Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (high-grade Hollywood corn) has shone a light on a key member of Dylan’s entourage. Bob Neuwirth is hardly a complete unknown himself, but his name has faded. He met Dylan in 1961 at a folk festival (not in a Manhattan elevator in 1965, as the film portrays). The pair bonded, partly through a shared talent for sharp-tongued put-downs and mind games. Neuwirth acted as Dylan’s hepcat consigliere during the singer-songwriter’s amphetamine-aided acceleration from folk to rock in the 1960s.Neuwirth, who died in 2022, was a musician himself. His self-titled debut album came out in 1974, the first in a sporadic series of releases (he was also a painter). His sparse collection of recordings reveal a talent that burnt fitfully. “Nobody knew what to make of him,” Dylan wrote in his book Chronicles — a description that could equally apply to its author. It is as though Dylan were eyeballing another Bob in the mirror, a fellow lightning-fast agent of trickery: except Neuwirth was fated to be the lesser Bob.Recorded in Los Angeles, his debut album proved a false start. Neuwirth viewed it as a relic of his drinking days, a boozy, overblown knees-up that would have benefited from greater clarity. This has now been provided in a remastered edition by producer John Hanlon, whom Neuwirth approached for the task before his death. The results give the album a fuller sound and better vocal balance.In contrast to the acoustic guitar settings of Neuwirth’s later albums, such as 1990’s impressive 99 Monkeys, this one is boogying country-rock, the quintessence of bohemian California in the 1970s. Opening track “Rock and Roll Time” is a bleary, rollicking tribute to late nights and high times. “Honky Red” is a barroom blast, although Neuwirth’s twangy vocal is just a cowboy boot step from parody. “Hero” is an orchestral weepie about second chances with a genuinely tender heart. The other voices and players on the album are a who’s who of notables, including Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, Booker T Jones, Cass Elliot and Roger McGuinn. The closing track is “Mercedes Benz”, made famous by Janis Joplin. Neuwirth wrote it with Joplin and the poet Michael McClure in a New York bar. His version has boo-hooing steel guitar and a tone of amused irony. Neuwirth never got the Benz but he deserves his dues.★★★★☆‘Bob Neuwirth’ is released by Sunset Blvd Records
