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06/09/2006

Modern Times DVD – yet another missed opportunity

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“It's hard not to feel hard done by when it comes to video footage of Dylan. Despite numerous television appearances over the years, incendiary footage shot during the 1966 world tour, the Hard Rain show, and promo videos in the ‘80s and ‘90s, all we have to show for it is the Unplugged DVD.

“Whatever happened to the much vaunted Videograph, which at one time was being spoken of as a visual equivalent of the Biograph box set?

“The new DVD accompanying "Modern Times" is a case in point. At last, an official release of the sublime "Blood In My Eyes" video, along with a storming "Cold Irons Bound" (tantalisingly glimpsed in "Masked and Anonymous"), and the hilarious "Things Have Changed" promo.

“What a shame, then, that Sony (or whoever makes these kinds of decisions) decided to excise the Soy Bomb 'protestor' from Dylan's superb performance at the 1998 Grammies.

“For, once again, Dylan fans are hard done by - this audio-visual surgery has totally removed one verse from the "Time Out Of Mind" song. You can just hear them now - "Oh, it doesn't matter - no one will notice!" I guess they didn't want to give Mr Soy Bomb any more free publicity, but he'd already been seen by a worldwide audience when the show was originally broadcast, along with having his picture plastered globally across every music magazine in the aftermath of the event. Interestingly, no one seems to know even now what he was protesting about.

“Fortunately, Dylan fans can obtain as much footage as they want through illegal routes, but once again it seems like a missed opportunity. Sony have failed to give maximum exposure to one of the few living musical icons still touring and recording.”

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