World Tour 1966: The Home Movies
Picture: B- Sound: B Extras: D Film: B-
By the title alone most
people might not know what this DVD is suppose to be and even at glancing at
the cover and seeing Bob Dylan it might be a tad more confusing. The essential idea behind this is to take
Dylan’s drummer Mickey Jones camera footage from 1966 and put it together in a
type of documentary, but what happens instead is unexpected. Mickey Jones becomes more the target of the
material, which is a decent change since so much has been said about Bob Dylan
in general. Here we are given a chance
to see things from a different perspective altogether.
Jones was not just a
drummer for Bob Dylan, but also worked with musicians such as those in The
Band, Johnny Rivers, and even Kenny Rogers and the New Edition. This is all long before he would pursue his
acting career, which includes small roles in films from National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sling
Blade, and Drop Zone. Not to mention various roles in commercials
and as a small addition in certain episodes of Home Improvement.
The program runs slightly
different than one might expect, which is fine because this way we are given
insight as we move along similar to sitting with someone as they narrate their
own home movies. The case here is that
the footage we watch from the 1966 World Tour is segmented by each country that
was visited and Jones talks about certain aspects of each place. In between sections we are then taken to
footage of Jones in his studio watching the material where the program becomes
more like an interview. Stills, stock
footage, and Jones himself become the attraction.
From a visual standpoint
the presentation is rather good considering all the material that has been
pieced together. Most of the footage is
8mm or videotape, but it all equates to a nice full-frame look with some black
and white and color sequences. Even
Jones himself was surprised at how well the old 8mm footage held up over so
many years. Most of the footage contains
either Bob Dylan or The Band, but there are also segments with Chuck Berry,
Johnny Rivers, and The Beatles, but nothing major. Some consumers might be misled into thinking
that this is a concert, which it is not.
The audio option is a very
strong Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which is done well for this type of
material. Background music includes such
classic tracks as All Along the
Watchtower, Like a Rolling Stone, and Highway
61 Revisited, but these could have been brought forth stronger in order to
give the listener some material besides just talking. For 91 minutes we are subject to all this
chatting about these awesome musicians and even get a mixture of their songs,
but that only makes me itchy to start jamming to it.
Depending on what your
expectations might be this could be one little treasure you have been seeking
about Bob Dylan or other artists; it could turn out to be disappointing though
if you are expecting a concert like that of the Royal Albert 1966, which
remains the only commercial live Bob Dylan release to date. Those with open minds though might find this
far more interested than imagined and if nothing else learns a lot on the way.
- Nate Goss
