Bob Dylan...

A few shows or repeats marking said birthday:

Tomorrow Is A Long Time - Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan
Inspired by lockdown, and that long new song he released last year, Chrissie gets her groove on. I liked the fact she seemed to mainly choose less obvious songs from his repertoire (Blind Willie McTell was about as 'obvious' as the project got).

Tangled Up With Dylan - The Ballad of AJ Weberman
This 2010 effort introduced the world of AJ Weberman, a tiresome berk who invented "garbology", or rifling through the bin bags of the talented. This may seem a semantic or philosophical matter, but AJ seemed to work on the principle that once the bin bag is waiting for collection, then it's up for grabs until it's collected. Dylanology was his other claim to lexicographic legend. David Peel, a musician of some gift, was AJ's main friend, but to be honest, the smartest person in the whole film was AJ's pug. And that includes taped phone conversations with Bob Dylan himself.

Omnibus: Getting to Dylan
In 1986, he made Hearts On Fire, a film project. Here, Christopher Sykes tries to get an interview with the great man, and surprisingly does. Bob sketches his interviewer in the process. He mainly rejects the ideas that Sykes puts to him, talks about how machines makes music, and that music is sounding samey. He mentions security risks, and fans who claim association to try and get close to him. The piece rounds off when the train reaches Toronto, and Dylan signs autographs and poses for photos until the crowd gets too big. Quite a fun little cameo.

Masked and Anonymous
A 2003 film, written by and starring Bob Dylan, as Jack Fate, a faded star brought out of jail to play a benefit concert. The music is generally good, and the cast list is starry. Whether the plot quite justifies it all is another matter.

misery guts wrote:Music Icons: The Band
How an American (Levon Helm) and some Canadians got together as a scratch backing band, and as Robbie Robertson was one of them, they develop their own identity. Bob Dylan helped them out, and they in turn helped him, backing him on tour around 1966, when he had "gone electric". They made a great debut Music From Big Pink, but after a few years were facing familiar problems with drugs and band control. They rejoined Dylan in the mid-70s for a while. Martin Scorsese directed their last concert, which became The Last Waltz. Robertson left, and then the band struggled on. They made the R&R HoF in 1994.

Once Were Brothers - Robbie Robertson & The Band
How Robbie joined Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, and then through line-up changes, slowly turned into The Band, who toured with Bob Dylan, to crowd revulsion, but once they'd made a few hit albums, their touring was better received. But line-up issues developed (mainly about drugs), and The Last Waltz was never meant to be the end. Robbie and his wife were both interviewed, but other members existed in archive chats. A great many other musicians, from Springsteen to Clapton, to Van Morrison and Peter Gabriel, all spoke warmly about them.

He's rejected the allegation. I did wonder why leave it so long, though.

misery guts wrote:
Tomorrow Is A Long Time - Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan
Inspired by lockdown, and that long new song he released last year, Chrissie gets her groove on. I liked the fact she seemed to mainly choose less obvious songs from his repertoire (Blind Willie McTell was about as 'obvious' as the project got).

The album was released last month and peaked at #47 apparently.

The Other Side of the Mirror - Bob Dylan : Newport 1963-1965
Performance and related footage from the famous folk festival; mainly Bob himself. Sometimes with guests like Joan Baez, and sometimes folk like Johnny Cash singing his praises and then singing one of his songs. Nicer to see the less familiar numbers like Who Killed Davey Moore alongside the very familiar.

He's another act selling off his catalogue, or in his case, his masters, to Sony.

Auction larks as a recent re-recording of Blowin' in the Wind made £1.5 million yesterday.

Bob Dylan - After The Crash 1966-1978
A quite lengthy "unofficial" account, running from John Wesley Harding through to Street Legal, encompassing 8 albums, his film debut, a novel, landmark festival shows, various tours, divorce and so on. Various journalists, and even people who worked on his albums and tours with him were all cheery about working with him, and even the rapscallion AJ Weberman seemed at peace with his brush with greatness. His prodigiousness writing put most others to shame.

Bob Dylan - Odds and Ends
An amusing round-up from 2021, with an interview with his early manager Ron Silver, a couple of rare videos, and features on the Basement Tapes, and some bootleg experiences outside of his work with the Band. Also his country dalliances and mutual respect for Johnny Cash. Also discussions on where a couple of early album covers were shot. His creative profligacy was a recurring theme, and his methodologies too.

He's had a minor scandal recently when items which purported to have been signed by him turned out to be have been done by some machine process instead. He did apologise profusely though.

In lighter news, a fresh interview suggests a fondness for interminable UK soap opera Coronation Street, which supposedly reminds him of home. That doesn't sound good for the people of Duluth, but Corrie's producers have welcomed any desire he might show for a cameo.

He recently released a new album, Shadow Kingdom, which only peaked in the UK at #14. It's a soundtrack album which features re-recordings of 13 tracks.

misery guts wrote:He recently released a new album, Shadow Kingdom, which only peaked in the UK at #14. It's a soundtrack album which features re-recordings of 13 tracks.

Shadow Kingdom - The Early Songs of Bob Dylan
A short-ish concert from Marseille, in which Bob did indeed perform many of his early tracks, and very nice it was too.