Earlier this month a new compilation of existing Bob Dylan footage from 1966 surfaced. The fan behind the Swingin’ Pig Vimeo account edited the best performance footage shot by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker during Dylan’s legendary 1966 World Tour and paired it with soundboard audio to create the stellar 48-minute The Best Of Elston Gun In 1966 compilation.
Bob Dylan tapped Pennebaker to document his 1965 tour of England for what turned out to be the 1967 documentary Don’t Look Back. Pennebaker, under Dylan’s direction, assembled the film Eat The Document from the footage he shot in 1966. ABC had commissioned the film and when the documentary was delivered, ABC executives rejected Eat The Document as “incomprehensible for a mainstream audience” as per Wikipedia. While unauthorized copies circulated in fan circles, the film was never officially released. Martin Scorsese did use some of the footage for his 2005 documentary No Direction Home.
The Best Of Elston Gun In 1966 starts with either complete or near-complete versions of “Visions Of Johanna,” “Desolation Row,” “Just Like A Woman” and “Hey Mr. Tambourine Man” from the solo acoustic portion of Dylan’s shows which started each concert. Bob went electric for the second half of each concert and faced vocal opposition from traditionalists who were mad he didn’t stick to folk music. The band for the part of the tour featured in The Best Of Elston Gun In 1966 is THE Band who were then known as The Hawks. Levon Helm couldn’t deal with the stress of facing angry audiences each night and headed home during the North American leg of the tour. Mickey Jones was on drums for the material included in the compilation.
“Tell Me, Momma” opens the electric portion of the compilation and is followed by “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met).” A little over two minutes of “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” was salvaged for the compilation along with portions of “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” and “Leopard-Skin, Pill-Box Hat.” The final segment of The Best Of Elston Gunn In 1966 is the money shot with “One Too Many Mornings” leading into the iconic “Ballad Of A Thin Man”/”Like A Rolling Stone” sequence from May 17, 1966 in Manchester, where in between songs Dylan responded to a shout from the audience of “Judas!” with “I don’t believe you … you’re a liar” before telling the band “Play it fucking loud.”
Watch The Best Of Elston Gunn In 1966 with thanks to The Swingin’ Pig below:
Tracklist
- 00:00 – Visions Of Johanna
- 03:37 – Desolation Row
- 05:26 – Just Like A Woman
- 11:10 – Hey Mr. Tambourine Man
- 15:01 – Tell Me, Momma
- 17:57 – I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
- 21:10 – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
- 23:20 – Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
- 26:30 – Leopard-Skin, Pill-Box Hat
- 28:30 – One Too Many Mornings
- 32:02 – Ballad Of A Thin Man
- 39:22 – Like A Rolling Stone
[Hat Tip – Doom & Gloom From The Tomb]
