The Other Side of the Mirror - DVD Few performances in history are as legendary - or as controversial - as Bob Dylan's 1965 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. In a single, galvanizing instant, Dylan plugged an ent... more »ire generation in, forever changing not only the way the music was made, but the way it was heard. By putting you in the audience for Dylan's Newport performances from 1963 through that pivotal set in 1965, Academy Award®-winning director Murray Lerner's The Other Side Of The Mirror captures Dylan's metamorphosis from the folk family's best-kept secret to rock's fiercely confrontational poet who would electrify an entire nation and become the voice of his generation. CHAPTER LIST
All I Really Want To Do (7/24/1965) - afternoon workshop
1963
North Country Blues
With God On Our Side (with Joan Baez)
Talkin' World War III Blues
Who Killed Davey Moore?
Only A Pawn In Their Game
Blowin' In The Wind (with The Freedom Singers, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul and Mary)
1964
Mr. Tambourine Man
Johnny Cash sings Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Joan Baez sings Mary Hamilton as Bob Dylan
It Ain't Me, Babe (with Joan Baez)
With God On Our Side (with Joan Baez)
Chimes Of Freedom
1965
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Maggie's Farm (electric)
Like A Rolling Stone (electric)
Mr. Tambourine Man
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Bonus Feature: Interview with director Murray Lerner« less
"An absolutely essential addition to any Dylan aficionado's collection, since the majority of this footage is never-before-seen. The Love Minus Zero and Talkin' World War III Blues performances seen here in particular are spine-chilling.
However, since this film was for big-time Dylan fans, some of the edits are inexplicable. Some intros are left out, but there's a more serious drawback. It includes two versions of Mr. Tambourine Man: one from 1964, before the song was released, as performed during the afternoon workshop, and the other from 1965, after the infamous electric set performed in the evening. NONE of them are complete. The first is missing the third verse, while the fourth is missing the first harmonica break and the last verse. I know the producer has his reasons, like artistic integrity, but c'mon, they know who the audience for this DVD is...
Also, why couldn't the missing songs from Newport 1963 and 1964 be seen, at least via bonus tracks, in case they were worried about too much song duplication in the film itself?
But it's still an excellent time capsule and one of the best music DVD's of the year, if not the last few. The sharp criticisms are only because how important this DVD is."
Dylan the way I want to remember him
Luke A. Smucker | Chicago,IL | 10/06/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I'm not a big Bob Dylan fan, but I am a fan of great looking and sounding DVD's and this is both. There's no DTS but man, the sound is crystal clear. The video quality is amazing too. It's black and white but it doesn't look grainy. You clearly see a young Dylan playing his music the way it was meant to be played. This movie is a perfect trip down memory lane even if you were too young to remember it. If you're a Dylan fan, I promise you will love this. Its destined to become a classic."
Some Of The Best Footage Ever Shot...
Jim Jocko | Gainesville, Florida United States | 11/03/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This disc has been hyped for the famous "booing" when he went electric. My take after watching, is buy it for the first 5 songs from the 1963 section. Even though these tracks are acoustic, Dylan really showed his incredible songwriting talent. That footage will go down in history. The 1964 stuff is a step down (last 2 songs are pretty good) The famous 1965 stuff is over-rated. The jangly "Maggie's farm", is alright, but seems a little tense. "Like A Rolling Stone", is virtually flawless. Why anyone would boo that version, is beyond me. The last song, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is incredible(Crank this one up). This disc is beyond historic."
Who even thought this footage existed? Gimme More!
William E Donoghue | Healdsburg CA USA | 11/07/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've had an audio bootleg of the 1965 set for years but to see Bob Dylan with Mike Bloomfield from The Butterfield Blues Band at his early peak, the rhythm section from Howlin' Wolf's band, bassist Jerome Arnold (Billy Boy Arnold's brother) and the amazing Sam Lay (ever hear his double shuffle? the drums he played are at the Experience Music Project archives in Seattle WA -- I saw them) and organists Barry Goldberg and Al Kooper is amazing. Only The Band could meet that high standard later that year when they joined Dylan at the Hollywood Bowl. Who ever thought that this footage existed? The hint was when some of it showed up when Festival and No Direction Home was released this past year. That still begs the question of the film of the English tour that next Fall which showed up only in clips in No Direction Home. The two World Tour releases are not the official films; Murray Lerner must have those. Apparently he shot the Fall 1965 electic/acoustic tour while D. A. Pennebaker shot the Don't Look Back Spring 1965 tour if I am right. The logical thing, now, is to release that footage with The Band minus Levon Helm plus Micky Waller on drums. Did someone film the Carnegie Hall Concert? Anyway, it's classic music that changed the world."
Stunning
D. Evans | Cornelius, NC | 01/24/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There is no artist in rock history as analyzed as Bob Dylan. And to all the Dylanologists of the world, this grail-like DVD encapsulates the incredible, fascinating growth of Dylan from Guthrie-esque folk singer to rock star god. It's hard to believe that the Bobby Dylan of 1963 is the same (very) young man of 1965...so great is the change!
In this study of Dylan at three consecutive Newport folk festivals, we get a wealth of high-quality footage and audio showing Dylan (and Cash and Baez) at workshops and on-stage. We see his quiet humor of 1963 turn to defiant ambivalence by 1965. We get a sense of how much this man meant to this festival at this time, and in the final "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" we see a performer ready to break free and move on--regardless of whether or not others are ready to let him go. In a sense, even the B&W footage is part of the "vibe". The Dylan of Year 1 really belongs to a black & white world...it all seems right. The Dylan of 1965 begs for color, which he got soon after this performance in the still-unreleased "Eat The Document".
Long-time fans or newcomers to Dylan will find plenty to enjoy here, and there are some performances that will be returned to again and again (and again). At a time when we are being offered some very unnecessary packages ("Dylan" 3-cd set, anyone?), this is a treasure that I hope doesn't fall through the cracks. Buy it. It's worth 10x what you'll pay."