that Bob is telling you his story of getting by in the East Village visiting Woody Guthrie in the hospital and eating free french fries backstage at the Gaslight with Tiny Tim. Yes, it is a good listen – and while it doesn’t serve as quite the reference material a Bob Dylan autobiography on page does, it’s a really enjoyable way to go. There are a lot of references to the people who inspired him in those first few years in New York that you’ll sometimes want to go back to, but what’s good about this one, which wasn’t present on the Bob Evans audio book, is that there are track breaks on each cd, so it’s easier to go back and revisit bits.

I’m sure it’s an even better read – but I’ve got three other books that I haven’t even touched yet, so I choose Sean Penn to serenade me for 6 hours. Either way, you won’t loose.