What immediately strikes you about this newly repackaged version of D.A. Pennebaker's landmark documentary film on Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England is just how cool the package actually is. It comes in a gorgeous box which folds out into a gatefold of sorts, housing two DVDs with graphics that look like little film cannisters. It also has a couple of pockets containing two of the great little extras that come with this set.
First, there's a cute little cigarette lighter sized "flipbook" of the original "Subterranean Homesick Blues" film. This recreates the film by flipping through it's pages in "old school" animation style. The larger side pocket however contains the real find here—a paperback book containing tons of photos and stills from the film, along with it's complete transcript. So for those Dylan fans prone to analyzing the man's every word, you now have the ability to follow the dialog, even as you watch the film.
But it gets even better.
A second one hour DVD contains rare, never before seen footage (including many scenes taken from the original negatives) excluded from the final cut of the film. This includes many near complete live performances of songs from the '65 tour. If ever there was a complaint about the original Don't Look Back film (not that there are or ever were too many complaints about it), it was the frustrating cutaways from these pivotal performances.
The original Don't Look Back is, of course, a landmark in the way it so uniquely captures one of the sixties generation's truest icons at what can only be described as an iconoclastic moment in time. Only one other rock documentary film from the same period—the Rolling Stones Gimmie Shelter -- documents history no one seemed aware of at the time, as raw and nakedly as this film does (and in the Stones' case, ever so darkly).
In the decades since, several films have of course been made or otherwise come to light which reveal more about the notoriously guarded Dylan. Most notably, there is of course Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home, a film which remarkably verifies much of what had been previously regarded by many as myth (somebody really did cry "Judas" when Dylan went electric). More recently, the Dylan Speaks DVD of an infamous San Francisco press conference reveals Dylan letting his notorious guard down in some rare moments of candor (and even humor).
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
I wonder if Dylan ever watches these DVDs, and if he does, what does he think of them? - which would be a DVD in itself.
2 - Glen Boyd
Thanx Mr. Mosquito. Detached as Mr. Z often seems, I simply cannot fathom that large of an ego resisting for even one mimute an opportunity to see his own image on screen, so I bet you even money that he does watch his own videos.
Thanx for the comment and I look ever so forward to commenting on your own soon to be seen and read articles here at the mighty BC.
-Glen
3 - Mary Strawberry
Do you know Bob Dylan? If not how would you know how big his ego is. By todays standards I think he was pretty mellow, seems like a nice enough guy to me. Joan Baez is still like a woman scorned and if he latched on to some to further his career who are we to judge many have latched on to his fame in the past.
Just enjoy the man for the genius he is. Are the political issues any different today? I think not. Resurrect each and every "protest" song and start something happening now.
Or just ignore Bob Dylan.
Me, I love Bob Dylan and I should hope he watched the tape. We take pictures of ourselves and look at them and we are mere mortals he is a prophet in my eyes.