Bob Dylan rolls out a new video today promoting “Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8” (Columbia). The video, starring David Lynch’s second favorite withering old man Harry Dean Stanton (“Inland Empire,” “The Straight Story,” “Fire Walk with Me”) is set to the Time Out of Mind out-take “Dreamin’ of You,” produced by Daniel Lanois. In the video, Stanton plays an obsessive Dylan bootlegger going through his old tapes in a desert studio, which is a total fantasy, because as any Dylan fan will tell you, Bob makes it notoriously difficult to record his shows. We do, however, like the choice of Stanton. It sort of reminds us of Kenneth Branagh as Woody Allen in “Celebrity,” and in hindsight we’re a little disappointed Stanton didn’t make it into “I’m Not There.” Maybe he can play Dylan in the adaptation of Chronicles Vol. 2?
Visually, the video is pretty formulaic and includes all of the requisite reference points for recent-Bob Dylan: old man, hot desert sun, roads, cars, and grainy, over-saturated, and processed cinematography to convey a cynical attitude towards nostalgia. Which makes a bit of sense because there’s something cynical about releasing this iteration of the Bootleg series in three different packaging and pricing variations. We like the song, and we’re pumped for the album’s release October 7.
