MTV Unplugged Rehearsal

Although the complete 'Unplugged'recordings have long been a personal favourite they do tend to divide fans. Are they recordings of Bob at his most tuneful or just bland renditions of greatest hits; Bob chasing the MTV dollar? Whatever camp you fall into it is hard to disagree that they are poorly served by both the official cd and dvd releases,and a hell of alot better than the helium voiced Bob of the previous years 'Supper Club' recordings.

Similarly Bob fans seem to love or hate rehearsal footage and depending upon what camp you fall into will decide whether you want this dvd in your collection or not. Again,I'm amongst the former; the 'Pat Garrett..' tape is also amongst my most played. This dvd is exactly what it says it is. Rehearsal footage for the concerts to follow, so do not expect word perfect,committed, renditions of the songs played. Then again, even during a proper concert there isn't any guarantee of this! Although surprisingly the vocals are quite committed at times, for instance during 'Tombstone Blues'. It is also surprising, contrary to popular belief, to see that Dylan does actually arrange his songs prior to playing them,well sometimes anyway; see the discussion about whether to play a harmonica solo during the bridge of'Hazel'. Perhaps most surprising is to watch Bob 'rehearsing' the little grimaces and facial expressions, or just posing for the camera, that are also so much a part of his 'act'.

Picture quality isn't great on the long shots but the sound quality is fine, if a little hissy at time. As an added bonus there is a complete recording of, perhaps the most inexplicable omission from the official releases, and definitive concert performance of 'I Want You'. All in all a nice dvd. Thanks to CatBlack for sending me this.

Sound quality and picture quality more than adequate on this DVD.Interesting to see Bob working on his songs prior To recording of the show even at times with somewhat little enthusiasm.Interestig to see Tony apparently at times directing the band.Without the excitement of a live performance but none the less a welcome addition to my collection.

Thanks again to smugley for passing this on.
Louise

Hmmm, This disk is pretty good, but I have seen much better. I wouldn’t feel right not having this disk in my collection, but there are better DVDs out there. The picture quality is fine, not the best, but good. My problem is that the songs are not played with any passion, witch is understandable because this is only the rehearsal. Its no MTV Unplugged!! Just the rehearsal.. There is the version of “I want you” the was not shown on the MTV broadcast or on the official DVD release and that makes the DVD a bit better. It not a must have, but you might want to see it.

Thanks again smugly for the disk, your a saint!!