In 'Dylan Goes Electric!', Elijah Wald delves into the cultural, political, and historical context of Bob Dylan's seminal performance at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965. The book provides new insights into Dylan’s artistic evolution, his affinity to blues, his complex relationship with the folk establishment and his mentor Pete Seeger, and how he reshaped popular music. Wald breaks down the myth surrounding this event, focusing on the social, cultural, and political changes of the 1960s and how Dylan's decision marked a significant shift from folk to rock music, making it a defining moment of the era.
The big movie release this week is ‘A Complete Unknown’, but our guest is actually pretty famous... James Mangold, director of the much-anticipated Bob Dylan biopic and Hollywood hits from ‘Walk The Line’ to ‘Le Mans 66’, joins Simon for a chat. They talk about putting Dylan’s iconic and mysterious life onscreen, Timothée Chalamet’s awards-tipped performance as the young songwriting legend—and accidentally creating the Jonny Cash cinematic universe.
Picking up a teenage Dylan—then still Bobby Zimmermann—as he hitchhikes to New York, the film follows his discovery as a once-in-a-generation musical talent and a defining voice of the 60s. Through rough relationships with fellow musicians like Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro)—and himself—we watch Dylan’s rise to fame, culminating in his hellraising ‘electric’ performance at the 1965 Newport folk festival.
Is Mark shouting ‘Judas!’ or rocking along? Hear his review of the film, along with ‘Wolf Man’— the latest screen outing for the classic horror monster with a modern twist by ‘Invisible Man’ director Leigh Whannell. We’ve got Mark’s verdict on Robert Zemeckis’ new drama too, which reunites ‘Forrest Gump’ stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the story of one piece of land throughout time. It’s called ‘Here’, but it might make you wish you weren’t...
More excellent listener takes too on what you’ve been watching this week. We love hearing from you, so if you’re thinking of writing in, Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright...
Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):
Here Review: 04:29
James Mangold Interview: 29:06
A Complete Unknown Review: 43:50
Laughter lift: 57:48
Wolf Man Review: 59:05
You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo
EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
A Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts
To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kermode & Mayo’s Take 
