Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974

“Boring” isn't a word one often associates with Bob Dylan, but that's a good description of this painfully tedious documentary that--title notwithstanding--features none of Dylan's performances nor any of his songs. In fact, Dylan only appears via photographs and in the memories of the folks who talk (and talk, and talk) about him. The main culprit here is producer-director Joel Gilbert, whose group Highway 61 Revisited is billed as “the world's only lookalike, soundalike Bob Dylan tribute band.” In the course of this two-hour show, Gilbert travels to Woodstock, New York, where he and Barry Feinstein, the official photographer on Dylan's trip to England in '66 and his '74 “comeback” tour with The Band, examine dozens of rate photos, which are--admittedly--pretty cool. If only the same could be said for Gilbert's interviewing: it's no surprise that probing questions such as “Did you give him a gift (for his birthday)?” elicit equally unenlightening responses (asked what he thought of Dylan's music during the '66 tour, Feinstein replies, “He played good. Sometimes he didn't play good”). Elsewhere, Gilbert spends time with journalist Al Aronowitz, who introduced Dylan to the Beatles, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (who shot the excellent Don't Look Back documentary on Dylan), and self-proclaimed “Dylanologist” A.J. Weberman (a kook who once rummaged through Dylan's garbage)--all encounters that are of passing interest, at best. Gilbert obviously loves Dylan and knows his oeuvre, and he does bear a passing resemblance to the younger Bob; nevertheless, Bob Dylan World Tours 1966-1974 will appeal to Dylan completists only--and maybe not even them. Very optional. Aud: P. (S. Graham)