2007 was an eventful year for the living folk rock legend known as Bob Dylan (a.k.a. Robert Allen Zimmerman). He continues to tour at the ripe old age of 66, and last year shared stages with Elvis Costello, an influential veteran songwriter in his own right who has been doing his act for three decades.

This was also the year of Dylan tributes, in the form of the very well received movie and
soundtrack I’m Not There and retrospectives like the triple disc set Dylan. He also recently re-recorded “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” exclusively for the Expo Zaragoza 2008 world fair in Spain, which is designed to help the Zaragoza economy and work towards maintaining clean and safe water there. And a new original song, “Huck’s Tune” appeared on the soundtrack to the 2007 film Lucky You.

As for this treasure, which was released late last year, The Other Side Of The Mirror captures previously unseen and raw footage of a young Bob Dylan performing some of his most legendary songs over a three-year span in Newport, Rhode Island. By the end of this run, he broke new ground for popular music, became an influential folk and rock star, and won over legions of fans in the process.

Followers of folk music were just getting to know Dylan on a national stage by 1963. His rather simple guitar work, matched with dynamic and extremely gifted lyrical talent related and spoke to the “counterculture” of the time, and wasn’t afraid to be political or question the status quo of society (”Blowin’ In The Wind” comes to mind, for example). And though he was not yet the biggest star on the scene, he had started to build a following and establish musical relationships with some highly respected singers who were successful in their own right.

The beautiful and powerful voice of Joan Baez shows up with Dylan on quite a few of the nearly 20 performances in this DVD. One of the highlights of these early collaborations was when she, along with Peter, Paul and Mary and the Freedom Singers joined Dylan for a powerful, gospel-ish version of “Blowin’ In The Wind” during his 1963 appearance at Newport. Talk about a sign of the times, it was a true blend of racial and musical harmony, performed during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement.

Baez also joined Bob — or “Bobby” as she once called him — during the antiwar ditty “With God On Our Side” early in his 1963 outdoor set (July 26 afternoon workshop). Together, their loud and in tune voices drowned out Dylan’s slightly out-of-tune acoustic guitar (for the most part). Perhaps because of the guitar sound, Academy Award-winning director/producer Murray Lerner seamlessly switched to the July 28 night performance about halfway through the song.

At the 1964 Fest, country music giant Johnny Cash sung Dylan’s praises and called him the best songwriter since Pete Seeger. Seeing the “Man In Black” sing a clip of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” on this DVD was a pleasant surprise. And Dylan, a true showman by this stage, gave the nighttime crowd (July 26) a rousing, show-closing version of “Chimes Of Freedom” on harmonica and guitar. Afterwards, it was funny watching the poor stage announcer getting frustrated with an audience that wanted more Dylan and didn’t give a hoot for whoever was coming next. Dylan did come back out to the stage eventually, but only to thank the crowd for going crazy for him.

A bit earlier in the ‘64 set, Baez, playing to the audience, did a pretty good imitation of Dylan’s singing style — “Bobby Dylan singing Joan Baez” — before the two of them did a quick, but spot-on performance of “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” Baez and Dylan were both rising stars at this point and on-stage duets like this were something to see; the song itself influenced another famous male-female duo’s hit, Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe.” And they were far from the only superstar artists to get inspiration from Dylan in the ’60s, as everyone from The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix to Peter, Paul and Mary either covered or were inspired by Dylan’s work.

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