pop culture

Marcus' prose is rambling and poorly directed. It is simply garbage that needs to be added to the genre on Bob Dylan Messiah worship. This books says nothing new about america or american music, it simply reshapes what has already been said in an attempt to make dylan's impact appear greater. Marcus even admits that he had written the liner notes to several dylan albums, proving that this book is simply a poorly executed attempt at academic marketing. This book is a waste of paper and it saddens me that so many people have been drawn in by its asinine conclusions and statements. It appears, from this book, that had Marcus been the main character in Equus, we might have had actors on stage with Dylan masks rather than Horse heads. Once again, this book is complete fulff and garbage and is an embarrasment to legitimate study or american culture and american music, shame on Marcus for writing this.

_The Old Weird America_ is the greatest description of the mystery of rock and roll ever put into prose. Rock is an ancient mystery religion-- insight, gnosis emerges when the terror and strangeness has been absorbed and transmogrified. Lead into gold, the wound of Amfortas healed, the mountain rooted down by the mole. The first time I heard Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes , I felt that terror. I was afraid of Tiny Montgomery, of Silly Nilly, of the Coachman. I knew that there was no relief for me until the world of the Basement Tapes was as real as the four walls of my bedroom. Now that it has become that familiar, there still is no relief. Rock and roll means never shaking the hell hound on your trail, no relief from the exasperated humiliation of begging Mrs. Henry to look your way and pump you a few. The ironic, elusive fantasy of the Million Dollar Bash always somewhere in the near future, with Rosemary waiting there to put it to you plain as day, and give it to you for a song.

This is a retitled re-issue of _Invisible Republic_. For its content, then, it clearly deserves a 5-star rating (at least from here). However, you ought to know what you will be getting if you already have that classic.