Latest music DVDs reviewed
JOEL GILBERT
Bob Dylan's Jesus Years: Busy Being Born....Again! MVD Visual **
Bob Dylan has often taken no small pleasure in surprising his audience through the often unrecognisable re-envisioning of his songs and his embracing of particular styles of music. However, even his most understanding of fans were staggered by his late-1970s conversion to fundamentalist Christianity (particularly when he had sneered at the topic on Blood on the Tracks reject, Up To Me). This low-budget documentary forms some kind of contextual explanation and sheds meagre light on what aficionados regard as Bob's odd years. The real downside is director Joel Gilbert's insistence to thrust himself into virtually every scene and the crude design principles that undermine the visual content. The good parts are those provided by talking heads pastor Bill Dywer (Dylan's one-time Bible teacher) and Joel Selvin (rock critic of the San Francisco Chronicle). However, these are few and far between in a work that searches for meaning as it simultaneously falls between the cracks. www.highway61 revisited.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA
THIN LIZZY
Live and Dangerous Universal ****
Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous album was recorded over a series of concerts on the band's 1977 tour and still represents one of those rare albums where everything seemed to have come right for the band. This DVD is taken from a single concert, a gig at London's Rainbow Theatre in 1978 which was used to promote the live CD. Featuring the dual guitars line-up of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson, this is Lizzy in peak form. Opening with The Boys Are Back In Townand featuring all the hits along the way, this is a wonderful snapshot of a band going at it hammer and tongs. The production values aren't that great but the power of the music makes thatirrelevant. BRIAN BOYD