Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21506 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 73 minutes

Amazon.com
Recorded in 1994, Bob Dylan: MTV Unplugged is a brilliant, quietly impassioned performance by one of pop music's most significant figures. Fronting his empathetic five-piece band (Bucky Baxter excels on dobro, mandolin, and pedal steel guitar; Bob himself plays frequent "rhythm leads" on his Martin), Dylan performs four of his best-known and potentially most overdone tunes in the 73-minute show; but "All Along the Watchtower," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Like a Rolling Stone," and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" all sound great, with Dylan, as is his wont, re-casting both the arrangements and melodies. Even better is the obscure "John Brown" (written in the early '60s but apparently unreleased by Dylan until now), a driving, biting war protest song of the kind that made him famous, while "Dignity," a lesser-known tune from the '90s, is filled with great lines ("Met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues... said he was abused by dignity"), and "Shooting Star" revisits Oh Mercy, Dylan's best '80s album. Through it all, Dylan says nary a word, although he does smile and shake some hands (even removing his shades) at the end. And as good as it may be, this show is most likely different from every Dylan concert before or since, a sure sign of an artist in no danger of becoming irrelevant. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Excellent presentation of this famous concert but song selection could have been better
This is the famous "Unplugged" concert recorded for MTV in 1994. Of course all Dylan fans should have this DVD, for others a few comments:
(1) Dylan often rethinks his songs in concert so the version of a song such as "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is quite different to what was recorded in the studio - this is neither a good or bad thing - just something to be aware of.
(2) Also when people say Dylan was in "good voice" here, the initiated may not be so convinced. Again Dylan live - especially in his later years - is a somewhat acquired taste.
(3) The song select could have been better. There are so many other songs I would rather have here, but obviously this is a matter of personal taste.

Just before he got to be an Old Man
This is a great lesson in how one generation sees another. Bob on Mtv is one more proof that he wasn't just a voice of us Baby Boomers, see how easily The Times They Are A'Changin fits NOW. Dig the way new phrasing of old material just plain rocks, like Desolation Row. Timelessness and the power of the music smacks you upside the head even when you're looking for it.

Bob was so much younger then, tho he's rockin' better now.
This DVD is made by MTV, and it's got weird lighting, that's of course, really cool. The songs are good, & Bob was young-ish, so buy it for sure, or you'll never own a Bob Dylan DVD. (He signed each disc himself (not really.)). It's all acoustic, even the upright bass player. He uses no elctric guitars, but it's still really good.