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Bob Dylan - 1966 World Tour: The Home Movies
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Bob Dylan is widely regarded as Americas greatest living popular songwriter. Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie & Hank Williams are among the few songwriters similarly revered for their enduring contributions to the American oeuvre. Much of his best known work is from the 1960s, when his musical shadow was so large that he became a documentarian & reluctant figurehead of American unrest. The civil rights movement had no more moving anthem than his song Blowin in the Wind. Millions of young people embraced his song The Times They Are A-Changin during that era of extreme change. The radical insurgent group The Weathermen named themselves after a lyric in Dylans song Subterranean Homesick Blues. More broadly, Dylan is credited with expanding the vocabulary of popular music, moving it beyond traditional boy-and-girl themes into the heady realms of politics /social commentary, philosophy & a kind of stream-of-consciousness absurdist humor that defies easy description. This allows for a rich ambiguity & plurality of meaning uncommon in song up until his appearance. Posters Of Bob DylanThis DVD has a number of strengths, but it has to be highlighted from the outset, that ostensibly it is a snapshot of Mickey Jones life. The fact that he had close involvement with Dylan during the mid 60s serves as a focal point for the DVD, but in many respects, the DVD is more interesting as an historical artifact, if we view it as a travelogue of a mans life during one of the most potent cultural epochs. Its amazing how a mans 8mm footage can render the overly familiar landmark of St Stephens Tower in London into something vital, owing to such variables as weather.
Mickey Jones has a remarkable memory of details & the DVD revealed to me some Dylan facts I was unaware of such as the fact that the Liverpool gig in 1966 was recorded with the possible intention of releasing it as a live album. He also espouses an interesting theory regarding the identity of the person who responded Play f**king loud at the Manchester Free Trade Hall concert on 17th May 1966. This was previously considered to be Dylan or one of the band members, Jones suggests one of the stagehands caught up in the tension of the moment. He may be wrong, but then again its a theory that is intriguing.
The extras on the DVD are fairly limited. You can access photos of the tour, some of which are not that familiar & capture Dylan during his most powerful & alienated moments. He appears totally in control at times yet sidelined by his own ambition. The time gap between fades from one photo to the next is a little bit too long for my liking & it may have been nice if the photos had been thumbnailed to enable easier access to the photos we wanted to see. But its good that they are there too.
The DVDs greatest weakness is the soundtrack, which is provided by Highway 61 Revisited, a Dylan tribute band. I imagine that the DVD producers could not obtain permission to use material from the 1966 tour or simply this was impossible due to cost, but it does detract slightly from the DVD. Fortunately, though the majority of the Manchester Free Trade Hall heckle & retorts are there for the viewers enjoyment.
To conclude, this is not a DVD to replay constantly, but it is an interesting exploration of a mans life & it does reveal facts about Dylan that may well be true . Mickey Jones whoopee finger is also a highlight of this DVD. To see that you have to get the DVD!