Year: 2019
Director: Martin Scorsese
That subtitle should be a clue.
As well as the sub subtitle that pops up after ancient magic trick footage ‘Conjouring The Rolling Thunder Re-vue’ to tell you this is his Bobness as usual. You think you know whats happening but you don’t really know what it is.
On the face of it this Netflix documentary on Dylan’s 1974 Rolling Thunder Revue Tour following on from, his 1966 tourfilm ‘No Direction Home’ finally delivers us all that great Renaldo & Clara footage without the boring attempt to provide a narrative and purpose. 2019 Dylan appears at the start, seemingly held hostage by Marty to take part and try and explain his motives behind this unique endeavour. ‘I don’t remember anything, It happened so long ago before I was even born’ he growls but with a sheepish grin. Beware the sheep in wolves clothing.
The solid gold here is the live footage – a gentle and pretty straight Mr Tambourine, that lacerating ‘Hard Rains Gonna Fall’, the driving ‘Hurricane’, singing ‘Isis’ with such passion and energy, ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’, ‘I Shall Be Released’ ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’ is a bar band rumble in rehearsal but pretty straight but magic acoustic solo in the concert film. ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’ is similarly rough with the actual performance absolutely majestic.
And its not just Bob, Patti Smith appears in shy, halting and then intense form in a New York club with Dylan in the audience. Joni Mitchell visits backstage and plays ‘Coyote’ with Dylan watching with a wrapped awe. The revue bit players are represented now and then – Ginsburg, Rambling Jack, Ronnie Hawkins, Scarlett Riviera, Joan Baez with a wonderful scene of them discussing that time when they were together and Dylan genuinely seemingly lost for words when he mentions her getting married, she shoots back “and you got married without telling me”. He recovers with a great line a minute later but its a rare moment that the mask slips.
He would often begin the RTR sets wearing a plastic mask over his face paint “We should have had more masks” he says “You only tell the truth when you’re wearing a mask” and you know he’s putting you on. If you are a Bobhead you may see the tricks and sleight of hand but most people will accept that this was the tour promoter, this guy with an indeterminate European accent shot the footage, that a 19 year old Sharon Stone joined the tour, that a future US politician was snuck into a show by future president Jimmy Carter and that KISS contributed to Dylan’s stage look. Some may see this as needless tomfoolery when we could have more 70s footage but I think it goes along with the freewheeling, pranksterish nature of the original Rolling Thunder Tour.
We get three different plausible explanations of where the name of the tour came from and maybe one or all or none of them are true. On repeat viewings you might choose to skip the lies and stick with the truth but where does one end and the other begin?
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
Rockumentary if you will
I promised never to post on here again but jeezus Christ almighty this is just absolutely astounding. Stop listing, stop reviewing reissues, just stop. Bob as you have never seen him before unless you were in Maine that summer. Oh my effing good god I am literally shaking with exhilaration. At the height of his powers, at the top of Olympus. Just bow down and thank the lord, we are indeed blessed.
I will forever more greet all my friends with the Isis crossed arms
Did I miss something? I was wondering where you’d been.
I’m with you Lodes, such vivid performance from Dylan, lest we forget what an intense artist he was at the time. He never had a band like this. Scarlett and Stoner especially (what a bass player). The footage of Joni is great too, with some slight lyrical variation on the “he’s got a woman at home” lines. Loved it. Going to watch it again today.
Very nicely summarised Mr Boy. Unlike No Direction Home or the Harrison thing, this isn’t documentary. It’s thin wild mercury bobness. It doesn’t so much Shine a Light as Bobfuscate. I liked it a lot.
I also liked ‘a wrapped awe.’ Worthy of the man himself.
“…Joan Baez with a wonderful scene of them discussing that time when they were together and Dylan genuinely seemingly lost for words when he mentions her getting married, she shoots back “and you got married without telling me”. He recovers with a great line a minute later but its a rare moment that the mask slips.”
But is this scripted?
I still don’t know – it feels like it comes from somewhere real and Bob genuinely appears to be a bit thrown. Then again the way he lies his arse off at other points he may just be a great actor
This scene – or something very like it – is described in Shepard’s Rolling Thunder Logbook. Spontaneous, by the sounds of it:
“This is turning into either the worst melodrama on earth or the best head-to-head confessional ever put on film. Dylan is dancing around, soaked in brandy, doing his best to dodge the Baez kidney punches. She just stands there, planted, hoisting one-liners at him like cherry bombs. Producers are wincing in the background. Musicians are tittering. Cameras are doing double time.”
Oh my dear lord
I though we’d agreed that Bob Dylan is rubbish?
Make-up, whiney voice, silly hat… it’s like Jiminy Cricket with boho pretensions.
In the DVD extras you can see his L R wellies.
It’s an entertaining watch. It’s certainly not “just ashes”. I did find myself wondering though whether coyote was actually about Dylan – doesn’t Mitchell say that she’s writing a song about the experience of being on the tour.
The Isis rendition is particularly intense and I realised why watching Half Man Half Biscuit tonight (no, really). He’s just singing (with a bit of mouthie). I think it’s the first time I’ve seen him sing without a guitar or a piano – seemed somehow more vulnerable, which added to the performance.
Isn’t Coyote about Sam Shepard (on the tour to write a film script that never happened) – not a big Joni fan but I think I read it in a Bob book
Ha! Well I’ll be. I always assumed it was about, er, Peter Coyote.
Sam Shepherd, Peter Coyote and the Carradines I always get mixed up. Mebbes Joni does too.
I’m reading Shepard’s Rolling Thunder logbook just now and he did indeed have a horse ranch, so that would fit.
I saw him do a song at the Brighton Centre back in the 90s without his guitar and he was dancing a bit whilst he sang it. Even at the time my brain was doubting what my eyes were telling it it was seeing!
Last time I saw him (2 yrs ago) he left his keyboards periodically and moved to centre stage. He sort of swayed in time to the music, it was a little bit menacing. Hasn’t played the guitar in a long time.
That’s an excellent review. I started to write one myself after seeing it on the big screen at the State Theatre as part of the Sydney Film Festival. However the next day up popped the Rolling Stone piece about “what’s true and what’s not” and I realised I’d been completely and utterly sucked in! Which I didn’t mind at all. And the performances, yes they’re just fabulous. As Joan Baez says, how can you resist the combination of the charisma on stage and the songs.
I remember reading about the RT Revue when it was happening – in mid-70s New Zealand all one’s information about such things was gleaned from three months late copies of the NME. At the time the combination of what sounded like a shambolic tour and Dylan wearing makeup had no appeal. So this film is just a joy and a revelation.
Me too! I was thinking “Hey, I’ve never heard of Stefan Van Dorp. Every day’s a schoolday.” What a wag.
Here it is. Very interesting.
https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/rolling-thunder-revue-bob-dylan-story-doc-whats-fake-847231/
Yep clever, another is it real or is it not, people pretending to be who they’re not.
I didn’t expect another Renaldo and Clara tupe movie.
I’d prefer a box set of DVDs of all the concerts they recorded esp the first tour as Hard Rain came form the second
Excuse typos. For some reason didn’t get the edit option.
Greatly enjoyed the actual performances, I’ve never seen Bob quite so energized. Amazing what a bit of eye-liner and slap can do. Nice hat too.
(Which reminds me, I didn’t know Mick Ronson was part of the entourage, so nice to see him doing his thing) Oh, and Joni!! (I almost teared up!)
Ronsons comment on Dylan not speaking to him on the tour might have been a problem with him struggling with the Hull accent. Witness his conversations with Alan Price in Don’t Look Back
“What key is Luv Mahnus Zererrrr?”
With his capped sleeve T and Suzi Quattro hair Ronson looks like he turned up for an entirely different gig. You’d think he’d be used to raiding the dressing up box before he went on
It’s fascinating and mesmerising stuff. What must it be like to actually be Bob Dylan ? Other than Joan Baez who is clearly still totally besotted, everyone treats him like a deity. I’m amazed he’s managed to keep it together for all this time.
The scene with Joni showing them how to play Coyote is beautiful as is the one where Dylan’s and Baez are talking openly about their past and the mask very nearly drops.
The concert stuff is great – Hattie Carol sounds almost post punky a touch of the Joe Strummers in Dylan’s fierce delivery.
This is definitely a Must See bit of cinema magic.
That footage of her dressed as Bob and the way she was treated by people thinking she was him was great. Revealing both for us and her
Who was the rhythm section? I seem to recall that Ian Wallace, later/before of the Crims had that gig? The bassist certainly played some funky little runs and was quite high in the mix.
Back in the day, I seem to recall a lot of fuss and consternation expressed about Dylan being waylaid and mind washed by the Mansfields and Soles’ of the band, leading him off track into these ramshackle wastes.
It’s Rob Stoner on bass and Howie Wyeth on drums. After Rolling Thunder they became Robert Gordon and Link Wray’s backup band and recorded a great LP called Fresh Fish Special.
Cheers for that! When was Wallace part of Dylan’s band?
1978 world tour.
You can watch/download Renaldo and Clara from here:
https://ulozto.net/!NabIpHZDLpkj/renaldo-clara-1978-mp4
Which I reached from http://www.rarefilmm.com – “The cave of forgotten films.”
Watched it last night, and like everybody else was completely gobsmacked by the performances – such passion! such theatricality! I knew about the real/not real thing, but it very soon ceased to matter.
Interestingly, Mrs thep, who has no time for Dylan (“too whiney”), was sucked in too. She wandered off after an hour, but was pleased to admit that there might be something to this Dylan cove after all.