DVD Compilation #06

I obtained this DVD for the sole purpose of hearing the highly-regarded "Restless Farewell." It is everything I'd read about it, and more. The song is moving, stirring, and absolutely captivating. It was a declaration of independence in 1964; in 1995, it is thoughtful, wistful, evocative and deeply resonates in the heart. I don't care much for Sinatra, but Dylan clearly does, and he devotes all his attention, all his focus, all his talent for this one song; to play and sing this time the very best that he can. What a performance. Even the Hollywood glitterati seem to be mesmerized by the performance.

The rest of the compilation is mixed. There are some horrible low points-not in the performances, but in the quality of the multi-generation copies. But the high points are a treat, and make this worth having if your collection is just beginning, as mine is. Tambourine Man, with Dylan joining Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman is great fun. Duets with Van Morrison are nice. Duets with Willie Nelson are nicer, with "Pancho and Lefty" superbly rendered. The songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1995 Gala are very well done, and the duet of Bob with Bruce Springsteen on Forever Young adds another fine version to my collection of performances of one of my favorite songs.

The 3 songs sung for the Pope are very well done-especially "Heaven's Door," and the camera work is great. I always assumed that the Pope would be right in front of Bob, and that the audience would be off to the side. It's strange that a performance for the Pope doesn't face the Pope. When he was young, Bob seemed to throw darts at many targets just because they were prominent and established. Now, his darts are saved for aiming at the pretentious. He appears considerably humbler now, and is not afraid to show respect. His brief contact with the Pope seems a little uneasy, a little weird, but certainly humble and polite.

The performance of "Chimes of Freedom" for Bill Clinton is the fastest version of the song that any of us will ever hear. No time to emphasize any words or images as he sings this one. I'm not sure if there was a message in the performance or not, but he certainly did not put the care and craft into it that he did in singing for the Pope and for Frank Sinatra. Just a guess, but I'm not sure he feels the same respect for the president that he felt for the other two.

In summary, some horrible clips from Athens and Japan and the supper club are easily compensated for by some delightful performances with McGuinn, Springsteen, and Nelson, plus the nice pairing with Morrison, and the strong performances for the Pope and the Hall of Fame. I gave each "ordinary" song a 1-5 rating, and the average is about 3.5; not bad when there are some 1's in the total. But if I include the "Restless Farewell," performance, this becomes immediately a MUST HAVE disc. It's that good; heartbreakingly good.

D016 FOR THE POPE AND FOR THE PEOPLE

This hotch-potch of a disc offers Bobs delightful, disappointing and dire in about equal measure. We kick off on a sunny Athens hillside under eggshell-blue skies, with a majestic Parthenon behind framed by Van Morrison on the left facing Bob on the right, each clutching an acoustic guitar. Morrison leads Bob through a duet of Crazy Love, then sings Foreign Window with Bob on harmonica. Another Morrison-led duet, One Irish Rover, rounds things off - sound, picture, setting all fine. But then comes a lengthy run of "rough footage" from the same shoot - we sit through Crazy Love again then one and a half takes of It Stoned Me, all in poor video over imperfect sound, which adds nothing to what went before but, rather, demeans it. A badly-shot live H61R from Bob's Athens gig of two nights later also less than dazzles.

Over to the Orbison Tribute and a radiant Roger McGuinn launches into Tambourine Man, which, though enjoyable in its own right, is made more-so by the fact that you know what's going to happen - and yes, at the end of verse one, on shambles Bob. McGuinn wants him to sing. He's reluctant. He's crotchety. The way McGuinn wins him round is endearing to see and by the end of the song the two have their heads into one mike going at it like Beauty and the Beast. (Who's which? You guess.) T Man, like JLAW, is a song that seldom if ever sounds bad, and this version, thanks mainly to McGuinn, hits the spot nicely.

Then another from the depths of a particularly smelly barrel as Bob rips through a breakneck Chimes (it used to go like that, now it goes like this ...) before a smirking Bill Clinton and family. D seems to be doing a particularly bad parody of himself - if he performed like this in one of those Greenwich Village imitator contests, he'd be lucky to survive the cut. In front of Clinton, you may think, so what? But it's in front of Abe too (yes, look over Bob's shoulder and there he sits) which makes it a whole other sacrilegious bad scene.

Swiftly on to two meets and three songs with Willie Nelson. Heartland is a poor song which, despite their best efforts, the two can’t make fly; Pancho and Lefty soars. Though he sings it well here, the maudlin Hard Times is a song I've never really taken to. Why he would choose it (for the album) over the wonderful You Belong To Me is a mystery. (But then he held back McTell, didn't he? And Dreams. And Dignity. Seven Curses. Abandoned Love. Oh, Bob!) Supper Club footage - one verse of OTMM and two of Queen Jane - is a dark, blurry and ultimately unsatisfying tease. Next comes the full set - Watchtower, JLAW, Seeing The Real You, H61R and Forever Young - from the 1995 R&R Hall of Fame Gala. Springsteen joins in on the last to good effect, though all is eminently watchable (and listenable) once you get used to Bob's gold lamé shirt.

And so to the reason I acquired this DVD and why I would advise anyone with more than a passing interest in Bob to do the same. He steps up to sing Frank Sinatra a birthday song and so we get to see a Dylan all too rarely glimpsed - 100% on the money, paying full respect to his song, an artist in words and music delivering a wonderful, word-perfect, flawless, priceless performance of Restless Farewell. Following this full five-verse tour-de-force we’re shown the broadcast version which has fuller sound but, sadly, verses two and four missing. Compare Bob's performance here to the one in front of Clinton then ask yourself which man you think he has greater respect for.

Another short piece of Tokyo-shot, barrel-scrape nonsense brings us to Bob-Meets-Pope from Bologna 1997. Though presented here in fine shape, I’m afraid I can’t warm to this at all. D and the band stand on a big empty sound-stage with the Pope and his court way off to one side, so for a start the thing is staged is a way that’s visually unappealing. The Pontiff sits through proceedings stiff and inert (as you might expect from a 77 year-old man in poor health) looking down like a frail and disapproving emissary from another colder and less liberal world. There's a grinding clash here of two cultures that are fundamentally irreconcilable and singing these songs (Heaven's Door, Hard Rain, Forever Young) before this man seems somehow both distasteful and inappropriate. Neither, in closing my eyes, do I hear anything arresting or memorable and, having watched this ill-starred event once, it's likely to be some time before I return. Others may get more from it. I hope they do.

THANKS B, as ever.
STARS Four (but miss Restless Farewell at your peril).