Previously published as Invisible Republic and already considered a classic of modern American cultural criticism, The Old, Weird ...
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Aug 10, 2010
Paul
rated it: 
I need to make a little pile of cultural artifacts which have exactly the right idea and then proceed to do it in the wrongest, crassest or most migraine-inducing sesquipedelian manner possible. Then when my pile is completed I will dance around laughing and sprinkling petrol whilst the hi fi blasts out either The Martian Hop, or Surfin' Bird or Beat on the Brat with a Baseball Bat, haven't made up my mind, and I will torch the whole lot. It will be the Great Bonfire of Missed Opportunities (I m
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Dec 17, 2009
Geoff
rated it: 
I have to give this four stars because of the profound influence it had on me the year or so after I read it. It's a silly book, to be honest. I was surprised that even Greil Marcus would go quite so far out on such an esoteric and wobbly premise. Bob Dylan and the Band's Basement Tapes as a portal to the lost soul of America? Hmm. I myself own the exhaustive Basement Tapes collection "A Tree With Roots," and let me tell you: mostly it's drunk guys singing drunken things badly.
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Aug 27, 2007
Jonas
rated it:
This book is pretty cool. One of Dylan's most mythical albums is the Basement Tapes. Most fans know the story: After the fabled motorcycle accident disabled the dude and turned him into a recluse he healed and reared a family somewhere in Woodstock. Sometime during this period he and The Band (who were working on their first album) bided their time in the basement of the big pink and jammed the night away. The recordings done on a simple reel to reel tape machine, were then bootlegged heavi
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Jan 01, 2012
Bob
rated it:
At one point Marcus is analyzing a piece of writing by Howard Hampton, summarizing "...this is not an interpretation I would ever think of...or rather it is not an interpretation at all. It's not an attempt to define or decode..., but a response to a certain provocation."
That is a sentiment I tried to bear in mind as I read in order to restrain my impatience at Marcus's frequently bombastic rhapsodies about every note played by Bob Dylan and the Band during the 65-66 tours an More...
That is a sentiment I tried to bear in mind as I read in order to restrain my impatience at Marcus's frequently bombastic rhapsodies about every note played by Bob Dylan and the Band during the 65-66 tours an More...
Jul 02, 2011
Timothy
rated it:
I read this directly after I finished Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, thinking Marcus might do for American folk rock (especially, Dylan's Basement Tapes) what Rob Young did for British electrified folk. And he does, to a point; he explores the insular weirdness of folk songs, with their murky murders and the character names that mutate from singer to singer -- someone could (probably has) written a book about the evolution of Staggerlee -- and a lot of it is interesting an
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Jan 10, 2011
Steve.lovell
rated it: 
'Me thinketh he maketh too much of the man'- or more, particularly, one set of his songs - could be a simple response to this seminal book on this legend. My impression is that Marcus writes as Dylan con- volutes - often in person, sometimes in song. Deciphering what the man - Marcus, or maybe Dylan too - is on about is at times too taxing a task for a summer holiday read for someone who thought he left this kind of philosophising of obscurity way back in his long ago university days.The work th
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Nov 29, 2010
Tuck
rated it:
the chapter "old weird america" is really the only one worth reading in its entirety, but then if you are obsessed with the basement tapes, the band, greil marcus, and or bob dylan this book might be a hit for that obsession. this dude on goodreads says it WAY MORE BETTER than me, pasted:
Paul Bryant
Sep 28, 2007
Paul Bryant rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition
Shelves: bob-dylan
I need to make a little pile of cultural artifacts which have More...
Paul Bryant
Sep 28, 2007
Paul Bryant rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition
Shelves: bob-dylan
I need to make a little pile of cultural artifacts which have More...
May 04, 2010
Andrew
rated it: 
Sorry Greil Marcus, I quit you. Marcus' MYSTERY TRAIN tried my patience, but INVISIBLE REPUBLIC (here with a different title) is absurd in its hamstrung mythology. Marcus labors on a point - that the BASEMENT TAPES are an evocation of "that old, weird America," a weird but perfect marriage of The Band and Dylan, could be said in a long article. But Marcus invokes De Tocqueville, a catalog of blues legends, and Jonathan Edwards - in ONE CHAPTER. Meanwhile he recites the same stuff about
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Sep 09, 2009
Mcgyver5
rated it:
I saw Greil Marcus come and speak to promote the release of this book. It was fascinating. He's been studying the Basement Tapes since before they were commercially released and he has a lot of ideas and suspicious connections to talk about. As some random guy in a coffee shop told me when he saw me reading this book, "I'll bet my friends and I can come up with a book full of iffy connections about any double album, but that doesn't mean we'd publish it when we sobered up."
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Nov 29, 2008
Marxist
rated it:
This book displays all of Greil Marcus's strengths and weaknesses. It is ostensibly a book about the Band's and Bob Dylan's work creating The Basement Tapes. But it is more about the history of land-deals and inter-kinship strife and the move away from subsistence farming to industrial labor in and around the mountainous areas of southern Ohio, West Virginia, eastern Kentucky--those places that still give us coal to burn to run these machines we type on and to fill our air with soot. One of M
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Jan 17, 2011
Spiros
rated it:
I like Bob Dylan, to a degree. I can't imagine not owning BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, and BLONDE ON BLONDE; I like the band he has been using with Larry Campbell on guitar. I flat out love the Band. However, I do not subscribe to the notion that every time Bob Dylan clears his throat or farts it "Means Something". I have always liked to think that by 1964, when there was a substantial portion of the Intelligensia who did subscribe to that notion, Mr. Dylan started
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Jun 23, 2011
Jason
rated it:
I have the feeling that Marcus doesn't have much in the way of objectivity when it comes to Dylan - it is apparent that he is the transformative performer of his life and has made a tremendous impact on his thinking. Don't let the idea of possible hero-worship sway you from reading this. This is a tremendous book that correctly ties Dylan's songwriting into a much larger thread reaching back to early 20th century popular music, ancient folk music traditions, and poetry. More importantly, Marcus
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Feb 10, 2010
Steve
rated it:
I like the way Marcus writes about rock. Part of me thinks it's BS, and yet he gets under the skin of the music, which to some extent is essential, otherwise such books tend to bore me. With Marcus, when he's in stride, he reads like poetry. It's impossible to sustain that for an entire book, but just go along for the ride, and when you hit one of those passages, you'll know. In this particular effort, you get Dylan, Americana, myth, history, and music, all converging into some sort of dream th
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Apr 14, 2009
John
rated it:
This is what seems to be a word-for-word reissue of Marcus’s Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, confusingly given a completely different title. In the Author’s Note, Marcus says this is the title he originally wanted to give it. I have to say, they still got it wrong. The new subtitle, The World of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, is an improvement, but still doesn’t completely address the main fault with every title and subtitle given so far – the book isn’t really about Dylan, and only
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Jan 12, 2012
Patrick
rated it:
This is a book is written for at least two types of people; people who want to get right into the middle of the history of American music and people intrigued by how many random connections one over-educated mind can make when handed even the barest of stimuli. (Marcus has a great response to all the critics who say he is over-thinking and over-reading everything: what these critics are really doing is questioning whether I have anything to say). It doesn't hurt if you are also as into Dylan and
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Mar 16, 2011
Justin
rated it:
I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but then it wasn’t the book I thought it was. I suppose the fact that the subtitle is The World Of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes gave me an inkling but I figured there was a lot of stuff about Harry Smith and his Anthology.
In fact, I’m still not sure what this book is about. Yes, it’s an examination of the Basement Tapes made by Dylan and what would be come The Band, but I’m not sure how the world of those tapes comes into play. More...
In fact, I’m still not sure what this book is about. Yes, it’s an examination of the Basement Tapes made by Dylan and what would be come The Band, but I’m not sure how the world of those tapes comes into play. More...
Dec 23, 2009
Rama
rated it:
O' Greil Marcus! What had you wrought with this piece of overly analytical long-windedness about Dylan and The Band's BASEMENT TAPES? How could you so masterfully suck all of the life and enjoyment out of such profoundly freewheeling and spirited recordings? And what did Dock Boggs and Geeshie Wiley ever do to deserve such pretentious dribble from your pen? O' Greil Marcus, you have so much to answer for....
(Seriously, it's shit like this that gives cultural studies a bad name.)
(Seriously, it's shit like this that gives cultural studies a bad name.)
Jul 16, 2008
Captain_Howdy
rated it: 
One of the world's best poet/songwriter's silent period wasn't so silent in a basement near Woodstock. Bob Dylan spent the days recuperating from a motorcycle accident with some little known musicians, passing the time playing music never intended to be heard by outside ears. Copies of tapes were leaked and although not released (until 15 years later), hits were charted with songs created in "The Basement Tapes" by artists from many different genres.
Greil Marcus takes you More...
Greil Marcus takes you More...
Mar 16, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
The writing style is at times exceedingly onerous, particularly in the sections that discuss the music made in Big Pink. Makes me wonder if Marcus is attempting to echo the eccentric Basement Tapes style in his own prose. Without the pretty music, though, there are spots in the book that are as trying as Tarantula. The sections that focus on Harry Smith and Dock Boggs, on the other hand, are absolutely perfect -- enough to make the whole experience worthwhile.
Says Smith: "Wh More...
Says Smith: "Wh More...
Jul 20, 2008
Sean
rated it:
It's so difficult to write about music. Marcus constantly tries to get at that feeling of haunting strangeness inherent in most American folk music—a feeling which I love—and it seems to work, at least some of the time. The rest of the time, I’d rather take his discography and listen to the songs on my own, in the dark, to actually evoke those same feelings.
Maybe it should be packaged with a mix cd?
Besides that little quibble, however, this is a great study--structured in an ingeni More...
Maybe it should be packaged with a mix cd?
Besides that little quibble, however, this is a great study--structured in an ingeni More...
Aug 25, 2009
Tom
rated it:
A whole book about one (double) record album. Of course, if there were ever an album that you could right so much about, The Basement Tapes would be it. Still, it seems that the author reads an awful lot into what Dylan and the band say was often spontaneous humor. That's the post modern approach, I guess.
Sep 02, 2010
Michael
rated it:
A must read for all Dylan fans.
This is not just a history of some of the most legendary recording sessions of all time but also a history of all American folk and blues and in conjunction with Dylans own chronicles gives you a real feel of where the great mans inspiration comes from.
Best read with the Basement tapes blasting out at max volume.
This is not just a history of some of the most legendary recording sessions of all time but also a history of all American folk and blues and in conjunction with Dylans own chronicles gives you a real feel of where the great mans inspiration comes from.
Best read with the Basement tapes blasting out at max volume.
Mar 18, 2008
Dan
rated it:
You'd discuss of politics in the morning, listen to music in the afternoon, there was no separation between these two worlds. To me, it was normal and I was really surprised when, beginning to write, I realised that nobody took it into consideration, and music was kept apart from politics or social life. Yet it happens to each of us: when you are listening to a song , it seems to you that for a moment nothing is greater than rock'n'roll, all the world with all its needs is contained in that song
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Jan 28, 2011
Eddie
rated it:
There's something to like here but I'm aborting a full read. I'll stick to the songs.
From other reviews I expected a book congested with wacky ideas (which I was looking forward to) but what I've gotten so far is a hanky of a wacky idea dropped here and there interlarded with great hunks of lard. Lord the lard! Sure he can write, but prose poems aren't his forte. But I shall plow on through, listening to the songs themselves as I plow.
From other reviews I expected a book congested with wacky ideas (which I was looking forward to) but what I've gotten so far is a hanky of a wacky idea dropped here and there interlarded with great hunks of lard. Lord the lard! Sure he can write, but prose poems aren't his forte. But I shall plow on through, listening to the songs themselves as I plow.
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Sep 26, 2010
Bosco
rated it:
I have no idea what this book is about. I know what it's supposed to be about but after reading three chapters, I just gave up. Whatever was brewing in Mr. Marcus' head failed to make a coherent translation to the page.
Apr 01, 2011
Andrewh
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Though I did not like this book as much as some of Greil Marcus's other books, it was a still stimulating and fascinating journey. Wether it makes any real sense to see the infamous Basement Tapes as the key to the old weird America, as suggested in the book, is hard to judge, but it is provocative and makes you want to learn more about this lost folkloric culture.
Nov 03, 2011
Larry
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Bit of a slog but I really enjoyed all the connections and the way he related the songs to American history. Once I got his rhythm I really enjoyed it and it went pretty smooth after that.
Dec 16, 2008
Rob
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Typically wide-ranging riff from Marcus on the hidden currents of Appalachian folk music and how they found their way into the 1960s culture via Dylan.
Mar 17, 2009
Adam
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Marcus sometimes gets away from himself. This book is a little farfetched in scope. I actually bought this book, with, like, money.
Nov 28, 2008
Ned
rated it:
A nonfiction about Dylan and The Band's Basement Tape recordings, and the influences that set the stage for them, that reads like a novel.
