Bob Dylan: Under Review 1978-1989

The film provides an interesting perspective from recording engineers and session players from the era which critics, fans, and many nay-sayers dubbed "the Christian years". If you enjoy watching submissions and disjointed interview clips from techs and one-off session players, this may be for you. There's a noted lack of actual Dylan footage, and only a few short performance clips with Mark Knopfler. This easily could have been condensed into a one-hour biopic. However, for hardcore Dylan fans and studiophiles it's quite enjoyable. Overall, it's an enjoyable peek behind the scenes of what was a prolific time in a stellar career.

Bob Dylan: 1978-1989 - Both Ends of the Rainbow (2008)

*** (out of 4)

After years of going without any sort of documentary about Bob Dylan, fans not only got the Martin Scorsese picture but also a whole slew of independent, direct-to-DVD releases covering various periods of his career. At least two different companies have been looking at these periods and this one here covers the Christian period all through the 80s leading up to the album Oh Mercy. As with many of the others, your Dylan fan-dome will probably determine how much you enjoy this. As a die-hard fan I enjoy hearing other opinions on the man and there's no question that there's so much information here that the main groups who are going to be entertained are those who really want to know as much as they can. Clinton Heylin, Scott Marshall (author), Johnny Roban (rock author), Robert Christgau (Rolling Stone), Patrick Humphries (Dylan author), Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone), Derek Barker (Isis Magazine) are joined by Toby Scott (engeenier on Shot of Love), Robbie Shakespeare (Bass on Infidels), Sly Dunbar (dummer on Infidels), Ted Perlman (Empire Burlesque guitarist), Ira Ingher (Knocked Out Loaded guitarist) and Mark Howard (engeenier Oh Mercy) as they share their opinions on insight on this period of Dylan's career. With the exception of the album Real Live, everything Dylan did during this period are covered. This includes Live Aid, Farm Aid, We Are the World, the various Tours, the Wilburys, the critics hating him and we even get a few television appearances including Letterman and Saturday Night Live. Running at two hours there's quite a bit of information given and there are all sorts of opinions flying, which is always fun because no one can share the same view on some of these albums. The Christian stuff, which has had a few documentaries of its own, is looked at but it's great to see some of the other albums get talked about. This includes the work on Infidels and of course the comeback on Oh Mercy. The funniest moments come when many are attacking albums like Empire, Knocked Out Loaded and Down in a Groove but then someone will mention some of the very good songs on those albums and you realize that there were some very good stuff from this period (and Empire is one of my favorites).