No Direction Home
I thought I'd have to write this review from memory since I just sent my copy back to Blockbuster, but nooo, I'm now watching it on PBS at 4am. For those of you without insomnia but with TiVo, this is a good way to go unless you're a Dylan freak. There's no commentary track on the DVD anyway.
I've posted about Dylan before and the mystic way he has of expressing himself, both musically and verbally. This becomes more evident as he ages... he sages. I feel like he's channeling Martin Luther King saying, "I've been to the mountaintop and I care about telling people about pain and how much better we could be doing." But then Bob's eyes go on to add, "and you can call me a genius or idolize me but you'd be a lot better off just absorbing my simple message".
Although I've always appreciated Dylan as a brilliant poet, and seen him both with and without the Dead in concert, great concerts... he's never been one of my favorite singers (and they even went into how bad he sounded relative to predecessors) and folk music is, ok, I'll just say it, too fucking white for me.
One of the best parts of the DVD is Mavis Staples saying, "What do you mean, 'call me a man', what do you know about it?" but she goes on to say, and I go on to learn through this film, what artistic expression is about. He was building on a traditional artform that was essentially, white boy blues. I mean when this music originated in Europe, times weren't so great. A lot of white people have been downtrodden too.
So, even though I'd rather suck on chalk than listen to some of this old crap, Dylan, I can listen to. Why? He modernized it. He played an important role in extending the life of this very old, outdated music. He created bridges between that and the Beat and Socialist movements, which were also in full force in NY at that post-war time and then blended all that with an awareness of what was going on down south with the civil rights movement. Let's face it, folk music was first on the scene there.
Don't forget that so much folk music was never recorded. I mean, that's pretty much the point. This is the music of the people, a way that poor people, without other modes of communication, can discuss and spread the issues of the day to raise people's awareness... to empower them. Folk music has truly been an important way of spreading the word, like Gospel, and Bob Dylan has played a huge role in that regard.
His contribution to the way music approached the anti-war movement can't be overestimated. Like Lennon, he smiles behind those eyes and takes little credit. He's a medium, the words just come to him. Words can be very powerful. And in the hands of Bob Dylan, who found the perfect format for his, they can truly change the world. Although I faulted Rolling Stone for picking the eponymous Like a Rolling Stone as the best song of all time, it certainly deserves a prominent place, as do a number of his other songs.
I've posted about Dylan before and the mystic way he has of expressing himself, both musically and verbally. This becomes more evident as he ages... he sages. I feel like he's channeling Martin Luther King saying, "I've been to the mountaintop and I care about telling people about pain and how much better we could be doing." But then Bob's eyes go on to add, "and you can call me a genius or idolize me but you'd be a lot better off just absorbing my simple message".
Although I've always appreciated Dylan as a brilliant poet, and seen him both with and without the Dead in concert, great concerts... he's never been one of my favorite singers (and they even went into how bad he sounded relative to predecessors) and folk music is, ok, I'll just say it, too fucking white for me.
One of the best parts of the DVD is Mavis Staples saying, "What do you mean, 'call me a man', what do you know about it?" but she goes on to say, and I go on to learn through this film, what artistic expression is about. He was building on a traditional artform that was essentially, white boy blues. I mean when this music originated in Europe, times weren't so great. A lot of white people have been downtrodden too.
So, even though I'd rather suck on chalk than listen to some of this old crap, Dylan, I can listen to. Why? He modernized it. He played an important role in extending the life of this very old, outdated music. He created bridges between that and the Beat and Socialist movements, which were also in full force in NY at that post-war time and then blended all that with an awareness of what was going on down south with the civil rights movement. Let's face it, folk music was first on the scene there.
Don't forget that so much folk music was never recorded. I mean, that's pretty much the point. This is the music of the people, a way that poor people, without other modes of communication, can discuss and spread the issues of the day to raise people's awareness... to empower them. Folk music has truly been an important way of spreading the word, like Gospel, and Bob Dylan has played a huge role in that regard.
His contribution to the way music approached the anti-war movement can't be overestimated. Like Lennon, he smiles behind those eyes and takes little credit. He's a medium, the words just come to him. Words can be very powerful. And in the hands of Bob Dylan, who found the perfect format for his, they can truly change the world. Although I faulted Rolling Stone for picking the eponymous Like a Rolling Stone as the best song of all time, it certainly deserves a prominent place, as do a number of his other songs.
posted by Intervision at 4:15 AM
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