List Price: $14.98You Pay Only: $7.49 You Save: $7.49 (50%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0014381289428
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: February 07, 2006
Running Time: 82 minutes
Sales Rank: 14882
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: February 07, 2006
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Editorial Review:
Description:
In 2003 an all-star cast of gospel singers took Bob Dylan's gospel compositions and created a GRAMMY-nominated album. Now Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan features roof-raising performances by these spirited artists while documenting the making of the album of the same name, interweaving bracing reinterpretations with interviews of these celebrated gospel artists. It also presents commentary by musicians including Jim Keltner, Spooner Oldham, Fred Tackett, and Regina McCrary, who recorded and performed with Bob Dylan during his gospel period. Legendary record producer Jerry Wexler and respected music journalists Paul Williams and Alan Light also offer insights on this fascinating body of work. This musical documentary also premieres 1980 footage of Bob Dylan performing 'When He Returns,' the first archival performance released from this important era. Featured Performances: Solid Rock (Sounds of Blackness), Gotta Serve Somebody (Shirley Caesar), I Believe In You (Dottie Peoples), Saving Grace (Aaron Neville), What Can I Do For You? (Helen Baylor), Are You Ready (The Fairfield Four), Saved (Mighty Clouds of Joy), Pressing On (Chicago Mass Choir) and V.
Amazon.com:
Gotta Serve Somebody - The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan is all about redemption. That's apparent enough in the music, where the struggle between sin and salvation is inherent in the tunes that are interpreted here by a host of superb gospel artists. But in a larger sense, the very existence of this DVD (and the Grammy-nominated CD that preceded it in 2003) can be viewed as redemption for Dylan himself, who weathered another controversy and emerged, if not triumphant, then certainly vindicated. When he plugged in an electric guitar in 1965, he was labeled 'Judas' by the folkie faithful; ironically, when he turned to Jesus some 15 years later, proclaiming himself born again and releasing Slow Train Coming and Saved, the outcry was even louder. But once again Dylan has the last laugh, as now, a quarter of a century after the fact, it's clear that the material on those recordings was his strongest not only since 1975's Blood on the Tracks but perhaps since his '60s heyday. The quality of the songs lies in what Jerry Wexler, co-producer of the two Dylan albums, describes as the 'immaculate funk' of the music, and especially in the heartfelt simplicity (especially by Dylan standards) and emotional directness of the lyrics; clearly, that's what attracted great gospel singers like Shirley Caesar (singing 'Gotta Serve Somebody,' the most recognized song on the two Dylan albums), Dottie Peoples (a powerful version of the beautiful 'I Believe in You'), the Mighty Clouds of Joy (a rockin', sanctified 'Saved'), the Fairfield Four (the stirring, a cappella 'Are You Ready'), and the angel-voiced Aaron Neville ('Saving Grace') to this project. We also get Dylan himself, performing 'When He Returns' at a 1980 concert, along with an animated rendering of his original 'Gotta Serve Somebody.' Hallelujah, y'all. --Sam Graham
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - great gospel music.
I was actually expecting to get Dylan singing these songs.That being said, I was not too disappointed that he wasn't. Anyone who likes Black Gospel will love this dvd.The sound was great and the interviews,while sometimes redundant, didn't get in the way of the full song versions.
I am coming late to appreciate Dylan's Gospel music. These songs are some of his best. The lyrics stand right along side the best of any Gospel writers.
I highly recommend this dvd.
Rating:  - . These songs represent each and every descendant of humanity
Gotta Serve Somebody is a well-produced music documentary that showcases highly-skilled and creative artists in studio recording sessions. Individually, and inter-dependently, they attempt to reach personal pinnacles of expression in their interpretations of some well-chosen Dylan `gospel' songs. Opportunities to view musicians recording in a studio are rare; recording sessions produced with such attention to technical details of filming are even rarer and Gotta Serve Somebody may be in a class all its own. Some of the vocalists are well-known; others are probably known to followers of gospel music; their performances are strong and triumphant - even delicate and powerful, at the same time - as they react to the lyrics and the other musicians. Each and every musician, not only the vocalists, is emotionally invested in this music; their collaboration during recordings is a focus, in itself. The interviews with musicians are enlightening but the film is mostly about Bob Dylan's music. Dylan obviously chose gospel as the most easily identifiable and naturally adaptive style to express his words and sentiments in these songs. The music, lyrics excluded, is worthy of reflection to anyone who is interested in what constitutes `great artists' - their development through time and their exploration of nearly every possible genre as a means of personal expression. The lyrics reflect Dylan's personal longing for salvation and joy in the mystery of his own transformation, in contemporary Christian religious ... Read More
Rating: - Terrific Music! Could have used less commentary...
I really like Bob Dylan's albums that he devoted to faith and God. I know many people find this period of his carreer odd or even annoying but I think it was really courageous of him to write and sing what he felt no matter what people thought - he was and still is his own person!
The artists who sing on this film are all terrific musicians. This is one of the best features of this DVD. They also give great commentary on what the songs mean to them which is interesting to hear and gives their renditions of the songs that much more force and intensity.
What is not so interesting are some of the historians and writers who comment on Dylan and this period of his career. They try to explain it or justify it etc. I think that the songs and the artists comments would have been sufficient leaving it up to the viewer to decided his or her own opinion on Dylan and these Gospel songs.
I do recommend this DVD though highly and I think the CD would also be a great purchase!
Rating: - glorious
So beautiful, glorious. A higher calling to one of the musical greats of the last half century and more. I'm keeping the faith. My thanks to everyone involved in this sublime and incredible rediscovery. Mr. Dylan, it still stands.
Rating: - A beautiful testament to the growth of a seminal American artist
In Gotta Serve Somebody, director Michael Borofsky presents us with a documentary about this controversial and enthralling segment of Bob Dylan's storied career. Basically, Serve Somebody documents the making of the 2003 Columbia Records album Gotta Serve Somebody, a record which stitched together some of the greatest Gospel voices of our time (Shirley Caesar; Dottie Peoples; Rance Allen; The Fairfield Four) doing vintage interpretations of Dylan's oft-disregarded Gospel catalog. This is beautiful and timeless music which strikes at the cores of psyche and soul like a triumphant hammer. Simply, this is the music from which legends and poets and seers are brewed. Gotta Serve Somebody swells and bulges with great music. How does one pick centerpieces? No review could ignore Dottie People's riveting version of I Believe In You-- And then there's Rance Allen in the studio doing his version of When He Returns. The Chicago Mass Choir's rendition of Pressing On (led by Dylan's former back-up singer Regina McCrary who stops singing momentarily to candidly speak of how the loss of her child forged a deep undying faith) will make you want to cry: McCrary's vocal teems and soars, her bloody and brazen belief in the aura of the Christ pushing these crystal storms of music to invisible pinnacles -suddenly, it becomes impossible to question a piece of art this multi-dimesional and confessional and pure. Aside from being about great `Gospel' songs, Gotta Serve Somebody comes to collect a sheaf of great poems which ... Read More
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