I am currently reading Antoine De Caunes' book " rock enamoured dictionnary" (not sure of the translation).
(apologises in advance for my bad english regarding the translations I tried from the book)
Hope it could be interesting for both MK and Dylan fans
A De Caunes' quotes from the book are in blue
Mark's quote about Bob from the itw is in green
During the 70ies and 80ies A.De Caunes was a TV producer and produced TV shows : "Chorus" and "Les enfants du rock".
Therefore, he has many many ancedotes about rock stars, and he has compiled them in this book.
he also talks about musicians he loves, and there are 8 pages about MK.
He explains that a man from Phongram refused to release the album saying that "it wouldn't interest anyone in France"
He also explains he fell in love with the first album and went to London ("Nashwille "club) to see them live:
"visually it was overwhelming (tank tops, haircuts, light-show for a fair...) but musically it was just perfect.twirling, virtuoso, aerian, funambulesque."
then he decided to do a show with them. "At the time the cost to make them go to Paris was around 1200€ (van, ferry, taxes, night at the hotel)"
He phoned ED Bicknell who involved the british company, so they could make the TV show, and the french company was obliged to release the album, and in a rush, so it costed the double ! " in a week they sold more than 100 000"
"I immediately became friend with mark. The band was délicieux. musicians were more used to modests pubs/clubs rather concert venues. their gear made me smile.instead of big trucks with tons of gear, it was a simple van for the band and the gear : drums, 3 amps and 4 or 5 guitars : the essential, the indispensable, the fundamental"
"sometimes Mark was hosted by us in our little flat. He was in real life exactly like on stage : simple, discreet, cultured, well-read, witty and laconic but charismatic like a hamster. When he was taking a guitar, the instrument came to snuggle in his arms naturally, like if his hands have been its natural case. He gave me some lessons, but with no real hope for me. He had never had any music lessons, he prefered "capture the spirit of the music rather than to reduce it to an academic approach"
"later, by hearing his other albums I rarely had again this electrifying emotion I had with the 1st album, mainly because I prefered its false simplicity, the blueprint of its production (Muff Winwood), compared to the emphatic overproduction on next albums, the most being Love over gold. I had the feeling that the little band who produced pure gems like Six blade knife or In the gallery had lost in the sea by becoming a luxury cruise liner, its "niaque" and its insouciance from early days"
"I would have loved to be the witness of the infidels sessions : the daily work between this 2 great laconics : the master and the disciple, the inspirator and the inspired,the meticulous perfectionist and the enchanting in person. Dylan is famous to record his albums in 2 hours, and Mark in 2 years by refine them, except he 2 first ones whose success gave him the means to spend the time he wanted in studio"
"Like he said later "Bob is someone far more disciplined as a writer and poet than in the studio.he is an absolute genius.a purely brilliant singer. But let's say that musically, it's more basic.Music is juts a vehicle for his poetry" (itw by Bll Flanagan)
"infildels is in my Dylanesque pantheon beside Blonde on blonde or blood on the tracks. Dylan rarely sounded as good. the sound on Infidels has something gracefully timeless. It grooves, and it's rare on Dylan's stuff.
"starting from Mark to reach Dylan. from all associations, it's the one that seems the most obvious, like pre written. Mark was often criticized to copy Dylan. But how deal with being an author in the end of 20th century, without not being influenced by the dylanien genious ?
on the bad side you could have hollow lyrics, and a poor poetic meaning.
on the good side (and Mark is among it) you have a phrasing, a taste for freedom in the way of telling stories. Which is augmented by an exceptionnal musicality both in rhythm and soloing"
I must say that this book is very much worth reading, but I doubt it has been translated in english.
