Bob Dylan at Newport DVD review

In a departure from my usual rants and blogs I'd thought I'd give a review of the new DVD I just purchased which is Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival from 1963-1965 called The Other Side of the Mirror. I have always been a fan of the early Bob Dylan ever since he first came out, but haven't followed him for the last 20 years or so. I can still see my parents wincing every time I played his records with his scratchy, out of tune wavering voice. Now when I view these early recordings I find myself doing the wincing, particularly pronouced is when he does All I really Want to Do" when he sings "ALLLL Ah reallly want to do-o-o-o-o-o-o (in a high falsetto voice then lowering to deep bassy voice) "is baby bee fraannds with yewww" (be friends with you). He sounds much better on his studio recordings than these live performances though in later years he matured much more and does sound better in person. He does nice versions on his softer ballads though such as "It's all Over Now Baby Blue" and "Love Minus Zero No Limit" both from 1965.

Beings a writer myself I have always had an interest in Bob's talented way of juxtapositioning words and making words and putting phrases and thoughts together that don't make sense and making them sound like they are making sense. This is prevalent in the haunting love ballad "Love Minus Zero No Limit." That title alone is enough to make one say "WHAATTT?" One verse is a typical example saying: The bridge at midnight trembles/the country doctor rambles/bankers' neices seek perfection/expecting all the gifts that wise men bring/Some speak of the future/my love she speaks softly/she knows there's no success like failure/and failure's no succes at all./ See what I mean? A juxtaposition of words indeed. The song ends with just as mystifying and poeticly beautiful words 'The wind howls like a hammer/ the night blows cold and rainy/my love is like some raven/at my window with a broken wing." This video is interesting to watch with Dylan singing outside with trees blowing in back of him. It would be an even better effect if he were singing 'Blowing in the Wind"at the time.

Dylan has always been an enigma of sorts throughout his life,marching to his own drummer and constantly confounding his fans and critics. He's gone from being an avowed atheist to orthodox jew,to born again Christian, from being left leaning poet to right wing conservative and always making his music to fit his moods at the time. As Irish folk singer Tom Pacheco says in his excellent song about Dylan, "Always changing horses, but never changing streams." Yes that describes Bob alright.

Bob has always gone from the subliminal tothe sublime as in his Talking World War 111 Blues " where he dreams about walking around after WW111. One time ago a crazy dream came to me/I dreamt I was walking in World War Three/I went to the doctor the very next day/to see what kind of words he had to say/he said it was a bad dream./ I said now hold on doc a world war passed thru my brain/he said nurse grab your pad the boys insane./ The song goes on to hilariously describe his views of a world war aftermath and ends with the doctor saying "Hey I've been having the same old dream/ only I dreamt the only one left after the war was me/I didn't see you around. To which Bob replies Now time has passed and now it seems/everyone is having them dreams/everyone sees himself walking around with noone else./ It's a good DVD for anyone interested in the early Dylan Newport years. There is even a little interview with folk singer Joan Baez who was very close to Dylan at the time and Dylan singing "Blowing in the Wind" on stage with Baez, Pete Seeger and Peter Paul and Mary. It's filmed in black and white and approximately 83 minutes. Check it out. :)