 WHEN the metronomes were swinging in the parlours of piano tutors in suburban England, a fine-boned, blue-eyed boy, with fewer bristles on his chin than a tramp's toothbrush, was spinning stories in New York about his days riding the freight trains, digging the earth and writing songs. Those who had been rubbed raw by life saw straightaway that he had a vivid way of romanticising his past. Some thought he was a troubadour, a prophet of a new age, even if he did draw unashamedly from the works of others. But nobody predicted then that this Robert Allen Zimmerman, who called himself Bob Dylan, would become one of the most revered figures of the 20th century. Now he has an entire encyclopaedia devoted to him and his work and it is a bag-burster of a book, running to 736 pages with 850 entries, making it longer than many histories of the Great War but shorter than most histories of the world. It was written by Michael Gray, who remembers the teenage thrill of drinking frothy coffee while the juke box trembled in Oliveri's cafe, opposite Hamilton Square railway station, Birkenhead. "Naturally, though, it is Bob Dylan's art that is the heart of the book: it is his art that has got inside our heads, has changed the world around us and justified his being paid so much attention," writes Michael, 59, in the preface. Well, the art certainly has a favoured spot in the grizzled head of this old boy of Birkenhead School, who rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the publication of his acclaimed critical appraisal of Dylan, Song and Dance Man. For many it remains a masterful analysis of the subject and in 1999 it appeared in a hugely extended third edition, Song and Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan. After its original publication, Michael gave up work as a teacher and became a writer. He has written numerous articles, a biography of Frank Zappa and co-authored The Elvis Atlas: A Journey Through Elvis Presley's America (1996). So his credentials as a rock music critic are high. Such a choice of career would not have been on the list when first he wore the black blazer and red badge of Birkenhead School (motto: Beati Mundo Corde: Blessed are the pure in heart), before the social changes of the 1960s, the decade so influenced by the music of the Beatles, Kinks, Rolling Stones and Beach Boys. In Michael's opinion, Dylan now stands above them all. | 
