The Other Side Of The Mirror: Live At Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 Review

Release Date: October 30, 2007
Few performances in history are as legendary - or as controversial - as Bob Dylan's 1965 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. By putting you in the audience for Dylan's Newport performances from 1963 through that pivotal set in 1965, Academy Award-winning director Murray Lerner's The Other Side Of The Mirror captures Dylan's metamorphosis from the folk family's best-kept secret to rock's fiercely confrontational poet who would electrify an entire nation and become the voice of his generation.

Sound:	8
Content:	6
Production:	7
Impression:	7
Overall rating:	7
Users rating:	7.9
Comments:	35

overall: 7

Reviewed by: sweetpeasuzie, on november 28, 2007

Sound: The latest documentary on the rise of Bob Dylan is called The Other Side Of The Mirror: Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965, directed by Murray Lerner and released by Columbia Records/Sony BMG Entertainment. The sound quality of the film is good. Most of the DVD/CD ROM features Dylan in concert at the huge Rhode Island shindig, Newport Folk Festival, for the summers of 1963, 1964, and 1965. Dylan was 22 years old in 1963 and his voice and guitar playing was still green. The film captures the simplicity of Dylan’s music and his bashfulness in front of large crowds In 1963, as he seems unsure where to stand and sit, grabbles with holding his vocal pitch levels, and he plays his acoustic guitar with shaky strumming. The documentary feels like a genuine article with little cutting of such spontaneous shots. The short clip that Lerner provides of Johnny Cash singing at the 1964 Festival is vintage and Cash’s sounds quality if magnificent. Unfortunately, this was not a documentary on both Cash and Dylan so Lerner only showed a snippet of Cash’s performance. The DVD includes performances with Dylan and Joan Baez which had the young collegiate crowds hypnotized. She, along with the vocal groups Peter, Paul and Mary, and The Freedom Singers sang background vocals for Dylan on the number “Blowin’ In The Wind” at the 1964 Festival. The sound quality for these performances are good, but the best sound or maybe the best performance was Dylan’s set at the 1965 Festival where he played the electric guitar and acoustic harmonica. The sound quality captured every frilly nuance and chord dynamic in the music and shows Dylan‘s self-confidence as a performer and songwriter. // 8

Content: Most of the content in the film is concert footage all shot in black and white, which gives it a classic appeal. Besides the concert footage, Lerner also provides an interview with Joan Baez talking about the audiences and how Dylan’s music is able to connect with them. The film shows an outside view of Baez’s and Dylan’s relationship, even beginning the film with Joan Baez making a speech that presents Bob Dylan to the stage. She says, “Every period, every time has it's heroes…This is a young man who grew out of a need. He came here, he came to be as he is because things needed saying, and the young people were the ones who wanted to say them and they wanted to say them in their own way. He somehow had an ear on his generation. I don’t have to tell you. You know him, he’s yours, Bob Dylan.” And then there is a loud cheer coming from the crowd. The footage gives a sense that Baez was Dylan’s tutor and confidante through 1963 and 1964, but he clearly shows his independence from her by his performance in 1965. He grew out of her by then and is performing an electric set with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band as opposed to his previous acoustic folk sets in 1963 and 1964. It is a like a star has been set on ablaze and the film shows that progression. // 6

Production Quality: The production makes the film dated. It looks like it was shot in the 1960s which again gives it a classic appeal. The effects that Lerner uses are slight like coming up close to Dylan’s face and then panning out across the audience. What makes the production good is that Lerner keeps it focused on Dylan whether it is Johnny Cash showing his respects to Dylan or talking to audience members and finding out their opinions about Dylan. Some of them saw Dylan as a massive force in American society and others expressed that Dylan was overrated. During the concert footage, the spotlight is on Dylan and anyone else caught in the shot is accidental. Dylan may have had an ear on his generation but Lerner only had eyes for Dylan in the film. The disc also includes a current interview with Lerner who talks about what was going on among America’s youth during the early ‘60s and how music played a role in making change happen. He explains in this segment on the disc about social changes that were being initiated and how Dylan’s music reflected those underground movements. America’s youth gained confidence in themselves at the same rate that Dylan had done, so it Is a generation that has grown up with him and will always think of him as a massive force in American society. // 7

Impression: Overall the DVD/CD ROM is good for people of Dylan’s generation, although younger generations will find the documentary informative, especially Lerner’s interview which explains why he wanted to film the Newport Folk Festivals during the early ‘60s. Lerner described the 1950s as an age of conformity and the ‘60s sprouted an age of nonconformity, and the Newport Folk Festival was at the heart of this movement. He tells that America’s youth saw Dylan as a mirror reflection of them and he wanted his documentary to show the other side of that mirror. He showed the simple man that Bob Dylan was, going from a bashful yelp to a confident star. Dylan’s own confidence was built up alongside the confidence of his generation, creating a unbreakable link that is still present. Lerner’s documentary The Other Side Of The Mirror: Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 shows that bond which was formed in the early ’60s and still holds strong today. // 7

Comments

[xlxgaruxlx]

Bobby-D!!

[nordicskiah]

I'm still trying to find where I'm Not There is plying near me.....

[chobe]

Watched it on the BBC about a month ago. T'was excellent.

[ghostmouse859]

i saw i'm not there and it's not that good unless you are dylan fan with nothing to hide.

[MetalForce]

I don't get why the USA has their heads buried up Bob dylan's ass like he is the best singer/songwriter of all time. Can't sing worth a crap!!!

[SL!!!]

What?! He can carry a tune. Not the greatest singer, but that's not the point of folksongs. It's about the lyrics. Come on MetalForce, get your out of your own ass.

[SL!!!]

your head....

is what i meant.

i really wish there was an edit button.

hahah, dammit.

[Fi-Fi]

not a lot of people seem interested in Dillan, in don't think he's that special either, though he was a big inspiration for a lot of gooed bands. Makes him better

[42hendrix70]

got to admit that every artist that covers one of his songs can do way better. jimi hendrix's versions of all along the watchtower or like a rolling stone (the best version is with bb king) are examples of that. but dylan is the best songwriter.

[SixStrings]

Bob Dylan could sing just as good as almost any commercial vocalists of that period. seriously, listen to and compare his vocals on the album "Nashville Skyline" where the opening track is a duet with Johny Cash singing "Girl from the North Country" wich also apears on the "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album. The entire Nashville skyline album is songs where Dylan sings in an uncharacteristic Dylan fashion sounding more like a commercialized singer rather than the Bob Dylan we all remember. Or you can just listen to the early Dylan album from year to year he basically changes the way he sings with "Blonde on Blonde" sounding more Dylanized even more than "Bringing it all Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited". So MetalForce, that's like saying James Hetfield cant sing worth a crap because he chose to sing in that aggresive fashion to fit the type of music he was trying to get across, and then you hear "Fade To Black" from "Ride The Lightening" and you know it's a style because the vocals are more melodic and in harmony.

[Divinephyton]

I can't believe what the world is coming to! People, you can't take a swing at Bob Dylan, and say stuff like ''he couldn't sing, he couldn't play'', that's like taking a swing at B.B. King. Sure you can not like it, but downplaying an influential artist like that is like true hubris...
It's things like this that make me lose faith in the next generation...

[Who66]

and the foes will rise with the sleep still in their eyes an they'll jerk from their beds and think their dreamin'
but theyll pinch themselves and squeal and theyll know that its for real the hour that the ship comes in
and they'll raise their hands sayin well meet all your demands but well shout from the bow your days are numbered and like pharaohs tribe theyll be drownded in the tide an like goliath theyll be conquered.

[Like I Is]

Kids are so stupid.

[JimPrenier_11]

Quit picking at Bob Dylan!!!! He's 100 times the musician those metal heads are! Get A clue I like Bob Dylan doing his songs way better than the other bands. Anyone can take another mans work and make money off it!!!

[SixStrings]

Bob Dylan is the absolute most influential artist that is still alive today. The Beatles and Elvis are no more, but Bob Dylan the creative genius, ever changing chameleon, many times copied, but never duplicated, artist of artist is still alive and active on this day! i own over 25 of his albums, his last chronicles book, and his last 2 dvd/documentry's that have come out and i still want more! "the other side of the mirror" dvd and "no direction home" are both absolute must haves for any musicain or just fan of music!

[kgesme21]

As much as I like Bob, his new stuff is definitely overrated. And it dosen't help that Rolling Stone will bend over backwards and give him 5/5 for anything that he puts out. Now I'm not saying it's not good, because it is good, it's just not groundbreaking, something in my opinion a 5 star album needs to be. I'd still give his new stuff something like 3 1/2 stars (or whatever you use to rate things), and his old stuff is definitely worthy of the 5/5, but lets stop giving the automatic to his new stuff just because he is Bob Dylan.

[kgesme21]

Oh and saw this video, it's amazing.

[JimiHendrix11]

BOB DYLAN!!!!!

[lovecarryking]

yaaaaa boyyy

[JimiHendrix11]

great vid

[jv_music]

kids these days don't know where their roots lie. i was in the library and some metallica head said to his friend "bob dylan" sucks. i was pretty damn pissed at that. metallica's cool, but if you ask them about dylan they'd sure in hell would show a lot of respect towards him.

[jv_music]

kids these days don't know where their roots lie. i was in the library and some metallica head said to his friend "bob dylan" sucks. i was pretty damn pissed at that. metallica's cool, but if you ask them about dylan they'd sure in hell would show a lot of respect towards him.

[Who66]

i'm not sure if many people are aware of how far above EVERYBODY else his lyrics are. His "political" stuff utterly destroys fallacies, his love songs are incredible (try love minus zero, tomorrow is a long time)and his imagery is surreal. writing him off because he supposedly doesn't have a traditionally beautiful voice just smacks of the musical fascism that some people embrace around here ("that guitarist doesn't play 200 notes a second? he sucks!") as well as the misguided arrogance of people who have not been exposed to anything more poetic than "wake me up.."

[bludwolfrocks]

dylans sunglasses are trendy nowdays

[lovecarryking]

WHOS BETTER CARRY KING FROM SLAYER OR JIMI-HENDRIX

[lovecarryking]

DYLAN USED 2 BE GOOD BUT NOW HE SUCKS

[lildrummerboy]

Dylan has had more alcohol in his blood then your entire family tree. It is an issue that will kill him, but thats why hes getting worse (along with age and arthritis), but he was almost always drunk or stoned so yeah hes not a vocal virtuoso, but his music and lyrical ability is unparalleled.

[El_Borracho]

Im 19, and i think Dylan is one of the best poets and songwriters of this century. So there, kids do know their history. I will admit though, he's definetly an aquired taste.

[pinkfloydfish]

I'm only 18, and I definitely appreciate Bob Dylan. The songs that he writes are absolutely amazing and wonderful pieces of art. They are inspiring and always have very profound meanings. He inspires me when I write songs, and I'm sure that most artists have been somewhat influenced by him.

[riggsley]

dylan is alright. to me, music is more than lyrics and poetry. music is the coming together of many elements to make something even greater than words can explain.

if i really wanted lyrical value, i would read a book... music is more then that to me. he's no musician in my book.

[vivek.u]

who66, those lyrics are brilliant. which song? listen to masters of war, its one of his angriest and best political songs. inspires me every time

[jpgr1987]

A valid point by riggsley, I used to be lyric mad and Dylan was one of my main influences, but now I feel music is of greater importance since starting college and hearing all these new instruments and styles.
I'm not much of fan of Dylan anymore, a lot of the lyrics just seem random nonsense, and then disguised by claiming it's poetic. Seen him live too and he was pretty bad.

[izliz]

jpgr1987, despite your claims, I tend to think that you never really listened to Dylan very carefully if you think his lyrics "just seem random nonsense.' As to musical styles, his career reflects one of the broadest ranges of musical influences of any I can think of. He never had the musical inventiveness of the Beatles (then again, how much dd George Martin have to do with that?), and his songs aren't as melodic as some other songwriters in his league (Paul Simon comes to mind), but it is a mistake to underestimate the musical merits of his songs--they are not only about the lyrics (which are unmatched by anyone, in my opinion). I started listening to Dylan many years ago, at the age of 13. I went through periods when I didn't listen to him much, because other performers/bands absorbed my interest. But I have come back to his stuff over and over through the years, it has real staying power.

[theazor]

The speech you cite ("Every time has its heroes") is by Ronnie Gilbert, not Joan Baez.

[chobe]

I thought it wasn't Joan. Review's not great in general, some of the comments made me lol though.