HIS BACK PAGES SEATTLE EXHIBIT FOCUSES ON DYLAN'S TUMULTUOUS FIRST DECADE.

Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor

SEATTLE - Preparing for studio sessions was a primitive process in 1966, if you were working with Bob Dylan, says organist Al Kooper.

This was before cassette tape recorders, Kooper says in an interview that is part of ``Bob Dylan's American Journey,'' a multimedia exhibit at Seattle's Experience Music Project museum. Dylan would teach Kooper a particular song and have him play it over and over until it was rote. Then, in Dylan's absence, Kooper would relay all the parts to the backup musicians.

The entire assembly would meet later that evening at a Nashville, Tenn., recording studio and lay down tracks until the wee hours.

The album they produced was the richly textured ``Blonde on Blonde.'' And Kooper contends in the interview that no other record in pop history better captures ``the feeling of 4 a.m.''

The anecdote is just one of dozens related through information panels, interviews and video clips. The focus is the formative 10-year period at the start of Dylan's career, from 1956 to '66, when he energized folk music, wrestled pop lyrics away from the cliches of moony teenage romance ... and defied compartmentalization at every turn.

``Are you going to continue doing folk-rock?'' asks an older, incorrigibly square reporter in one video clip.

``I don't do folk-rock,'' the singer responds flatly.

Among the chroniclers of music history, Dylan is a hot property these days. In a documentary that is running continuously on PBS stations these days, the genesis of his career is examined by no less a director than Martin Scorsese. The Experience Music Project's glimpse at the man and his music, meanwhile, has been on display for nearly a year, and was scheduled to wrap up last month, but the EMP extended it through April because of enthusiastic response, according to spokesman Christian-Philippe Quilici.

Among more than 150 artifacts are handwritten and even typewritten lyrics, photos, concert posters and newspaper clippings. Visitors will even find a literature theme paper written by Dylan - then known as Robert Zimmerman - when he was a schoolboy in Hibbing, Minn.

The Upper Midwest might seem the unlikeliest of crucibles for someone who would leave such a profound imprint on music, but this was the 1950s, when radio, 45-rpm records and television were causing the world to shrink. Thus did the influences of Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters and Elvis Presley find their way to north-central Minnesota.

With a name change and a new address, Dylan wove these disparate styles into his folk music in New York's Greenwich Village, and his career began to take off when collaborator and lover Joan Baez began calling him up on stage at the end of her shows. The two harmonize in one priceless black-and-white video clip in the exhibit, and Dylan sounds ... well, dreadful. But he was gaining appeal with rebellious youth precisely because his lyrics perplexed their parents and his voice sounded nothing like Pat Boone.

Dylan's reluctance to fit into a tidy box is addressed in this exhibit, but not adequately. The infamy triggered by his electrified set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival might have had more impact if a tape of the audience's boos had been included. As for the famous cry of ``Judas!'' from an audience member at a 1966 gig in Manchester, England, it was nowhere to be found.

Some intriguing revelations do come through, though. You'd think that when asked about the Beatles all those years ago, Dylan would have gravitated to the songwriting style of the brooding John Lennon. But instead he expresses admiration for the talents of Paul McCartney and his seemingly bottomless reservoir of ``Tin Pan Alley'' (Dylan's words) melodies.

Interpretations of Dylan's work are also presented here. Rock acts scrambled to record his songs in the '60s, with no apparent compulsion to be true to his original intent. The Turtles layered ``It Ain't Me, Babe'' with catchy harmonies and produced a top-40 hit. The Byrds employed 12- string electric guitars to create a jangly ``Mr. Tambourine Man,'' which spawned the folk-rock label that Dylan rejected.

One drawback to the exhibit is its cacophony - perhaps inevitable in a rock 'n' roll museum. There is an audio program ($4), which is heard through headphones. There are seven listening stations, at which music is blasted through speakers. There are three viewing stations, from which interviews and music blare. Thus it's not unusual to have multiple voices and songs competing for your ear simultaneously.

The worst offender might be a display devoted to the dozens of recordings of ``Blowin' in the Wind,'' which emerged as an anthem for the civil rights movement in the early '60s and was widely recorded after Peter, Paul and Mary made it a hit. With the punch of a button, visitors can hear recordings from a bizarre roster of artists who covered the tune: Marlene Dietrich, Stan Getz, Trini Lopez, the Hollies.

Intriguing, but it's also hard to get away from it. You might be three displays into the exhibit, and the umpteenth version of that same song is still bleeding into your headphones.

IF YOU GO

The Experience Music Project is at 325 N. Fifth Ave., in the Seattle Center (next to the Space Needle). It is currently open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Admission is $19.95 for adults, $15.95 for seniors, $14.95 for kids ages 7 to 17. The audio tour is an additional $4 for one person, $7 for two. Information: www.emplive.org; [phone].

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3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Through photos, song lyrics, memorabilia, and sound and video clips, an exhibit at the Experience Music Project explores the first 10 years of Bob Dylan's career.

(2) Did somebody lose a guitar? It might be in this giant sculpture made up of stringed instruments at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

(3) Rare memorabilia, plus sound and video clips help tell the story of Bob Dylan at the Experience Music Project.

Eric Noland/Great Escapes

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IF YOU GO (see text)