Chronicles Audiobook By Bob Dylan cover art

Chronicles

Volume One

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Chronicles

By: Bob Dylan
Narrated by: Sean Penn
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Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One explores the critical junctions in his life and career. Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan's New York is a magical city of possibilities: smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.

Revealing, poetical, passionate and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window on Bob Dylan's thoughts and influences. Dylan's voice is distinctively American: generous of spirit, engaged, fanciful, and rhythmic. Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling and the exquisite expressiveness that are the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns Chronicles: Volume One into a poignant reflection on life, and the people and places that helped shape the man and the art.

©2004 Bob Dylan (P)2004 Simon & Schuster Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc. Art & Literature Authors Entertainment & Celebrities Music Witty Thought-Provoking

Editorial reviews

Why we think it's Essential: Sean Penn reading Bob Dylan's memoirs. It doesn't get any better than this. Dylan mixes his life with his music, his thoughts with his lyrics, and Sean Penn puts us right inside his head. Dylan and Penn are a perfect combination, spanning two generations of celebrity, making us feel the weight and breadth of life for Dylan and the people who have hung on his every word and note. — Chris Doheny

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Winner, Biography/Memoir, 2005
  • 2005 Quill Award Nominee
  • Grammy Award Nominee, Best Spoken Word Album, 2005

"Volume 1 of Dylan's memoirs was pretty cool to begin with. But to have it read by Sean Penn on audio takes it to a new level: the most talented songwriter of all time as performed by the most talented actor of his generation. Mr. Penn clearly has a blast inhabiting the role and navigating Dylan's jagged, impressionistic prose." (The New York Times)

Featured Article: Tune In to Our Favorite Music Memoirs


We’ve been finding solace in stories that follow our other favorite thing to listen to: music. We’ve gathered a selection of pitch-perfect memoirs from music legends in a variety of genres and styles. By turns bold, brash, and moving, these listens shed light on the sold-out shows, backstage drama, and sometimes dark underbelly of the recording industry, while highlighting the charisma, energy, and artistry that had us hooked from the first soundwave.

Featured Article Tune In to Our Favorite Music Memoirs
Poetic Storytelling • Fascinating Insights • Perfect Voice Match • Vivid Descriptions • Historical Context
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Nice to hear where his head was back in the day. I worked at KMET Radio in LA. At that time, most listeners' were looking to music for direction and messages. What they found or not didn't hurt them. Honest and harmless that was then. Pat"Paraquat"Kelley

Five Star

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Really enjoyed the insight into the life of my hero. The voice of Sean Penn just fits this book perfectly

Chronicles: Volume One

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Typical Bob Dylan story telling. Amazing style, interesting characters, wandering plot that leads perfectly back together. Perfect reading by Sean Penn that made it feel like Bob was reading it to you himself.

Classic Dylan

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It's a warm summer's day in the interlude between summer school and fall quarter in the late 60's. We're all on the front porch of the adobe looking out over the valley. The big event of the day is that eventually the train will ramble by the back fence. The music is Dylan. Some say that if you can remember the 60s, you weren't there. I say that if you can't remember the words to your favorite Dylan tune, you weren't there.

There is a reason that Dylan is considered the poet laureate of the Twentieth Century. And now he's back. Add to that the amazing reading by Sean Penn. Occaisonally you hear in his voice the sing-song verse of Dylan's early work. Occaisonally Penn sounds just like him.

A definite read if you were there (and maybe styill are).

Positively 4th Street

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Would you consider the audio edition of Chronicles to be better than the print version?

I have never even seen the written book. The audio might be abridged, however listening to Sean Penn is beyond everything. It is like getting a hug by the "hot-boy" Sean Penn.

What did you like best about this story?

It is just like being a very extremly happy listener: Like a fly on the wall.

Which character – as performed by Sean Penn – was your favorite?

This is a memoir...

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes: Over and over and over. It is a sleeping pill with no side effects.

Any additional comments?

This is a snack bar. Yes: It might be abridged but if you love Sean Penn, Bob Dylan, N.Y.C. then this is highly credit proof. It will always be within the reach of my app.

Perfect hug and sleeping pill

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I thought the book provided some good insights into Dylan and the creative process, but I expected better prose from a poet, even in a draft. Perhaps he wrote the book for some of the same reasons he claims to have made some of his mediocre albums - to make a living or get others off his back.

I liked Penn's monotone. Perhaps Dylan's choice of detail would make more sense in the unabridged version in some cases.

OK, but poor prose

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I thoroughly enjoyed Bob's story! He is a very interesting person and a wonderful story teller. I loved hearing his thought processes and the stories of how his career developed. Highly recommend.

Bob Dylan is not who you think he is

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What did you love best about Chronicles?

Any one who is interested in the life of the iconic Bob Dylan and who ever is interested in a glimpse of the life and mechanics of the music world in the 60's and beyond should listen to this book.
The delivery is fantastic particularly in view of the autobiographical nature of the narration. Some times you forget it is not Bob who is sitting there talking to you.

Have you listened to any of Sean Penn’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

very good

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I'm a seventies child and not a huge fan of Dylan (I actually like his more recent stuff over the sixties-era work) but I can recommend this audio-book to those with only a passing interest/knowledge of the man and his songs.

A few folks have complained about Sean Penn's 'monotone' narration, but I think it fits right in with Dylan's unstructured, loose writing style. I will definitely be buying Volume Two!

Good listen -even for non-Dylan fans

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Sean Penn kept a fast pace, when savoring the story would be more appropriate, particularly since it is not very long.

fast reader

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