Customer Reviews

Bob Dylan - World Tour 1966: The Home Movies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Upon its release, this 90-minute DVD was heavily criticised by fans, who felt that a DVD with the words "World Tour 1966" in the title should contain at least some concert footage. (It does, but without sound.)
But "Word Tour 1966" is (sadly) not a concert video. It is a collection of primitive silent home movie clips, some of which actually include Bob Dylan in the frame. They were taken by drummer Mickey Jones, who also provides narration. And he does a pretty good job, actually, providing insights and little anecdotes, usually without getting boring.

Jones has a fair amount of reasonably interesting stories, including why Dylan decided to separate his sets into acoustic and electric ones, the musicians' reaction to people booing the electric sets, and other trivia of interest (solely) to Dylan fanatics. The image quality of the home movies is good considering their age, and while the scenes from those clips are not too interesting in and of themselves, they make a pretty good backdrop for Jones' narratives.
But still...this is a bit of a sham, really. The title certainly promises a lot more than it delivers, and most people won't need this at all.
2 1/2 stars. Only for diehards.

I went into viewing this film with pretty low expectations, but still was hugely disappointed. There is no live music here, just previously recorded album cuts playing in the background as Jones comments, ad nauseum, on Dylan's hat and more. This is really just a vanity piece for Mickey Jones. Jones was a great 60's drummer, but these home movies should have stayed at home.

There are a few worthwhile shots of Dylan and the Band at work and play, but precious few. At many points I felt challanged to continue watching. Jones doesn't have a lot to say, but he keeps talking anyway. There certainly is not any new insight into the dynamics that drove this revolutionary tour. Jones seems in awe of Dylan himself, but that keeps us at arm's length.

For those of you new to Dylan, the infinitely superior "Don't Look Back" is the place to start, not here.

Lessons learned: Read the reviews. The low end reviews are pretty accurate in their descriptions: "This is a movie about Mickey, not Bob".

Perhaps I am unfairly comparing his stuff to the Scorsese or Pennebaker documentaries, which is a pretty high standard.The bottom line is that this is really very boring for anyone, but fanatics...

I can't agree with those who say this is a rip-off: provided you realise that it's a 91-minute documentary built around some silent home movie footage, and not a pro-shot 'Eat The Document 2,' I'm sure any Dylan fan will find it fascinating.
Yes, the first half hour concerns Mickey Jones's early musical career, but it sets the scene well and has some interesting footage (including a brief clip of the Beatles onstage in Paris) And the DVD's chapter indexing lets you skip this completely if preferred.
Yes, the live footage sequences are very brief, and there's lots of non-performance clips of Dylan & co wandering around, but I found it all interesting and there's a real 'Eat The Document outtake' feel to some of the scenes
The 'recreated' music used on the soundtrack is used very sparingly, as incidental background music, and is very effective as such - this film is a spoken-word documentary, not a 'live in concert' film. Mickey Jones is partly interviewed on camera, partly narrates the home movie clips - he's a very engaging raconteur and has several 'exclusive' observations and anecdotes to relate; there's also some nice still photographs incorporated throughout, some of which I hadn't seen before.
Perhaps it is more suited to the Dylan fan than someone with just a casual interest, but anyone like me who's pored over poor-quality bootlegs of 'Eat the Document' or is familiar with the B&W photos from the 1966 Tour, will find the home movie footage refreshingly new, and Mickey Jones's commentary a worthy accompaniment.

This is definitely one for hard core fans. If you read the box it's pretty clear what it is - and it doesn't take much to guess what 37 year old 8mm footage looks like! Mickey's amusing and interesting at times and there's the odd section that gives you a bit of a feel for what the tour was like - but it's not great. It is however what there is, apart from "eat the document". So if you're hard core buy it with your head on (...)and if you're not then steer clear.

Many people of a certain age-group believe that pop music provided a fantastic, wealthy, out-of-this world, exciting experience. This video is bascially an interview of a bearded drummer who played with Dylan, and apparently was specially requested by Dylan. He's shown sitting beside some sort of video edit suite, occasionally doing voiceover commentary. He seems a regular guy but also seems, like many people of course, to have learned nothing much through life. There's no musicology here, and no analysis of what impressed people about Dylan's lyrics. There's virtually nothing about hotel-room discussions they must have had, or even details like what the roadies got up to hauling equipment round. It's a sort of vacation home movie, with the emphasis on things which tourists see, rather than anything deep or subtle. If you have a lurking corner of your persona where you play air guitar or imagine being in front of a huge crowd, this DVD might be a valuable de-romanticiser.

I found this documentary interesting in places and boring in others. You watch the dvd and end up feeling that Jones made it all about himself instead of Dylan. I was also left wondering how much of it was true and how much of it was poetic lisence on his part. Only but this if you are a die hard fan.

Funny how history repeats itself. In 1966, Bob Dylan shocked the world when he wanted to do what HE wanted to do, not what his fans expected of him. Many fans responded by booing when Bob Dylan took the stage with a black Telcaster guitar in hand and started jamming out with an electric four-piece rock & roll band behind him.

Now, the ONLY documentation of that ground-breaking tour is being booed once again. Will we the audience never learn? Will perhaps the most significant event in 1960s Rock & Roll ever been seen and appreciated for the happening that it was?

This isn't a "professional" documentary, nor does it ever claim to be. It is home movies by one of the band members of that incredible, earth-shattering tour, of Bob Dylan's career when I feel he was at his peak. So far, this is the only footage available of Bob Dylan doing things HIS way, and doing them like no one else before or since! For that alone, I am grateful.

Mickey Jones is an entertaining fellow with some wonderful stories and I personally got a kick out of this DVD. There's a ton of great inside information on this DVD, and for the first time in my life, someone FINALLY explained to me where "The Band" got their name from and why!!!

While there may not be much music on this DVD, nor even much about Bob Dylan himself, there doesn't need to be. This DVD is about Bob Dylan forming an electric band and the tour that followed. As of today [early 2004] this is all we've got.

I learned a great deal watching this DVD. I feel I understand Dylan better, and I know I understand the 1960s better after watching this DVD. While this DVD may drag the story out slightly, I do have to say that I feel that it should be required viewing for all serious fans of Rock & Roll. To not know the infamous stories of Bob Dylan being booed while he jams the greatest music of his career is to not fully grasp the story that is Rock & Roll.

So thank you Mickey Jones, for sharing your wonderful stories with us fans. You're a great story teller and a fun host. I would love to sit down with you and chat about playing with Bob Dylan and about that incredible tour one day. You're a class act in my book sir! Thanks.

My husband, I and our high school grandson (who is a musician and Dylan fan) were excited to view this video. We were so disappointed we didn't even finish it. The content was interesting but the title, and especially Dylan's photo on the cover is so deceptive. Although the movies are "neat" I think Mickey Jones capitalized on the name Bob Dylan. I think anyone would expect that concert clips would be a video with Dylan's picture on the cover---NOT! Don't spend your money on this DVD. I wish I could return it.

One Star is giving this horrible thing a star it doesn't deserve. NO DYLAN JUST STUPID SCENERY FILMED BY ONE OF HIS FORMER DRUMMERS

DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY