Bob Dylan 1941-66: Tales from a Golden Age (2004)
*** (out of 4)
Another in a long string of unauthorized documentaries covering various stages of Bob Dylan's career. This one here picks up in Dylan's birthplace and follows him to Hibbing, MN and then his long track to New York City where he would start off in small clubs and eventually get a record deal. If you're looking for a documentary that features tons of music clips, interviews with Dylan and stuff like that then you're going to be disappointed. If you're a die-hard fan who wants to know everything they can about the man then this will appeal to you for a number of reasons. Some of the most interesting moments come from the interviews with Larry Fabbro, BJ Rolfzen, Mick Dwyer and Dennis Flynn, three friends and an English teacher who knew Dylan back when he was a kid in MN. They tell stories about his shyness as well as go into details about his talent show concert, which many believe was the first time he played for public eyes. From here we learn about his Little Richard influence and then his turn into the Woody Guthrie type of folk music. Again, if you're just a general fan then it's probably doubtful that you're going to enjoy hearing these small stories about Dylan. Die-hard fans such as myself should enjoy hearing these stories of Dylan growing up in Minnesota and the impact he began to have once arriving in New York. The interviews with the friends are all quite good as well as the stuff with the likes of Clinton Heylin (Dylan expert), Art D'Lugoff, Derek Barker (Isis Magazine) and Paul Colby (owner The Bitter End). The documentary goes up to the first couple of albums as we hear about how Dylan started to change the type of music he was doing and hearing about several other influences that helped create his style.
*** (out of 4)
Another in a long string of unauthorized documentaries covering various stages of Bob Dylan's career. This one here picks up in Dylan's birthplace and follows him to Hibbing, MN and then his long track to New York City where he would start off in small clubs and eventually get a record deal. If you're looking for a documentary that features tons of music clips, interviews with Dylan and stuff like that then you're going to be disappointed. If you're a die-hard fan who wants to know everything they can about the man then this will appeal to you for a number of reasons. Some of the most interesting moments come from the interviews with Larry Fabbro, BJ Rolfzen, Mick Dwyer and Dennis Flynn, three friends and an English teacher who knew Dylan back when he was a kid in MN. They tell stories about his shyness as well as go into details about his talent show concert, which many believe was the first time he played for public eyes. From here we learn about his Little Richard influence and then his turn into the Woody Guthrie type of folk music. Again, if you're just a general fan then it's probably doubtful that you're going to enjoy hearing these small stories about Dylan. Die-hard fans such as myself should enjoy hearing these stories of Dylan growing up in Minnesota and the impact he began to have once arriving in New York. The interviews with the friends are all quite good as well as the stuff with the likes of Clinton Heylin (Dylan expert), Art D'Lugoff, Derek Barker (Isis Magazine) and Paul Colby (owner The Bitter End). The documentary goes up to the first couple of albums as we hear about how Dylan started to change the type of music he was doing and hearing about several other influences that helped create his style.
