There were 3 songs — "Outlaw Blues" and, surprisingly "Three Angels"...
... and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time"...
What did you think? It's very hard for me to judge... other than that I was delighted that "Three Angels" was chosen and disappointed that the sound wasn't balanced properly in the end of the song and we lost Timmy's voice. But does anyone hear the music they play, does anyone even try?
I'm interested in the fashion interpretation of Bob's famous polka dots. Bob's were a shirt. Timmy's — same size and color — were a hoodie. The shift from shirt to hoodie sheds light on the choice to do "Three Angels." It's a rap song.
ADDED: I haven't been able to force myself to go see Chalamet's movie yet, so I don't know how close these performances last night are to his embodiment of Bob in the movie. In a Reddit discussion, the top comment is: "Actually credit for Timmy for not doing Bob, I much more appreciate a Dylan cover that's not trying to be Bob and that rendition of Three Angels sounded fresh."
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Now you going to see the movie, Ann? Sunday matinee coming up. You will be among old people in the theater, as we were a couple weeks ago.
...depends on the meaning of "old".
Older than me.
Kudos for choosing deep tracks, but the singing is blah. Nothing distinctive in the voice and no real emotion coming through. The musical accompaniment to Outlaw Blues was good - I think it was inspired by Jack White's cover version. But Jack sung the shit out of the song, TC singing was just boring mannerisms.
Tomorrow is A Long Time is a great song. Elvis did a great cover of it. TC, not so.
I couldn't listen to Three Angels all the way through. It's one of a handful of Dylan songs that I can't bear. Too maudlin without any redeeming value that some of Dylan's weaker songs have.
That was awfully ok. Hope it's better in the movie.
I like that black and white scarf but I wish he'd gone full SS Totenkopf.
Maybe it's better not thru a cheap laptop.
And what kind of drugs do you have to be on to want to look at those strobe lights?
But does anyone hear the music they play, does anyone even try?
On the assumption that by “anyone” and “they” Althouse means do we viewers pay close attention to the musical performances on SNL the answer is an enthusiastic YES. I especially like when they work the guest musicians into skits. Mick Jagger was hilarious in a few. I’m trying to recall the last combo guest host/musical guest I saw. Not sure but my fuzzy recollection is that she was underwhelming in both roles.
“Old like me” was fully half the theater in our case.
"Now you going to see the movie, Ann? Sunday matinee coming up."
These performances did not change my chance of seeing the movie, which was always 100%. I'm just not eager to see it early. What difference does that make? It's a long movie, and I'd prefer to see it on TV. I don't like being locked into somebody else's time. I would rather have my time free. There’s beauty in that silver, singing river. There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky....
I know him from somewhere...
Tomorrow Is a Long Time -- an exceptional song and performance.
I had to skip over to Three Angels. Strobe lights trigger migraines for me. These were stupidly glaring.
His singing was "fair" at best. So, better than Dylan.
Look at it this way, no one can sing worse than Bob Dylan. Its a credit to his songwriting ability that someone with such a "Unique" voice and no acting ability has become a media legend.
There was one other person in the early Thursday afternoon showing my wife and I attended.
Also: Props to Bob Dylan for not answering the doorbell naked asking for someone to touch his dick, or raping women in hot-tubs.
Those that treat epilepsy.
Ann said, "I'd prefer to see it on TV."
No no no Ann! This is one to see on the big screen, with a good sound system, to immerse yourself in Dylan and his music. And Chalamet's singing as Dylan is spot-on, in a like-Dylan but better-than-Dylan way.
There’s still time…
Fruit Bat, re Totenkopf:
Les Boys got leather straps/ Les Boys got SS caps…..
JSM
There is also beauty in a big screen, a dark room, the company of strangers, and wiping popcorn butter off on your pantsleg.
John, ref the beauty in wiping popcorn butter on pant legs:
So that’s what Lauren Boebert was doing!
JSM
" This is one to see on the big screen, with a good sound system, to immerse yourself in Dylan and his music."
I don't want to be trapped and made to watch the whole thing in one sitting. But you're reminding me of other reasons I don't want to commit to a theater viewing. The sound can be too loud and it can be distorted (for example, with too much bass and thumping rhythm). And I've been listening to Dylan for 60 years. What "immersion" do I want? I'm already over immersed, perhaps, but the immersion I like is to listen to an entire album in sequence while being outside walking. Listening to someone else sing parts of the songs while I sit still indoors — that's not optimal.
And I like listening to the songs, not watching the singer. I rarely watch videos of Bob, so I'm a bit resistant to watching an extended not-Bob.
I really think the full-length album is the true experience, at least for me, and that's exactly what I had when I first started listening, when I was 14 and listening alone.
"And Chalamet's singing as Dylan is spot-on, in a like-Dylan but better-than-Dylan way."
I know that's not true. It is different and the way that is different may seem better to you, but it isn't better to me. There is feeling and meaning in Bob's singing that is so familiar to me in every song. That's the essential Bobness. Without that, what are we listening to?
I respect Chalamet's earnestness. But Bob is beyond earnestness.
And the sound in theaters now. Excellent sound design for this movie. Deserves an Oscar.
In the early 1990s Rolling Stone magazine released a video titled "25 Years of Rolling Stone" that featured many live (archive) performances of artists, whole songs by them, who had graced their cover over the years. One was vintage Dylan in almost white-face type makeup and eyeliner singing "Tangled Up in Blue" solo, with acoustic guitar. His delivery was borderline angry, eyes flashing, almost biting the words off.
It was riveting. I saw him in a totally new light. I barely recall anything else from that video. Almost got chills now simply remembering it to write this. Dylan had the ability to infuse his vocals with the emotion he put into the song. He made it look easy, just like Tom Petty, but there was masterful technique behind what appears to be simple at first glance.
I’ve gotta give a shout out for Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash in the movie. Also, I’ve only seen Dylan perform since he was in his 50s. I like Chalamet’s overall performance in the movie and liked his singing. It’s not the Bob Dylan I’ve seen live but I never saw young Bob.
Ann, in the 4 hours you've spent arguing with your commenters, you could have just gone out and watched the dang movie.
Seeing it on TV/DVD is better. Its freedom. And no one needs a 60 foot sreen to watch bob Dylan.
Sometimes things are better in the original format, and don't improve with being made into film. I loved Maggie Smith performance, but the movie "Prime of miss Jean Brodie" was so much better as a novel. You cant translate the literary style or the wit onto film, and its too subtle for the big screen.
"That's the essential Bobness." - exactly.
He is a sneaky good guitar player. He really nailed Dylan's triplet style of rhythm guitar in the movie, and the first song he played "Outlaw Blues." Nice finger picking on "Tomorrow." I wish he'd sung "Simple Twist Of Fate," or a slow version of "You're Going To Make Me Lonesome," off Blood On The Tracks.
Every time you see Chalamet he looks like he's having the time of his life. Good for him.
Dylan's singing was never a bravura exercise in musicality or vocal technique, and he never had what anyone would confuse with a beautiful voice. AA finds his magic (and Dylan is magical) in the 'feeling and meaning' he invested in every performance. His often heavily nasal tone and punchy, emphatic delivery added much to his incredible lyrics that themselves were loaded with poetic feeling and meaning. Judged against the original, Chalamet isn't much of a vocalist and can't compete with the magic. Not that anyone really could -- Dylan has always been in a class by himself.
I really liked the movie. However, one weird thing that bothered me was that the song "Like a Rolling Stone" was shown twice in the movie, but they never did the last verse of the song. That's the verse that really brings it home. That's the verse that is the poetic masterpiece. Why would they not put it in the movie? Weird.
Calumet leaves me cold. Acting is more than off-camera androgen and I don't see anything else.
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