Introduction
Of course I did know who Bob Dylan is for a long time. But last summer it was the first time I did listen to a Dylan song actively. We were sitting at friends house, and he suddenly started rummaging around in his collection of Vinyl records and picked out Boy Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” LP, which is believed to be the first double album in the rock and roll genre. So we did listen to that original mono pressing and I have to admit that I was really amazed by Dylan’s music, which I considered to be pretty old fashioned and antiquated. I was very delighted to hear that Martin Scorsese is doing a documentary about Bob Dylan, and did watch this documentary yesterday .
The Documentary
The film is called “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan”, is 225min long and split in two parts which aired on PBS.
The movie shows some uncovering interviews recently made with Bob Dylan. It basically covers the years between 1960, when Dylan appeared in the public, and 1966 when he did not tour for about eight years after having a motorcycle accident.
It also has a wealth of interview with people who knew him at that time, like, for istance, Baez, Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger or Liam Clancy, but also a lot of live footage is provided including the famous “Judas shout“at his “Royal Albert Hall” concert in 1966, when a folk fan shouted “Judas” and Dylan answered “I don’t believe you! You’re a liar!“ and motivated the band to „Play it fucking loud“. This leads to another important point in Dylan’s career which is covered by the documentary.
Dylan, which became famous by writing folk songs and playing these traditionally on an acoustic guitar started to become more and more “rock and roll” and moved on to the electric guitar, which many of his die-hard folk fans could not forgive him. But this is what distinguishes Dylan from other musicians. He just does not care what the people think about his music, he just want to make his music and, at that time, his protest songs. This is shown very clear in some quite funny and amusing footage, which shows Dylan in press conferences giving some stupid answers to journalist who, from his point of view, ask stupid questions.
Personal Opinion
I want to strongly advise everyone who is into music and likes to know more about the person Bob Dylan and also the time which is covered by the documentary to buy the DVD. Scorsese created an excellent and interesting portrait of Bob Dylan mixed with fascinating footage.
And even if you just want to see Dylan at work I can recommend you the DVD. Starting from his part in opening for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, to his “ Royal Albert Hall” performance of “Like a Rolling Stone” you can find lots of appearances.