Bob Dylan: Change on the Tracks (2008)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Unauthorized documentary discussing Bob Dylan's landmark album "Blood on the Tracks". Critics and fans Andrew Muir, Andy Gill, Johnathan Wingate, Mick Gold and Clinton Heylin are among those interviewed and giving their opinions on the album. I called this documentary unauthorized for a couple reasons but the biggest is the fact that Dylan or Sony had anything to do with its making. The second is that, unlike a lot of the low-budget Dylan documentaries out there, this one here actually features concert footage as well as footage from movies that I doubt were given permission to be included here. We get "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" from THE LAST WALTZ, "Tangled Up in Blue" from RENALDO AND CLARA, "Idiot Wind" and "Shelter From the Storm" from HARD RAIN, "I Threw It All Away" and "Girl From the North Country" from The Johnny Cash Show and even clips from the 1965 San Fran press conference. All in all this documentary certainly isn't the greatest but I'm sure die-hard fans like myself will get some entertainment out of it if you enjoy hearing the opinions of others. I didn't agree with everything that was said here but the opinions offered up are nice even though we do get into the familiar trappings of people saying what Dylan was thinking when he did this or that even though it's doubtful the person even ever met Dylan let alone knew what he was thinking at a certain point in time. The documentary also discusses a few of the albums and tours leading up to what many, myself included, feels is Dylan's greatest album. Running at just 52-minutes there's really nothing new here but it's nice seeing the (questionable) footage as well as hearing others speak.
