Mel's Compilation # 0ne

D556 MEL'S COMPILATION # ONE

Overall running time 73 minutes comprising a glimpse-and-you'll-miss-it intro then 11 chapters all individually accessible via the easy-to-use two page menu, as follows:

(1) INTRO (0:10)

See (2) below

(2) GEORGE HARRISON TRIBUTE, MSG, 13 Nov 2002 (3:45)

On 29 November 2002, first anniversary of GH's untimely passing, a concert in his memory took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall. McCartney, Clapton and fellow Wilburys Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were there, but, though his touring year had ended a week earlier on the 22nd, Bob was not. Instead, while playing MSG on the 13th, he offered George’s Something - the only time he's sung it live - and, featuring a brief but heartfelt dedication, strong vocal, some flawless Charlie fretwork and spot-on Larry mandolin, very fine it is too. But in running its short and pointless intro over most of Bob's opening remarks, D556 begins very poorly - an indication, perhaps, of how much sympathy Mel has with his subject. To see the clip in full, try, rather, D044.su (special favourite of the late lamented Mr Clean) or D482.

(3) YOU WIN AGAIN (with Willie Nelson) 2004 (5:45)

At the June 2004 Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee, Bob played a remarkable set that featured among its first ten songs Samson & Delilah (a Reverend Gary Davis cut never played before or since), Merle Haggard’s Sing Me Back Home (ten career performances), Townes Van Zandt’s Pancho & Lefty (6) and the 1952-vintage Hank Williams standard You Win Again. That last song has been linked with D sporadically throughout his career: it’s there in among what Roy Kelly called the Basement noise and was taped again when D and Etta James had some juiced-up fun in a Providence, RI hotel room on 10 July 1986. On 6 August 2003 he sang it in Columbus, OH on stage with the Dead, then 2004 gave us two versions, the first, as seen here, recorded with Nelson on the fifth day of May at LA’s Wiltern Theatre then, a month later, the Bonnaroo Festival take mentioned above. Most recently, on 4 July 2005 on their joint Summer Ballpark Tour, he and Willie reprised their duet (see D585.su) in Fort Worth.

Bob has always been a Hank Williams fan. By February '62 his first album was in the can (though not yet released) and he’d also written a clutch of his own songs. But what did he choose to open his Cynthia Gooding set* with? Hank's Lonesome Whistle Blues. In '64, on the back of a Baez LP sleeve, D called Williams his "first idol" and looking back in Chronicles he writes:

I’d learn later that Hank had died in the back seat of a car on New Year's Day ... It was like a great tree had fallen ... Intuitively I knew, though, that his voice would never drop out of sight or fade away - a voice like a beautiful horn ... ... In time, I became aware that in Hank's recorded songs were the archetype rules of poetic songwriting ... Even his words - all of his syllables are divided up so they make perfect mathematical sense ...

D then goes on to explain that the rules by which his own first songs were written "were Hank’s rules". On Timeless, the disappointing 2001 Williams tribute CD, You Win Again was covered by Keith Richards with Bob tackling I Can't Get You Off Of My Mind, Willie Nelson nowhere to be seen and "Hank's rules" but poorly served. Yet the You Win Again we're offered here - a true duet with both singers singing all the song - has all the rugged durability of a country ballad that's here to stay and with repeat viewing just gets better and better. What's more, we see Bob playing guitar, and with easy assurance too. So? So nothing except that, in the bleak 41 month stretch between late October '03 and late March '07, this was the one and only time he did (in public, anyway). Though this TV take circulates widely (D008.su, D363, D445, D516, D552, D596), D556’s clip includes "Coming-up..." hoopla and a cheesy, cheery James Caan intro that not all the others do.

(4) LITTLE RICHARD INTERVIEW, 1987 (10:06)

Interviewed by Bill Harris on Showtime as a trail for the forthcoming airing of Down And Out In Beverly Hills in which Richard appears. And what good value he is - articulate, charismatic, larger than life, full of tall stories and more name-dropping (including Gary and The Pacemakers, Kersilla Black and, à propos of nothing, his "dear friend" Bob) than you've ever heard. The camera loves him and the feeling's mutual. Though no D-interest here, still not to be missed.



(Note: D556 gives the interview year as 1984, but Down And Out... was only released in 1986 and the Showtime clip is copyrighted at its close 1987.)

(5) A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, 2004 (6:27)

Performed 28 March and broadcast on NBC on 19 June. For further comment, see D008.su review. Alternate availability: as You Win Again (see above) plus D546. Bob’s on compelling form here, but the intro turn from "distinguished actor and activist" Ossie Davis is better again. Another gem.

(6) VICTORIA’S SECRET COMMERCIAL (0:23)

Good news: this is the "long" version. Bad news: at 23 seconds, it’s incomplete. Bottom line: who cares? Alternate sources, if you must: D380, D389, D516, D609.

(7) CBS SUNDAY MORNING (10 Oct 2004) (9:00)

Also on D445. Ostensibly another puff for Chronicles but after an initial mention, veers off into an appreciation of D-as-artist, with solid contributions from Christopher Ricks, who calls him a genius and Paul Gambaccini, who calls him "after Robert Frost, the great American poet". Along the way, he's likened to Shelley, Byron and Picasso too. Good company to keep, after a war.

(8) CBS 60 MINUTES, 2004 (15:45)

The full 5 Dec broadcast of the rather longer 19 Nov Dylan/Bradley interview - see D468 review for further comment. Bradley (fourth screenshot) calls this "pure Dylan - mysterious, elusive, fascinating." Just compare D's stony, stag-at-bay lens-front demeanour to that of Little Richard to know he's right. Already in wide circulation, though (for a list, see D731 review).

(9) H61 INTERACTIVE PROMO AD (5:15)

Offers "front-row seats and a backstage pass to (Bobfest)", two exclusive Supper Club video performances (one verse of One Too Many Mornings and two of Queen Jane - see D016), interactive database, scrapbook and timeline, a previously unheard electric House Of The Rising Sun (really just an edited version of the familiar acoustic Bob Dylan track with electric guitar dubbed on) and more. The CD-ROM sounds vaguely interesting - though rare, however, this promo ad is not.

(10) BEFORE THEY WERE ROCK STARS (1 Feb 2001) (1:07)

In which folks stand beside the 1959 High School year-book pic of young Bob and try to guess (... Jim Morrison?) who it is. Next!

(11) CELEBRITY DEATH MATCH, MTV , 8 July 1999 (4:48)

Plasticine Singers v. Comedians father and son tag wrestling - Bob & Jake Dylan v. Ben & Jerry Stiller - like (unless you happen to have D134) you’ve never seen it. Check out seventh screenshot to get the idea. It's crazy enough to watch a time or two (though the Bob audio-dub is uninspired). More than that and the crazy one is you.

(12) DES ROW (THE MARIONETTE PERFORMANCE) (10:20)

See also D519 and its review. From Plasticine Bob to Puppet In A Play - but from ridiculous, too, to sublime. This, of course, is the marionette's best and best-known performance, but not its only one. Let’s hope someone somewhere is able to capture to disc this little curiosity before it slips away...

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/v … ID=1000024

Roderick Smith - what a guy!

TAK E, Mel too
STARS Much here to enjoy - a strong four.

*And, in a real sense, his recorded career. For though Folksingers Choice was far from young Bob's first recorded performance, it was, as he would have been well aware, the first of any significance (a whole hour!) to be put before the public after being recorded specifically for that purpose. Commentator Long John says of the Gooding Show:

I don't doubt that afterwards he went home with her, stayed at her place for a couple weeks, ate all her food and in the end stole her record collection.

Every one o' them words ring true or what?

This compilation contains items I never saw in other compilations. The quality is excellent and I enjoyed all of it.

Nice compilation. This includes several unique materials.
It was a pleasure to see Dylan in underware/lingerie commercial. :-) The perfomance of A Change Is Gonna Come was excellent. Highway 61 Interactive promo was special to me as I've never watched it before. Desolation Row (Marionette performance) was a great finale as well.
Techniqual quality is excellent except tract 2.

This is an interesting Compilation DVD, a good compilation to have in the collection. I am no longer able to play my Highway 61 Interactive CD so I am happy to have the Promo on this compilation.
The Little Richard video is priceless... OK, so it not Bob ... but we can certainly see where Bob adapted his Piano style, if not his hairstyle.

The Desolation Row marionette performance is the ultimate FAN PROJECT and that is included on Mel's favorites also. Mel has good taste in Bob.... FIVE stars!