Who caught the Dylan documentary on BBC tonight?

HarryHoudini

One of the best things I've seen in ages.
I havent listened to him in a while but this has just inspired me to break out all my old Dylan albums and finally import them into iTunes.
Pure f*cking class all the way.

Second part is on tomorrow. Can't wait..........

John

I saw some of it and I have to say I found it terribly uninteresting. Some of the archive footage was good, especially the interviews with punters after he "sold out". It didn't hold my attention though, I much prefered reading his book.

HarryHoudini

I actually found it the other way around, thought his book was woeful.....

DadaKopf

His book's just one big lie. Tonight's programme is half a lie.

For the record: I was blown away.

I wonder if Scorsese will give himself a cameo like in the Last Waltz. I'm divided on the issue: he'd blow it if he did, but he's so funny.

John

DadaKopf wrote:

His book's just one big lie. Tonight's programme is half a lie.

But is the truth interesting?

Tony Wilson wrote:

when the truth gets in the way of the legend, print the legend.

Amazotheamazing

Did Dylan not tell us "all the truth in the world adds up to one big lie?"
Loved the book, surprisingly modest for a living legend (as in a "I wrote some songs, some people read too much into them" kinda way).

lordgoat

i liked about 40mins of it, thought there was way too much crap in places, i'm sorry but all i was interested in was Dylan and his music and not the time or the other people knocking around. Would have like to have heard more on his relationship with woody guthrie. When i think back on it, he was really very evasive on alot of topics and there was alof unexplored for me, and alot of stuff i heard but couldn't care less about.

I don't think it's anywhere near as good as the last waltz, but then what could measure up to that?

munky

AAHH BOLLOX!I missed it, and I really wanted to see it!Newsnight gave it a great review.

DadaKopf

lordgoat wrote:

i liked about 40mins of it, thought there was way too much crap in places, i'm sorry but all i was interested in was Dylan and his music and not the time or the other people knocking around. Would have like to have heard more on his relationship with woody guthrie. When i think back on it, he was really very evasive on alot of topics and there was alof unexplored for me, and alot of stuff i heard but couldn't care less about.

I don't think it's anywhere near as good as the last waltz, but then what could measure up to that?

I've really gotten bored with the Last Waltz. I dunno, I love the band and all, and it's a great rock documentary, but it's cinematic.

No Direction Home is more of a DVD documentary. I really disagree with you about the background info being boring or uninteresting. If anything, it adds to Dylan's music. I mean, Dylan's songs are wildly open to reinterpretation but it's nice to understand the songs in relation to the direct influences on his songs. Now I appreciate his early songs more than ever because I know they have universal appeal despite them having a very concrete origin.

Any I'd never heard of Odetta or that Niles guy before, but now I'm hooked.

Open your mind, maaan.

youcancallmeal

random link

Closing Doors

What really amused me were the fans complaining he'd sold out and become a "pop act"....these days we have Crazy Frog & the like, what I wouldn't give to have such a high quality music scene that we could just dismiss Bob Dylan as shallow rubbish :rolleyes:

youcancallmeal

watched the final bit tonight, it was quite interesting watch but very random in places. In the end though it didnt really do much to explain more about the man behind the music just more about the whole dylan goes electric incident.

Opinions anyone?

Gross Halfwit

I saw a bit of the second part last night. In some of the interviews he seems really modest regarding his work and would'nt play ball with the little stoner reporters searching for meaning in his songs.

I like him.

DadaKopf

Closing Doors wrote:

What really amused me were the fans complaining he'd sold out and become a "pop act"....these days we have Crazy Frog & the like, what I wouldn't give to have such a high quality music scene that we could just dismiss Bob Dylan as shallow rubbish :rolleyes:

By that stage, Dylan *was* a pop act. But he didn't go looking for it. Thing is, though, a lot of his songs at that stage were the product of alcohol, weed and speed.

In a way, it was a strange documentary because it didn't ask his fellow musicians about his music - how he changed the music. And his relationship with Joan Baez and his love affair with drugs weren't mentioned at all, really. Whenever these were dealt with, the audience had to try hard to join up the dots.

Watching the second programme, Dylan reminded me of the brothers Gallagher for some reason. (I know there's no real comparison but...) There was a sense about Dylan at that time that he was so cocksure he could churn any oul' crap out. I've never really like Highway 61 Revisited for some reason, and I guess now I know why.

But this is OK, because while he may have been so doped up he lost his self-critical faculties, he completely changed musical aesthetics. He pissed off music journos, especially the ones who have never heard his music (!), he pissed off his fans and did what he wanted, genuinely made a musical sound that never existed before, took loads of drugs and made this part of his music because, as a sort of erstwhile Beat, drugs were part of his poetry, then he made his songs really, really long, like a TS Eliot poem or something. I guess he latched onto this aspect of the 60s counterculture. Everyone was pushing out boundaries, breaking them down, getting high.

So, to me, even if half his songs from this era were crap, the documentary gave me a new appreciation of the way he revolutionised the rock aesthetic, which still excites me. Just the *sound* of the music is enough for me, even if the lyrics don't matter. And that's an interesting part of what he did, too.