Dylan completists have seen much of this material in other forms but for the less indoctrinated, there are nuggets to be mined, such as from Paris in 1966 when Dylan – in his skinny-suit glory – faces a hostile audience that feels he’s betrayed his folk roots by going electric, spending an inordinate amount of time tuning his guitar during the acoustic half of the show.
“You see, my electric guitar never goes out of tune,” he says to the booing throng, dripping with sarcasm. Also being released simultaneously in newly packaged form are four concert films: Bob Dylan: Trouble No More – A Musical Film; The Other Side Of The Mirror: Bob Dylan Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965, Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, and Bob Dylan: MTV Unplugged, as well as the narrative feature that Dylan co-wrote and starred in, Masked and Anonymous (2003), directed by Larry Charles.
Dating back to the mid ’60s, Dylan has spent a copious amount of time in the studio laying down tracks that never saw the light of day until Columbia’s Bootleg Series (1991), which introduced the public to rare B sides, alternate takes and live recordings only heard previously on actual bootlegs traded among his fans. Promo material behind these lavish packages can be seen in Odds and Ends. More will also come from other Sony artists, according to Tom Mackay, SME president, premium content/ and A&R.
“Given our incredible catalog of premium content from some of the most iconic artists of all time, we have a handful of major projects around the corner that take advantage of opportunities we can uniquely create across the Sony companies,” Mackay tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Working together with SPE is one exciting way for our artists to reach their fans around the world, and the release of the Bob Dylan Film Essentials is a great way to kick off all that.”
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
