Word: albums
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...most of all, Bob Dylan used to write powerful lyrics, that survive the disco generation and escape parody, (though sometimes just barely). But while Dylan's new album contains some very inspired music, even his most fundamentalist listeners are going to have a hard time with these words...
...becomes tiresome after the 1000th Hare Krishna. But precedents don't faze Dylan. Jesus is coming again very soon--and we're going to hear about it. Dylan warns us that no matter who you are "You're going to have to serve somebody." And as this narrow-minded album proves, Dylan's going to serve somebody, but it sure isn't going to be his listeners. Even faithful church-goers and Ruth Carter Stapleton fans won't be thrilled by Dylan's new bent...
...Dylan is saying something very different, then he is singing in much the same way. When he belts out "Shine Your Light," the album's most inspired tune, he could be singing "Hard Rain." But Dylan falls below the usual quality of his well-known calls of the wild. In the same song, his nasal vocals are so strained his voice sounds like a parody of itself. The closest Dylan gets to his familiar tone is on the title track--the most political of the album's songs. But just when it sounds like the old Dylan, with angry lyrics...
Dylan's real savior on this album is the music. With all the divinely inspired lyrics, one might expect other-worldly music as well. Instead, a very mortal Mark Knophler of Dire Straits plays impressively of Slow Train Coming, and many of the melodies, like the melancholy "I Believe in You" and forceful "Precious Angel" carry the lyrics. Most of the music on the album, in fact, is very well produced and performed. But no one is going to say that any potential classics are hiding in this album. From the very weak "When He Returns" to the strong "When...
DYLAN'S TURN to Christianity may be a gag or a ploy to sell records. There are no clues that Dylan is being sarcastic. On the other hand, Dylan may be following John Lennon who made fools of the record-buying public when he sold an album of noises uttered by Yoko Ono. If Dylan is out to humiliate us all, at least we can say, we bought if for the music, Bob, we really...