Bob Dylan 2001-07-11
BBC Radio 2 - Documentary, London, UK
Set 1
From BBC Radio Times, 7-13 July, 2001:
On the radio page for Wednesday 11th July.
The Bob Dylan Story
10.00pm R2 Bob Dylan's 60th birthday in May has already brought forward a crop of programmes but this new series, presented by long-time Dylan pal Kris Kristofferson, claims to be definitive. As Quentin Cooper says on page 19, it certainly contains some little-heard material and new insights from many of the rock glitterati assembled for the project. I have seen Dylan live only once, at an ice rink in Mannheim, Germany, of all places, but he was then, and remains, one of the most fascinating, talented and at times maddening of modern musicians.
Peter Barnard
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Page 19:
The Times are still a-changing for rock's poet laureate. In the past year alone, he's celebrated his 60th birthday and bagged an Oscar.
Bob's still the man.
Rock & pop singer, poet, spokesman for a generation, turncoat. Always an electric performer even when he was acoustic, Bob Dylan's back pages have long been heavily thumbed and annotated by those attempting to define this "creature void of form". So what can a new ten-part Radio 2 series add, especially in a year in which Dylan has turned 60, won an Oscar (Things Have Changed from the Wonder Boys soundtrack) and already been subjected to intense media scrutiny (including by the Poet Laureate himself, Andrew Motion, in this magazine)?
Surprisingly, quite a lot. Producer John Leonard trawled the archives for seldom heard performances and for comments on Dylan by his contemporaries and-much rarer- the man himself. There are also original interviews from huge rockers such as Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen, who cite Dylan as a source of lyrical and spiritual inspiration, to folkies such as Martin Carthy, whom Dylan in turn lists as an early influence.
An extra layer of credibility and insight is added by the choice of Kris Kristofferson as series narrator. Kristofferson - recorded in Prague where he's filming "Blade 2: Bloodlust" is a long-time Dylan buddy, and in one programme he tells how their paths first Kris crossed. Shortly after he moved to Nashville to (successfully) pursue his dream of becoming a country star, Kristofferson took a job as a janitor to make ends meet. It was at Columbia studios - where he found himself cleaning out the ashtrays while Dylan recorded his classic albums Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. If only he'd kept those historic fag ends.
Quentin Cooper
On the radio page for Wednesday 11th July.
The Bob Dylan Story
10.00pm R2 Bob Dylan's 60th birthday in May has already brought forward a crop of programmes but this new series, presented by long-time Dylan pal Kris Kristofferson, claims to be definitive. As Quentin Cooper says on page 19, it certainly contains some little-heard material and new insights from many of the rock glitterati assembled for the project. I have seen Dylan live only once, at an ice rink in Mannheim, Germany, of all places, but he was then, and remains, one of the most fascinating, talented and at times maddening of modern musicians.
Peter Barnard
------------
Page 19:
The Times are still a-changing for rock's poet laureate. In the past year alone, he's celebrated his 60th birthday and bagged an Oscar.
Bob's still the man.
Rock & pop singer, poet, spokesman for a generation, turncoat. Always an electric performer even when he was acoustic, Bob Dylan's back pages have long been heavily thumbed and annotated by those attempting to define this "creature void of form". So what can a new ten-part Radio 2 series add, especially in a year in which Dylan has turned 60, won an Oscar (Things Have Changed from the Wonder Boys soundtrack) and already been subjected to intense media scrutiny (including by the Poet Laureate himself, Andrew Motion, in this magazine)?
Surprisingly, quite a lot. Producer John Leonard trawled the archives for seldom heard performances and for comments on Dylan by his contemporaries and-much rarer- the man himself. There are also original interviews from huge rockers such as Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen, who cite Dylan as a source of lyrical and spiritual inspiration, to folkies such as Martin Carthy, whom Dylan in turn lists as an early influence.
An extra layer of credibility and insight is added by the choice of Kris Kristofferson as series narrator. Kristofferson - recorded in Prague where he's filming "Blade 2: Bloodlust" is a long-time Dylan buddy, and in one programme he tells how their paths first Kris crossed. Shortly after he moved to Nashville to (successfully) pursue his dream of becoming a country star, Kristofferson took a job as a janitor to make ends meet. It was at Columbia studios - where he found himself cleaning out the ashtrays while Dylan recorded his classic albums Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline. If only he'd kept those historic fag ends.
Quentin Cooper
Set 2
Set 3
Comment
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Created At
Fri Mar 04 2005 12:59:14 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Updated At
Fri Mar 04 2005 12:59:14 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
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