I’ve recently watched the new DVD by Joel Gilbert, “Inside Bob Dylan’s Jesus Years: Busy Being Born … Again!”

Well, the first thing I’m obliged to say is that it is very, very similar to the content from the second part of Gilbert’s previous DVD offering, “Bob Dylan: Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years.” I haven’t done any exhaustive side-by-side comparison (even RWB can only take so much on this subject matter) but, although the new film is presumably much re-edited, I’ll be darned if I can say that there’s any substantially new content in it at all. It is smarter, I would say, from a marketing point of view, to release one 2-hour “Gospel Years” DVD versus the previous 4-hour “Rolling Thunder and the Gospel Years.”

So therefore, what I said about that previous release still applies to this. It’s mostly a warm and affectionate look at those years by means of interviews with people who were there. (There’s no Bob Dylan music in the movie.)

The heart of it, to me, is the interview with Pastor Bill Dwyer of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, where Dylan did his Bible study at the time. It’s said to be the first ever interview he’s granted on the subject. Dwyer comes across as a really nice, straightforward guy, and he tells stories of that time and of Bob Dylan with warmth, intelligence, respect and good humor. Regina McCrary — one of Bob Dylan’s back-up singers at the time — also has plenty of nice warm anecdotes, and there are similar remembrances from keyboardist Spooner Oldham. The late producer Jerry Wexler provides his own good-humored and fascinating insights, especially on the musical angle of things.

A more jaundiced eye on the time is represented by music critic Joel Selvin, and by A.J. Weberman (who for reasons I can’t particularly fathom is included near the end of the film making ludicrous pronouncements on how Bob Dylan will probably soon convert to Islam. Absolutely pointless garbage, with all due respect).

People who are very interested in Bob and in his gospel music will certainly be interested in the content, overall. But be warned: It’s a low-budget affair, and director Gilbert’s somewhat cheesy and anarchic sense of humor in terms of editing and strange graphics won’t be everyone’s cup of tea — although for me I think it’s laudable not to take things too seriously. The film could also be substantially shorter, but for some lengthy scenes where nothing much is happening except some background music by Gilbert’s band Highway 61 Revisited. Still, major kudos to Gilbert for the work he did in doing these interviews and in preserving these positive stories for posterity.

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