Bob Dylan - 1975-1981 Rolling Thunder and The Gospel Years
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Movie Reviews of Bob Dylan - 1975-1981 Rolling Thunder and The Gospel Years
Movie Review: Spend your MOney ON the Cd's
Summary: 2 Stars
This is only for people who don't want to take the time to listen to Dylan's Cd's form this peiod. Buy the book's about the Rolling Thunder & Gospel years.This DVD will leave you wishing you spent your money on something better.Movie Review: Objective and informative, but for hardcore fans or historians only
Summary: 2 Stars
This DVD is best reserved only for the hardest core of those Dylan fans who are already familiar with the Dylan material covered herein. Perhaps even, only those lifelong Dylan fans (like myself) who actually experienced these concerts firsthand. Be aware, this DVD is totally devoid of any actual Dylan music, and very sparse on Dylan concert footage (also muted or hidden by voiceovers). This film is a historical, retrospective investigation into a very specific period of Dylan's output, and consists mainly of talking heads (read: interview intensive) sharing their personal experiences and insights about the period. The film does succeed at being journalistically objective and informative. However, one does have to question how much respect the publisher has for Dylan, given some of the hideously unflattering photos of Mr. Dylan and the poorly conceived artwork derived from them, which are used as transitions or illustrations or editing devices. The photo gallery has a few truly exceptional photos of Dylan, but again, devolves into someone's very poorly executed digital "art" derived from photos of Dylan.Movie Review: Only Diehard Dylan Fanatics Will Sit Through This
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm one so I did...
This thing is four hours long and some of it is pretty hard to take.
We see Dylan impersonator Joel Gilbert traipsing about the country apparently also attempting to impersonate a journalist. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
The use of primitive and amateurish graphic effects during the interviews is unbelievably annoying. A yellow rubber ducky swims across the screen quacking to illuminate Reuben Carter's comment that he took to boxing "like a duck takes to water". When he mentions that boxing was a profession for which he was paid, hundred dollar bills flash before our eyes. As Gilbert asks Carter the deep question "what percentage of boxing is psychology?" the image of Sigmund Freud appears and disappears.
Enough already! And at this point we are only a few minutes into this four hour marathon.
Those true diehards who are able to keep on keeping on are eventually rewarded with some interesting perspectives. Claudia Levy describes theatrical aspects and the staging of the Rolling Thunder concerts. Scarlet Rivera shares in her own words the oft repeated story of Dylan discovering her as she was walking down a Manhattan street with nothing to distinguish her but her violin case and her exotic appearance. Rob Stoner talks about his role maintaining order in the recording studio and on tour...
But it is the interviews from the period of Dylan's conversion to Christianity and its aftermath that are most interesting. Vineyard Christian Fellowship pastor Bill Dwyer describes Dylan as a student in his Bible study class. San Francisco Chronicle writer Joel Selvin characterizes the betrayal felt by many fans blindsided by the Christian content of the 1979 tour. Legendary producer Jerry Wexler speaks to the musical excellence of Slow Train Coming. And back up singer Regina McCrary resonates as she gives glory to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the middle of it all.
Too bad that at the end we must put up with the blather of self proclaimed Dylanologist AJ Weberman. The inclusion of the opinions of Weberman, who made it his business to sift through Dylan's garbage in the Village in the early 70's, adds nothing of value and certainly underscores that this is, in fact, a "totally unauthorized documentary".
Movie Review: BREAKING NEW GROUND !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Have ever wanted to be a "fly on the wall" during some historical events that you feel unexplainedly interested in or drawn to? This is what watching this DVD was like for me. Let's face it, we're interested because we are Dylan fans, and most of us have read at least one biography about the man. This is like the next step closer...where the cast comes off of the pages!
This document is an outing, a journey. We travel with Joel Gilbert to research the history (the interview with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is worth the price of admission alone !). The beauty is that it is not a retreading of where we have already been. Gilbert sets out and accomplishes the task of breaking new ground. This accomplishment is due, at least in part, to the process. It is refreshingly candid. Rather than riding a rigid course, there is a certain freedom and spontanaeity about it all. Gilbert never clenches the wheel; instead he keeps a loose grip at all times and the same is felt from all of his subjects. Thus, what might have been deemed as an interview flows like a topical discussion with a tenaciously shared enthusiasm as Dylan is discussed as both an artist and human being.
At a generous 240 minutes, this film bulldozes straight ahead, forward, steering clear of the pitfalls of redundancy. The presentation is colorful and intelligently navigated ; a clever sense of humor as well as direction allows the viewer to remain comfortable, yet engaged throughout. To all Dylan fans, I recommend you take this journey with Joel Gilbert, I bet you'll find yourself returning again, and again.
Movie Review: A very valuable work for serious Dylan students
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, I've seen all 5 hours on both discs, and all I can say is WOW. The work Joel Gilbert put into it is obvious, and although it is an unauthorized biography and therefore Gilbert didn't have access to the clips from Dylan's performances that the Scorsese biography displays, it will undoubtedly become definitive source material for any serious future researcher of Dylan's life and work during this period.
It starts off somewhat slowly, but as the DVD leaves the Rolling Thunder era and enters the Gospel phase you begin to realize what a full sense of what was happening in Dylan's life is being cumulatively created. The Gospel section really tells a very credible story, maybe because the interviewees are generally more vibrant personalities than the ones in the Rolling Thunder section. Regina McCrary was a surprisingly good interviewee, and Jerry Wexler and Joel Selvin are hoots! All their segments were great fun to watch. Even A.J. Weberman ranting away toward the end was entertaining, although what he was saying about the content of the songs didn't make any sense to me :-) Dwyer, Kasha and Glaser all filled important backgrounder roles, although I wished Kasha and Dwyer had spoken much more about their personal encounters with Bob and somewhat less about generic born-again Christian themes. Yet it's also important for the documentary to address those themes, because they help explain Dylan's behavior and his effect on those around him. The piece where Glaser describes his conversation about Dylan with Bill Graham, and the one where Selvin talks about his wife getting a phone call from Dylan, are both gems. Spooner Oldham is not as scintillating a personality in his interview as some of the others. But I appreciated his being in there to give the perspective "from the band".
I don't mean any of the foregoing comments to take away from the Rolling Thunder section, which is also very good. But Dylan's life is like a puzzle, and until there are enough pieces put together you don't get the sense of seeing the whole thing. The sense you get from the Rolling Thunder piece is of Dylan SEARCHING. He's getting involved with Hurricane Carter, trying out all these "roles" on stage, filming everything, bringing people into and out of the show (Ramblin' Jack Elliott's disappointment at the way he was treated before the '76 RTR tour really came through), confronting Joan Baez vs. Sara (which I'm surprised there were not more comments about from the other interviewees), making -- or not making -- the chaotic band arrangements that Rob Stoner describes so well, etc. I thought there was probably a little too much Hurricane Carter in there, but he's a very good interviewee. Claudia Levy was fascinating to me; watching her made me wish Gilbert had been able to interview her husband Jacques. Comparing her versions of reality to those of Ramblin' Jack and Stoner and Scarlett Rivera really made the narrative come alive. Scarlett Rivera, by the way, is a very interesting interviewee in her own right. But the sense you get out of the Gospel section is of Dylan FINDING ... which then gives that section a kind of clarity that by its very nature can't be achieved in the Rolling Thunder section, where he's still searching.
The extensive use of the animated graphics was an innovative attempt to break up the "talking-head" monontony. At times I thought there were too many of them, vs. still shots of Dylan doing the shows, or still shots of the interviewee back at the time being discussed, which a more conventional documentary would have used. But the graphics always were relevant to the discussion in the interviews. The changing of the camera angles on the interviews and switching from color to B&W was done quite professionally. Gilbert has excellent interviewing skills as well. How he got these folks to say some of the things they said was rather incredible. Finally, I really liked the menus - the way the scene selection menu was put together with the turning pages was visually excellent. I know something about DVD authoring, and I know stuff like that takes a lot of extra work to make it look as good as it does on this disc set.