No one compares to Bob Dylan. Few things ring as true as this statement in rock ‘n’ roll’s history. Now with the release of the DVD “The Other Side of the Mirror,” his music can be experienced like never before.
Filmed at the Newport Folk Festival from 1963-65, the DVD captures everything from a young Dylan at the beginning of his ascent to rock stardom to a confident and cool voice of a generation.
A very bare bones approach to concert films, “The Other Side of the Mirror” is both laid back and epic. Concert footage from 1963 often feels like accidentally wandering into a festival that just happens to be in town for the weekend. With Dylan slumped down in a folding chair on an afternoon porch in front of countless 20-somethings, you might as well be there sitting on the lawn yourself.
Having the chance to see this timeless troubadour run through classic tunes, like the thoughtful acoustic duet with Joan Baez, on “With God on Our Side” is almost unreal. But what’s truly special about the 1963 performances are protest anthems.
Songs like the awe inspiring “Only a Pawn in Their Game” and the most soulful and heart-wrenching rendition of “Blowin’ in the Wind” (with Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary and The Freedom Singers on backup) are jaw dropping.
By the time the film picks back up in 1964, an entirely different Dylan takes the stage. Gone is the nervous and reluctant boy shoved awkwardly into the spotlight by the needs of a generation, but replacing him is the true performer and activist he is remembered as.
This is Dylan really beginning to capture a stranglehold on his own style and voice. As friend, Johnny Cash humbly puts it best in a stage introduction, “He’s the greatest musician since Pete Seeger.” Well, Johnny might’ve been onto something. But little did he know, while Pete Seeger might have been one of the forefathers of the folk styles emerging in the ’60s, Dylan’s music would come to harness the attention of an entire world and generation.
Once footage from his 1965 performance rolls around, though, it’s hard to believe much more could be packed into this already impressive resume of essential Dylan tunes and behind-the-scenes interviews with people like Joan Baez. But nothing could be further from the truth as the 1965 performances can be considered the highlight of the DVD.
It was not only the year he would release one of the greatest and most inspirational albums of all time, “Highway 61 Revisited,” but it was also the first time Dylan ever plugged in on stage and played electric. Captured here for the first time live on electric guitar is “Like a Rolling Stone.” And it’s nothing short of incredible.
This performance is worth the price of the DVD alone, as Dylan rips through the tune with the cool precision of a true artist. This is Dylan in the process of claiming his status as a true rock ‘n’ roll legend, a “freewheelin’,” ever-roaming and ever-poetic tongue to both a generation and a cause.
Overall, “The Other Side of the Mirror” is both engaging and thought provoking. Performances and interviews shed light on what an inspirational and exciting experience these concerts were for the times and generations to come. It’s hard not to smile thinking of just how lucky it is to have captured these powerful moments for the posterity of rock history.
But it isn’t just the significance of these times, politics and songs that’s really so monumentally essential to rock ‘n’ roll. It’s the forming of a legend before the eyes of a nation that really gets the heart racing.
It’s the fruition and perfection of the classic rock star archetype: the looming spotlight on the shaggy-haired, skinny boy plucking at a guitar. And suddenly it’s clear: This is why there can only be one Bob Dylan.
