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Reassessment of Dylan’s Christian period unearths some gems

Posted by John Kenyon 11 comments

I came across a copy of Bob Dylan’s Saved at the local public library a couple of weeks ago, and it was the catalyst that led me to a reassessment of Dylan’s trio of so-called Christian albums, Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love.

Thirty years after the fact, these albums don’t feel like the radical departure they were depicted as at the time. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have felt that way – a sense of betrayal, really – at the time. But rather that the value of hindsight affords me the chance to hear these in the full context of Dylan’s catalog. With that context, these feel less like Dylan allowing his talents to be diminished as he channeled his new-found faith and more like an artist who was burned out finding a new subject that positively revitalized him.

I won’t get into the particulars of Dylan’s conversion – you can read much more about it elsewhere – but will instead focus on the music he made during this period. After the Rolling Thunder Revue, which seems like the culmination of his second great phase, Dylan seemed to be searching for a new direction. Street Legal, while containing its share of strong mid-period songs, seems to be an album by an artist searching for a larger narrative. On its follow-up, Slow Train Coming, Dylan has found it.

The album is clearly the strongest of the three Christian albums, as a Dylan still in full ownership of his songwriting prowess brought those powers to bear on these new lyrical pursuits. “Gotta Serve Somebody,” “Precious Angel” and “I Believe in You” are a strong 1-2-3 punch to start the album, the middle of those about as gorgeous a song as Dylan has recorded. There are clunkers here – “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” is a misguided bit of comic relief, and “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” feels a bit hamfisted among its neighbors – but this is a potent album.

Saved is the most overtly religious of the three albums, as Dylan’s faith seems to be in full flower. This is as close as he got to a gospel album, from the praise-worthy title track to the quietly insistent gem “Pressing On.” The singer’s passion elevates some of his most pedestrian songwriting, the fiery performances making this a real joy to hear.

Shot of Love feels like the other end of the bell curve that started with Slow Train Coming. Where that album signaled the ascent of Dylan’s faith, this one records its recession, at least from a musical standpoint. The religious content is still there, of course, but the music is more interesting and thus not as beholden on the singer’s delivery for their success. That he continues to sing with verve that practically oozes a focused intent certainly delivers these songs to a place otherwise unobtainable. Classics like “Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar” and “Every Grain of Sand” make this otherwise uneven album worth hearing.

Ultimately, these three albums are full of love songs. The problem for some is the subject of that feeling. One can try to divorce them from that source as they listen, but Dylan’s passion is difficult to ignore.

Not everything here is good, but the best of it is fairly outstanding. A playlist assembled from many of the songs mentioned above makes a 10-track collection that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with nearly anything outside of Dylan’s ’63-’66 heyday.

Filed in Bob Dylan, criticism, Music Links 11 comments
11 Comments
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Jan 14, 2011
2:43 am
#1 Anth :

“Infidels” is also clearly a Bible-inspired and -focussed album, more specifically centred on Israel, and, as the cover suggests, more autobiographical. As prophecy usually seems to require, the songs are cryptic. It’s a fairly organic progression from “Shot of Love” : one sees the same surrealism already in the out-takes from the earlier album. It all reminds me of the development from explicit to elsive/allusive that we saw around ’64.
Thanks for your insightful article !

Jan 14, 2011
9:45 am
#2 Gypsy Flag :

Absolutely true. Moreover, the live performance of that period could be considered a Bob Dylan’s “climax”. The concerts of New Orleans (November 10, 1981) or Drammen, Norway (July 10 ’81), Toronto (April 20 ’80), San Francisco (November 16 ’79) are amongst the most powerful of all Dylan’s live career. Live versions of “In the Garden” or “Pressing On” in that concerts are definitely superiors of the studio recordings. A suggestion for Jeff Rosen for the next issue of the official bootleg series!
Gypsy

Jan 14, 2011
12:16 pm
#3 Zorin400 :

Great albums. Infidels, too, was biblically inspired as #1Anth said above. But I suppose many of his subsequent albums have been, but in a more poetic and elusive way.

Jan 14, 2011
12:26 pm
#4 bill :

Street Legal began w/ an announcement. 16 yrs (since his 1st album release) 16 banners (studio albums incl. basement studio & movie soundtrack). The announcement was there was to be a changing of the guard (eden was burning, good shepherd grieving, fortune was calling etc). The new guard was to be Christ & many didn’t have hearts of courage and so were eliminated. the words do have meaning!

Jan 14, 2011
6:22 pm
#5 whalespoon :

Don’t forget that “Groom’s” did not origianlly appear on the album, but was a B-side instead.

Jan 14, 2011
7:18 pm
#6 John Kenyon :

True, but I came to that album in the CD era, so for me it’s always been a part of it. Some good comments, too, about Infidels. It’s true that this is also heavily influenced lyrically by Dylan’s Christianity, though I usually don’t see it lumped in when that era is given critical appraisal. It seems the critics were willing to overlook that aspect of the album because it was a return to form after two (perceived) lackluster outings.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I learn as much from them as I do from the research/listening that goes into my occasional Dylan posts.

Jan 14, 2011
10:29 pm
#7 Robert (Tad) :

Many thanks for highlighting this work of Dylan. As you know, about some of these songs, Dylan said (as reported), “I did not want to write them,” but evidently they had to be written. One note about “Man Gave Names,” it means that Dylan touches on the bible from beginning (Genesis 1) to the end Revelation/”When He Returns.” I sometimes say that my pastor rarely teaches me anything that Dylan has not covered more succinctly and humanly. Amazing.

Jan 14, 2011
10:50 pm
#8 Will :

I remember reading that the head of Columbia basically told Dylan, after Shot of Love, “No more Christian albums!” Hard to believe Bob would have been intimidated by a suit, but who knows? There were some dry years after Infidels.

Jan 15, 2011
3:27 pm
#9 Hank :

I’ve always loved “Slow Train Coming” and, especially, “Saved”. Although aging hippies tend to use the phrase “Dylan’s Christian Period” as a punchline, these are certainly some of Dylan’s most passionate performances. I also wish “Trouble In Mind”, the “Gotta Serve Somebody” b-side, could be added to the “Slow Train Coming” CD as “Groom’s Still Waiting…” was added to “Shot Of Love”.

Jan 16, 2011
9:25 pm
#10 John Kenyon :

It would be nice to see a Bootleg series release from the era between the mid-60s and 1989, when Tell Tale Signs starts. I have a lot of bootlegs of material from this time, but an official cleaned-up version with comprehensive liner notes would be wonderful.

Mar 26, 2011
7:58 pm
#11 Caz Dolowicz :

Kenyon– glad to see you’re on board. The very VERY important thing to realize about Christian Dylan is that it was ** much ** better live. The songs are there, mostly, on the albums, but it’s arguably Dylan’s GREATEST period as performer.

Hmmm… It used to be on youtube and elsewhere but I can’t find it– Dylan live Toronto (Massey Hall), 1980. Ask for it in the underground, it’s astounding.

It’s also 1000% influenced by ELVIS– specifically Elvis mind-blowing TCB band of early ’70s. There are other Dylan shows of Jesus period where he offers some brilliant/deranged sermons on stage. One memorable one involved the place of the bear in bible prophecy vis a vis Russia invading Afghanistan–

I kid you not.

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