Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan
{{short description|2021 American film by Alma Har'el}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan
| image = Shadow Kingdom, The Early Songs of Bob Dylan.jpg
| alt = A black-and-white still of Bob Dylan singing into a microphone and playing guitar with the title of the movie over it
| caption =
| director = Alma Har'el
| writer =
| producer = Alma Har'el
Christopher Leggett
Raphael Marmor
| starring = Bob Dylan
| cinematography = Lol Crawley
| editing = Alma Har'el
| music = Bob Dylan
| studio =
| distributor = Veeps, Apple TV+
| released = {{Film date|2021|7|18|Streaming Premiere}}
| runtime = 50 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Shadow Kingdom is a 2021 concert film featuring American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Directed by Israeli-American filmmaker Alma Har'el, it was shot on a soundstage in Santa Monica, California, over seven days in 2021 while Dylan was sidelined from his Never Ending Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|date=July 20, 2021|title=Bob Dylan Delivers Streaming Concert 'Shadow Kingdom'|url=https://jambands.com/news/2021/07/20/bob-dylan-delivers-streaming-concert-shadow-kingdom/|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=Jambands|language=en-US}} The film features Dylan and a group of masked musicians performing 13 songs from the first half of Dylan's career in an intimate club-like setting.{{Cite web|title=Review: Another side of Bob Dylan — a streamed concert|url=https://www.startribune.com/review-another-side-of-bob-dylan-a-streamed-concert/600079243/|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=Star Tribune}}{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-streaming-concert-release-1234714321/amp/ | title=Bob Dylan's 'Shadow Kingdom' Streaming Concert Set for Release | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=April 13, 2023 }}{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2023/music/news/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-new-album-film-soundtrack-1235582626/amp/ | title=Bob Dylan Releasing Music from 'Shadow Kingdom' Film as an Album in June | date=April 13, 2023 }}
Shadow Kingdom premiered via the livestream platform Veeps.com with little information about its contents having been revealed in pre-release publicity.{{Cite web|last=Bals|first=Fred|date=July 2, 2021|title=What We Know and What We Can Guess About Bob Dylan's "Shadow Kingdom"|url=https://fredbals.medium.com/what-we-know-and-what-we-can-guess-about-bob-dylans-shadow-kingdom-43c02126a058|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=Medium|language=en}} Some viewers expected the event to be a live concert and were surprised when it turned out to be a stylized black-and-white art film featuring "pre-recorded set pieces" instead.{{Cite web|date=July 19, 2021|title=Bob Dylan's live-streamed concert was evocative, touching and a devotee's dream – review|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-concert-review-b1886379.html|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=The Independent|language=en}} Shadow Kingdom nonetheless earned rave reviews from critics, many of whom praised Dylan's creative re-arrangements of his early songs as well as Har'el's imaginative staging of the performances.{{Cite web|date=July 19, 2021|title=Review: Bob Dylan: He's 80, he's livestreaming and he still loves messing with us|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-07-19/bob-dylan-livestream-shadow-kingdom-review|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}
A soundtrack album, Shadow Kingdom, was released on June 2, 2023,{{Cite web|date=April 13, 2023|title=Bob Dylan Concert Film Shadow Kingdom To Be Released On CD, LP|url=https://www.spin.com/2023/04/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom/|access-date=April 13, 2023|website=Spin|language=en-US}} and the full-length film was released four days later as a rental and digital download.{{Cite web |title=Bob Dylan |url=https://view.fans.legacyrecordings.com/?qs=24ad96ef379b016d41a9f96e9b03d43b23749b276af7dc5233ebb70c9606e8f454b880db0646620aeeaf3bf8a1998466c7f4d1c7be8951da391e44eed1d7f7cb8911d8d167797508d6ac2dc9d2dd3b2c |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=view.fans.legacyrecordings.com}}
Synopsis
Shadow Kingdom showcases Bob Dylan in an intimate setting as he performs songs from his extensive body of work, created especially for this event. It marked his first concert performance since December 2019, and first performance since his universally acclaimed album Rough and Rowdy Ways.{{Cite web|title=Bob Dylan {{!}} Veeps|url=https://bobdylan.veeps.com/stream/events/51f46a6e-11c1-4d31-97df-6eb9c6bd7f5f|access-date=2021-07-29|website=bobdylan.veeps.com}} In addition to Dylan, who plays guitar and harmonica and sings, most of the song arrangements consist of two additional guitars, a bass and an accordion. The performance of "Forever Young" also features a dolceola.{{Cite web|last=Catlin|first=Roger|date=2021-07-21|title=Clearing the Smoke at Dylan's Streaming 'Kingdom'|url=https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2021/07/clearing-the-smoke-at-dylans-streaming-kingdom/|access-date=2021-07-29|website=The Vinyl District|language=en-US}}
Film cast
- Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica
- Alex Burke, guitar (Finger synching)
- Buck Meek, guitar (Finger synching)
- Shahzad Ismaily, accordion (Finger synching)
- Janie Cowan, upright bass (Finger synching)
- Joshua Crumbly, guitar (Finger synching){{Citation|last=Empire|first=Kitty|title=Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom live stream review – Dylan's juke joint of dreams|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 24, 2021|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/24/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-live-stream-review|access-date=September 20, 2022}}
Recording personnel
- Bob Dylan - vocals, guitar, harmonica
- Jeff Taylor - accordion
- Greg Leisz - guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin
- Tim Pierce - guitar
- T-Bone Burnett - guitar
- Ira Ingber - guitar
- Don Was - upright bass
- John Avila - electric bass
- Doug Lacy - accordion
- Steve Bartek - additional acoustic guitar{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Richard |date=2023-05-18 |title=Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-142585/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=UNCUT |language=en-GB}}
Setlist
{{Track listing
| headline =
| lyrics_width =
| total_length =
| all_writing = Bob Dylan
| all_lyrics =
| all_music =
| title_width =
| writing_width =
| extra_column =
| extra_width =
| title1 = When I Paint My Masterpiece
| length1 = 4:28
| title2 = Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine
| length2 = 3:10
| title3 = Queen Jane Approximately
| length3 = 5:16
| music_width =
| title4 = I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
| length4 = 2:58
| title9 = Forever Young
| length9 = 3:18
| title6 = Tombstone Blues
| length6 = 4:54
| title7 = To Be Alone with You
| length7 = 3:10
| title8 = What Was It You Wanted
| length8 = 4:53
| title5 = Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
| length5 = 4:11
| title10 = Pledging My Time
| length10 = 3:27
| title11 = The Wicked Messenger
| length11 = 2:47
| title12 = Watching the River Flow
| length12 = 3:15
| title13 = It's All Over Now Baby Blue
| length13 = 2:35
| title14 = Sierra's Theme
| length14 = 2:37
}}
Reception
Sam Sodomsky, writing at Pitchfork, called Shadow Kingdom a "gorgeous...concert film" in which "the 80-year-old icon sings clearly, melodically, beautifully", and noted that "Dylan seems at times to want to burst through the screen, gesturing passionately". Sodomsky also discussed director Alma Har'el's "knack for visualizing the haunted barroom production that Dylan has favored on his modern studio albums: As he sings in dusky rooms filled with cigarette smoke and lamplight, mannequins and Western characters, the whole thing takes on a surreal, ghostlike quality".{{Cite web|date=July 19, 2021|title=Bob Dylan Recasts His Old Selves in Ghostly Concert Film Shadow Kingdom|url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-livestream-review/|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=Pitchfork|language=en-US}}
Variety's Chris Willman wrote that those who purchased advanced tickets to the Veeps livestream "did not really know much about what they were signing up for" but that "[w]hat they got, most would agree, was better — if shorter — than they imagined". Willman also praised Dylan's vocal performances ("he hasn’t sounded better in decades") and compared the "surreality" of the film's fictional setting (the non-existent "Bon Bon Club" in Marseille, France) to locations in David Lynch's Twin Peaks.{{Cite web|last=Willman|first=Chris|date=July 19, 2021|title=Bob Dylan Gets Smoke in His Eyes, but Not So Much in His Excellent Vocals, in Lynch-esque 'Shadow Kingdom': Stream Review|url=https://variety.com/2021/music/news/bob-dylan-stream-review-shadow-kingdom-livestream-1235022627/|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=Variety|language=en-US}}
Uncut's Damien Love also invoked the work of Lynch, describing Shadow Kingdom as "deeply-felt surrealist-noir-Americana", as well as the paintings in Dylan's own "Beaten Path" series ("a handmade place of lost highways and forgotten barrooms and city lights in smeary rain; of lonely drive-in movie lots and funky diners and juke joints that all seem to float in some unfixed time that could be anywhere from the early-1930s to early tomorrow morning") and the Depression-era boarding-house setting of Conor McPherson's musical play Girl from the North Country.{{Cite web|date=July 19, 2021|title=Reviewed! Bob Dylan – Shadow Kingdom|url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/reviewed-bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-132331/|access-date=July 22, 2021|website=UNCUT|language=en-GB}}
Kitty Empire gave it a 5-out-of-5 star review in The Guardian, calling it "completely thrilling" and identifying the high point as Dylan's "poignant drawl on a sensational 'What Was It You Wanted', a series of accusatory questions that stress how slippery knowledge is". Empire also compared the Bon Bon club's atmosphere to "the vibe of the sleeve art of last year’s Rough and Rowdy Ways".{{Cite web|date=July 24, 2021|title=Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom live stream review – Dylan's juke joint of dreams|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/24/bob-dylan-shadow-kingdom-live-stream-review|access-date=July 25, 2021|website=the Guardian|language=en}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCc2SczzqWE Forever Young music video]
- {{IMDb title|id=15077244|title=Shadow Kingdom}}
- [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l-WhIIgzca4|Tim Tim Pierce discusses sessions from project]
{{Bob Dylan}}
Category:2021 documentary films
Category:American documentary films
Category:American rock music films
Category:Films shot in Los Angeles