DYLAN.REVIEWS

A Complete Unknown

in Movie Theaters

Part 1 – A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

MOVIE REVIEW by Uncle John MovieRelease 12/25/24

I saw the movie three times, the first on IMAX before the theatrical release, and twice in theaters.

Movie Review Posting soon

 

Part 2 – SOUND

A look at the Sound team,

the sound mixing engineer

Tod A. Maitland & supervising music editor Ted Caplan.

Motion Picture Soundtrack

 

Part 3 – DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC!  by Elijah Wald   -  Book Review

I´m still reading the book and the review will follow.

Dylan´s comment on the movie: “After you see the film, read the book.”

 

Part 4 – Guidance of Dylan

This movie stirred a lot of memories in me, and sharing some of those stories here.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Photo: Joe Alper

Bob Dylan, Suze Rotolo & Lena Spencer January 1962

One of Bob's earliest musical performances

is at the Caffè Lena, Saratoga Springs, New York

Lena Spencer is amazing! This is America´s oldest cafe!

I had the grand privilege of meeting her & seeing this picture.

I performed Bob Dylan songs that evening with Lena in the audience.

This is a song from the recording from that night.

TANGLED UP IN BULUE

Uncle John, vocals, acoustic guitar

Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY

Listen Here

 

 A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

An Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

CD Available February 28, 2025

Track listing

No.

Title

Performer(s)

Length

1.

"Highway 61 Revisited"

Timothée Chalamet

3:45

2.

"Mr. Tambourine Man"

Timothée Chalamet

2:31

3.

"I Was Young When I Left Home"

Timothée Chalamet

2:04

4.

"Girl from the North Country"

Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro

2:04

5.

"Silver Dagger"

Monica Barbaro

2:33

6.

"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"

Timothée Chalamet

3:05

7.

"Wimoweh (Mbube)"

Edward Norton

1:51

8.

"House of the Rising Sun"

Monica Barbaro

2:08

9.

"Folsom Prison Blues"

Boyd Holbrook

1:44

10.

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"

Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro

3:08

11.

"Masters of War"

Timothée Chalamet

2:25

12.

"Blowin' in the Wind"

Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro

2:52

13.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues"

Timothée Chalamet

2:27

14.

"Big River"

Boyd Holbrook

1:41

15.

"The Times They Are a-Changin'"

Timothée Chalamet

3:14

16.

"When the Ship Comes In"

Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton

2:19

17.

"There but for Fortune"

Monica Barbaro

1:43

18.

"It Ain't Me, Babe"

Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro

3:37

19.

"Maggie's Farm"

Timothée Chalamet

3:08

20.

"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"

Timothée Chalamet

2:21

21.

"Like a Rolling Stone"

Timothée Chalamet

3:23

22.

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"

Timothée Chalamet

2:21

23.

"Song to Woody"

Timothée Chalamet

2:20

Total length:

58:44

 

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

 Bob Dylan & His Band

8/21/10  Monterey, California

Review by Uncle John

“Thunder on the mountain, rollin' like a drum
Gonna sleep over there, that's where the music coming from
I don't need any guide, I already know the way
Remember this, I'm your servant both night and day.”

 Bob Dylan and his band return to the seaside town of Monterey and fill the Fairgrounds with a sold-out seated crowd. Dylan’s music rather than showmanship always surprises, how good he and his band are, and knowing his songs by heart, that part of him is always open, searching the air for old melodies, new revelations, singing vintage songs with a fresh breath, igniting the sounds as the watchman passes as new & familiar phrases flow through our ears, and the world nearby seems like “The Truman Show”.

 

I am privileged I’m sure to be on the balcony of the hotel where I’m staying and sometime 3 or 4 hours before the show, Dylan’s band does a sound check and they do the best and loudest version of “All Along The Watchtower” I have ever heard. Maybe because this is where Jimi Hendrix once performed that reminds me of the song it seems so electric and the band hot wired, the music on fire and the loud fire engines that were going by during this sound check seem to add exuberance to the musical mix. I called my daughter on the phone to let her listen in. This song is the first song she wanted to learn when she got a guitar. I am amazed at the length and strength of the song, and blessed to hear it as it’s not performed in tonight’s repertoire.

 

When Bob Dylan is introduced about three hours later, a booming voice, with a long red carpet welcome, sounds like thunder coming from the sky. Bob takes the stage and the crowd is pleased when he opens with “Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35” and “To Ramona” seems like a new song but really is an old one they were rehearsing that day. Everything he sings, no matter its age, sounds fresh and new in a familiar tune. He sings to us history lessons. Like the song “The Battle of New Orleans” sung by Johnny Horton and written by Jimmie Driftwood, a school principal who got students interested in learning history communicating his lessons through music, and it encouraged my interest in history and when I heard the song on “American Bandstand” I started listening to rock ‘n roll. Dylan has songs like that to teach us from the lessons of life around us, and tonight he performs “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, a true story that happened in Baltimore in the early sixties. The New York Times calls this “an almost journalistic song”.  

 

 Suddenly, as Bob is singing "Cold Irons Bound" and “come sailing through the air” when an airplane that seems like a giant because it is so close and shows up so suddenly making a landing, and the runway is a layer of air over our heads, but Dylan continues in a staccato beat and the song communicates a lesson from Proverbs.  Bob Dylan has always been a spiritual individual, from the days he touches ground in New York at the beginning of the sixties decade, his gift God-given, he humbly continues to share it with us. “Every Grain Of Sand” touches the hearts of the people here and then the band lights up the place with “Highway 61 Revisited”, a song he’s been rehearsing a long time, and we’re really pleased that he does “Shelter From the Storm” tonight and then “Thunder On the Mountain”. A giant shadow of Bob appears on the back screen and the crowd is lifted to its feet as the chords of “Ballad of A Thin Man” rock the grounds. Bob plays the harp to his taunting lyrics of Mr. Jones to close the show, and everyone is rocking to the beat. The encore is “Jolene” and then the rocket-ignited, with the spotlight on the crowd, the parting pleaser, Bob Dylan performs “Like A Rolling Stone”