786 Dont Look Back

[ryannichols7]

absurdly awesome amount of extras

I wonder if they attempted to get an interview with Dylan for this

[Bando]

It's an awesome amount of extras that essentially dances around the fact that it doesn't include the one thing pretty much everyone who is a Dylan fan would look for first: Eat the Document.

If you have the previous DVD releases of Dont Look Back and No Direction Home, there's tons of overlap. I guess maybe I was expecting something different. Feel like I'm going to buy it solely because it's Criterion, not to replace my DVD copy of the film.

[domino harvey]

I'm still waiting on the deadbeat member here who stiffed me on a trade for the old deluxe DVD box, so I guess I'm reluctantly going to buy this. Paint my chicken coop!

[Bando]

Not to drift too far off-topic (he said as he drifted too far off-topic), but...

The most likely theory I've heard for Dylan not playing guitar live is that he has back problems and it's too uncomfortable to stand around with a guitar for that long.

I've been up close at a bunch of Dylan shows over the past ten years, and it's pretty obvious he wears a substantial back brace under his suit. Wouldn't bet against him having some serious arthritis in his hands, too--they're pretty gnarled, and he plays piano pretty flat-handed as a result.

[hearthesilence]

I'm still waiting on the deadbeat member here who stiffed me on a trade for the old deluxe DVD box, so I guess I'm reluctantly going to buy this. Paint my chicken coop!

The one with the book? I have one that's still sealed and would be willing to trade, hah.

[swo17]

It'll be great to have Daybreak Express in HD (and on a Pennebaker release--it's also on The Horse's Mouth). Not to mention the other shorts.

[Telstar]

Given the lack of Eat the Document or any particularly sexy new Dylan-oriented extras (with the possible exception of the Patti Smith piece), I'm considering just sticking with my dvd box set. Particularly since the amazon trade-in value is already ridiculously low and dropping rapidly.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver

[frankiecrisp]

Beaver

The review says the alternate subterranean homesick blues video is new its been around for years

[Roger Ryan]

Beaver

The review says the alternate subterranean homesick blues video is new its been around for years

I suspect the alternate video is the same one included on the original DVD release of Don't Look Back, so it has indeed been around for years. However, a newly-edited version has just been released on-line to promote the new BOOTLEG TAPES VOL. 12 which features three different audio takes edited together and previously unseen footage of Dylan doing the cue card routine on a rooftop.

[frankiecrisp]

Beaver

The review says the alternate subterranean homesick blues video is new its been around for years

I suspect the alternate video is the same one included on the original DVD release of Don't Look Back, so it has indeed been around for years. However, a newly-edited version has just been released on-line to promote the new BOOTLEG TAPES VOL. 12 which features three different audio takes edited together and previously unseen footage of Dylan doing the cue card routine on a rooftop.

it would have been nice to have a dvd/blu ray included in the 19 cd set maybe Eat The Document will be considered for bootleg 13

[movielocke]

Watched this last night, starting to dig into the extras, and good god this set is stuffed, daunting doesn't begin to describe it.

[FrauBlucher]

I picked this up along with Gimme Shelter. Can the 60s ever be repeated for music and their scenes. Just an amazing time for those who experienced it.

[Yaanu]

A new featurette on the restoration of DONT LOOK BACK, including some new details on the audio restoration:

But it's the audio restoration that genuinely makes the new DVD/Blu-ray stick out, thanks to a painstaking process that would help correct earlier mixes of the movie, which tended to employ a "fake stereo" set-up that panned the mono tracks. (Listen to the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" opening on previous DVD releases, and you can hear the bass line bouncing back and forth between your speakers.) That meant going back to quarter-inch magnetic master tapes in Pennebaker's vaults — what Criterion audio supervisor Ryan Hullings calls the "holy grail" of Don't Look Back materials. "D.A. had stored them properly since day one, so they were in excellent physical condition," he relates via email. "The problem was that those tapes used a special version of Fairchild Sync, which was only used for a very, very brief time in the mid-Sixties...and modern tape heads can't read it. I looked all over New York for someone who could transfer the audio, so I wouldn't have to ship these priceless materials out of the state, and no one could play them."

Salvation came in the form of Peter Oreckinto, a former Kiss roadie living in Los Angeles who had a reputation for being "an analog film-audio guru." Hullings sent him the masters and crossed his fingers; the West Coast resident then built his own bespoke tape head from scratch that could read the outdated signal. "He sent back an audio sample as a test," the Criterion employee recalled, "with a note that said 'I have no idea whether this will sync up, but give it a shot.' We were floored by how amazing the recordings sounded — and it synced up perfectly with the picture!"

"It actually changes the movie," Hendrickson says, in regards to the restored sound. "Take the Donovan scene: It has always been read as this big takedown, with Dylan taking the guitar and trying to one-up the singer. But now, you can actually hear Donovan ask Dylan to play 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' for him — it changes the intention of the scene entirely. It's not nearly as negative! All of us in the office were watching the movie right after we put the sound track in and we suddenly, Wait...did he just request the song?!? And none of us could remember hearing that before."

[hearthesilence]

I picked this up along with Gimme Shelter. Can the 60s ever be repeated for music and their scenes. Just an amazing time for those who experienced it.

Depends on how you frame the question. Given the cultural shift that went on during that decade and the role rock music played in that (how new it was, the connection it had to youth culture, and the economics of the business at the time that made its breadth and diversity possible), I can't imagine it ever being repeated.*

But, at the same time, I see it spun too many times by people blinded by nostalgia that rock music then was so much better than any other time, which is a load of garbage.

* Actually, the alternative explosion of the '90s may have been close, but it was a big bang that faded much more quickly. 1993 was a peak year, but by the next, Kurt Cobain was dead and the political climate took a hard turn to the right.

[hearthesilence]

A new featurette on the restoration of DONT LOOK BACK, including some new details on the audio restoration:

But it's the audio restoration that genuinely makes the new DVD/Blu-ray stick out, thanks to a painstaking process that would help correct earlier mixes of the movie, which tended to employ a "fake stereo" set-up that panned the mono tracks. (Listen to the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" opening on previous DVD releases, and you can hear the bass line bouncing back and forth between your speakers.) That meant going back to quarter-inch magnetic master tapes in Pennebaker's vaults — what Criterion audio supervisor Ryan Hullings calls the "holy grail" of Don't Look Back materials. "D.A. had stored them properly since day one, so they were in excellent physical condition," he relates via email. "The problem was that those tapes used a special version of Fairchild Sync, which was only used for a very, very brief time in the mid-Sixties...and modern tape heads can't read it. I looked all over New York for someone who could transfer the audio, so I wouldn't have to ship these priceless materials out of the state, and no one could play them."

Salvation came in the form of Peter Oreckinto, a former Kiss roadie living in Los Angeles who had a reputation for being "an analog film-audio guru." Hullings sent him the masters and crossed his fingers; the West Coast resident then built his own bespoke tape head from scratch that could read the outdated signal. "He sent back an audio sample as a test," the Criterion employee recalled, "with a note that said 'I have no idea whether this will sync up, but give it a shot.' We were floored by how amazing the recordings sounded — and it synced up perfectly with the picture!"

"It actually changes the movie," Hendrickson says, in regards to the restored sound. "Take the Donovan scene: It has always been read as this big takedown, with Dylan taking the guitar and trying to one-up the singer. But now, you can actually hear Donovan ask Dylan to play 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' for him — it changes the intention of the scene entirely. It's not nearly as negative! All of us in the office were watching the movie right after we put the sound track in and we suddenly, Wait...did he just request the song?!? And none of us could remember hearing that before."

That's pretty awesome! Regarding the sync issues though, that may have been a common problem with the early cinema verite films - the timing was just a tiny bit imperfect. Ridley Scott once worked for Pennebaker (I think as an intern or an editing assistant) and he described his main task as syncing up audio - that is, he would let it play, wait for it to drift, then make an adjustment.

[FrauBlucher]

I picked this up along with Gimme Shelter. Can the 60s ever be repeated for music and their scenes. Just an amazing time for those who experienced it.

Depends on how you frame the question. Given the cultural shift that went on during that decade and the role rock music played in that (how new it was, the connection it had to youth culture, and the economics of the business at the time that made its breadth and diversity possible), I can't imagine it ever being repeated.*

But, at the same time, I see it spun too many times by people blinded by nostalgia that rock music then was so much better than any other time, which is a load of garbage.

* Actually, the alternative explosion of the '90s may have been close, but it was a big bang that faded much more quickly. 1993 was a peak year, but by the next, Kurt Cobain was dead and the political climate took a hard turn to the right.

Agreed. The 60's music scene was a culture shock and it changed things forever. That it happened during a very turbulent time makes it even more impactful, but other scenes that followed were just as impressive for their own reasons. Punk which started in the early 70s (Iggy and the Stooges, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Jonathan Richman, amongst some others) and became full blown in the mid 70s had great music and scenes in NY, LA and London. For me Punk rivals what the 60s produced in terms of music. The Alt of the 90s was another great music movement, that unfortunately was very short lived.

All this is slowly moving towards a bygone era much like the great Jazz age has.

[hearthesilence]

It's crazy to think that, but (good) rock music is now thriving as indie music - it has no presence in the mainstream anymore unless it's for nostalgic purposes. You really have to wonder if it's now following the same trajectory as jazz. Rock music managed to remain extremely popular and vital for much longer, partly because it was able to mutate in ways other genres can't (even taking on elements of other genres without setting off an enormous backlash from 'purists'), but in five years, it's pretty dramatic how it's virtually disappeared from the pop charts. Not to sound all doom and gloom though, good hip-hop is bigger than ever so maybe it's taking on the role that rock once had.

[Drucker]

I've made an argument like that many times. I actually believe that hip hop is entering its punk rock era. The best music is certainly accessible and critically acclaimed (Kendrick Lamar), but your average high school student isn't exactly listening to the best stuff (Trap Muzik). Whereas the best rock music is, as you say, fully underground. The top tier indie bands (The Shins, Arcade Fire), are obviously bands that in a previous era would have been chart toppers, but major label rock is unfortunately d-e-a-d. And a kid in high school getting into punk rock/underground rock is going to have a hard time since a band like Parquet Courts or Merchandise, which is certainly more popular, were still playing 21+ venues until a few years ago.

[FrauBlucher]

I agree with good to great music is still being made. What I think will never be seen again are the scenes. I always marvel, and wish I could put myself into a time machine and go back to when Hendrix exploded onto the London club scene. In the audience watching and getting blown away by him were Lennon, Clapton, Townsend, Burden and others. And that was a nightly basis. And this has been repeated in LA, NY, Detroit (Motown) and SF during the halcyon days of the rock generations.

Because music has become so fragmented, driven by money, glamour and technology those very in person scenes won't exist. And if they do, it will be on such a small level because of the fragmentation of popular music.

Maybe I'm being an old fuddy duddy but I just don't get the same vibe from music or it's industry.

Btw.... I love The Shins.

[Drucker]

I mean, there is no investment in great rock music anymore. Simple as that. Radiohead and U2 are the two examples I give as bands that took years to become as great as they would become. There isn't even an infrastructure in place anymore that could allow bands to evolve and thrive like that anymore. Today, bands that do last for years live meager lives and most assuredly don't have resources like "studio time" on someone else's dollar at their disposal. We don't invest in much these days :/

[FrauBlucher]

So true. That's it in a nutshell. When you can't and won't cultivate art on any level, that is truly a sorry state.

[domino harvey]

I had no idea Mark Ruffalo's character in Begin Again posted here

[swo17]

That movie like saved rock n roll man so I don't know why we're even having this conversation.

[AfterTheFlood]

I think the people who worship 1960s rock fail to realize that the VAST majority of music was lame. You had all the dumb hippie rock bands (Strawberry Alarm Clock) and bubblegum pop (Tommy Roe), as well as the music the older adults listened to (Herb Alpert). I think the Baby Boomers want everyone to believe that every band back then was The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, when that wasn't remotely close to reality. Yes, I have some amazing albums in my music collection from the 1960s, but to act as if every Westerner was listening to The Velvet Underground type quality music is such nonsense.