Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming - 1979
Sometime in 1978, Bob Dylan "saw the light" and became a born-again Christian. It is easy to deride the three explicitly devotional albums he released in the subsequent years. Some of the criticism is justified, some of it is completely unfair.
This is the best of the albums. Its sound quality is superb, for a start, possibly the best on any Dylan album. Yes, it is that good. Mark Knopfler is on the album and it was produced by soul veteran Jerry Wexler. It has a rich, bassy warmth to it, and, while the lyrics are undoubtedly preachy and dogmatic, personally, I always find the album a pleasure to listen to and do not find any aspects of it remotely off-putting.
Gotta Serve Somebody has a great laid-back but melodically addictive feel to it and some wryly appealing lyrics. Whatever many may say, there is a great soul and a disarming ambience to the song.
The country-ish, gospel-influenced tones of Precious Angel render it one of the best tracks on the album - extended and soulful in delivery, while I Believe In You is sincere in its message and tender in its feel. These are both excellent tracks with that fine sound quality to them that I mentioned as well. I have a lot of affection for Precious Angel in particular.
Slow Train is another gospelly blues-influenced track, with some punchy horns and killer guitar. Its lyrics are quasi-political as well as sermonising, which can grate somewhat, but the general groove of the track is a stimulating one which means that I, for one, overlook the message condemning "non-believers" and ranting about foreign trade and the cost of storing food. Dylan runs theirs of sounding parochial and prejudiced times, his opinions even seem that of a zealot. There is no room for questioning in this new world of his. It is what The Lord said in the good book, and that's it.
Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking is a cowbell-driven, driving slow burning rocker, again didactic in its message. The only way of achieving redemption was, it seems by going through purgatory. "I got a God-fearing woman..." sings Dylan and "who is not for me is against me" (quoting Jesus). He sings these songs as someone freshly converted, warning us, telling us how it is and is going to be.
A beautiful, gentle bass intro brings us into the shuffling Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others) but the zeal and the fire burns as brightly on this as it had on the previous track. These last two, and the next song, When You Gonna Wake Up, are three of the most determined, evangelical songs on the album. Indeed, Dylan's vocals are as strong and totally committed as they had been for many a year. The latter track has a captivating, evocative groove to it, however. Whatever the lyrics, I find these tracks difficult to resist. In amongst the preaching, however, there are some fine, wise, cynical points made in this song - "you got gangsters in power and law-breakers making the rules...". Hmmm. What's new, I wonder? As Dylan asks - when are we gonna wake up?
Whatever Dylan's motivations behind his Christian phase, there is no doubting his total commitment and powerful, potent attack on this material. Whatever he believes, he does appear to believe in something, and is forcefully expressing it. Good for him, in many ways.
Man Gave Names To All The Animals is widely-derided by all who hear it. Not me. I have always had a soft spot for it. So what. I like it and that's that. It is infuriatingly catchy - and yes, I know Dylan also wrote Desolation Row. When He Returns is an almost hymnal ending to this devout album, Dylan singing starkly against a solo piano backing as we all troop out of church....
See you next week.
Non-album tracks
There are three outtakes that didn't make the cut and they are all excellent - the powerful Ain't No Man Righteous, Not One; Trouble In Mind and Ye Shall Be Changed. They are all enhanced by gospelly backing vocals and have the same chugging rock beat as the material on the eventual album. The tracks can all be found on the Trouble No More box set.
