No One Else Could Play That Tune

NO ONE ELSE COULD PLAY THAT TUNE is the perfect companion to the all-singing all-dancing boxed set of the complete New York sessions for Dylan’s fabled Blood On The Tracks: More Blood, More Tracks. I tracked down and interviewed just about every eye-witness still standing, including the only musician – Dylan excepted – to play at all the New York sessions; a new interview with Ellen Bernstein, Dylan’s CBS A&R girlfriend at the time; at least one engineer previously undocumented and two old Village friends who attended the initial sessions at Dylan’s behest. I also spent a fortnight at the Tulsa Dylan archive, researching and annotating the two working notebooks into which the artist wrote two dozen original songs, only a dozen of which would make it all the way to the September A&R sessions. In 40,000 words, I tell the full tale of the making of Dylan’s greatest masterpiece as well as providing a detailed examination of the thought processes that went into the unmaking of it; as Dylan dismantled the New York album, re-recorded 60% of it and sped the rest of it up, removing audible blood from each and every track he changed. Never fully revealed before, it is a story only now ready to be told, accompanied as it is by the full soundtrack, courtesy of Sony Music's 'More Blood, More Tracks'. As the first instalment in what one hopes will be a second Wanted Man Study Series, this monograph, profusely illustrated and annotated, will hopefully set the bar high for many more to come… Clinton Heylin

‘This is a really excellent read. If you’re a Dylan fan it is a must have and, even if you’re not, this is one of the finest pieces of forensic analysis of a major album that you are ever likely to read – which makes it a must have.’ – Americana UK