Dylan's Christian period

I think you'll find that serious (haha) Dylan fans have plenty of good stuff to say about this period. Obviously the evangelism of the lyrics is always going to be a turn-off for some, but it really is a fascinating time for Dylan.

The cover art is great too:

http://www.earthwaverecords.com/pictures/albumimg/d/a0115351.jpg

haha, that cover is nutso. you'd think it was some super-obscure private-press xtian rock record from 1977. But no, it's a BOB DYLAN record.

There's conviction there, but whatever he experienced, his lyrical voice was having trouble expressing.

That sounds about right. The songs seem to be either literal renderings of scripture or these terrifically confused metaphors.

Count me as a fan of Budokan (since someone referenced it upthread)--to a point. It seems like a bit of a conceptual coup, actually: rendering his '60s songs, including some protest numbers, as fully-arranged, showstopping Vegas numbers. Actually it sort of anticipates his Perry Como-esque Xmas album in its nonchalant mindfuckery.

Also, I thought the brief segment w/Christian Bale in I'm Not There captured this era of Dylan pretty well/amusingly. Although I am not a big fan of that film as a whole.

Yeah, I actually thought that the I'm Not There/Christian (!) Bale segment was the most successful in that movie. Just the utter sincerity of Bale's performance caught something vital about this period in Dylan's career. Of course, the sincerity is just another mask, but it's maybe one of the more convincing masks.

you guys are nuts that movie is awesome

"look its Allen Ginsberg!"

oh i liked it! it's like catnip for Dylan nerds.

did you guys catch moondog in the greenwich village sequence??

i've been trying to get my gf (not a Dylan nerd) to watch it so I can get a neutral assessment

yeah i honestly don't think anyone not steeped (DEEPLY steeped) in Dylan lore would get a whole lot out of the movie. Maybe I'm wrong ...

Film nerds, maybe ...

btw i'm not kidding about moondog, haynes sticks a guy in a moondog costume in one of the quick panning shots of the early '60s village. i kind of want to hug haynes for that.

I saw the film with two folks I wouldn't really characterize as Dylan nerds (ie, my wife and an old gay buddy of ours) and they both really dug it. They don't hate his music or anything but they're hardly obsessives (y'know my wife has some sorta weird childhood associations with Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, buddy likes early 70s Dylan, etc.)

I think I was the only one of the three of us who was excited about all the detail/ephemera tho.

and yeah I spotted Moondog

yeah it's possible that I actually didn't appreciate the movie as a "movie" just because of the Dylan trivia overload that is practically every frame.

I didn't enjoy it as much the second time - it kinda lacks some narrative motion, there's no real arc to it. But it is fun and I love that Haynes does this kind of thing (I am also a big fan of Velvet Goldmine)

it was real splashy and my immediate reaction was overstimulation and enthusiasm, but within minutes i was like, "what was that all about?" and my impression began to sour. i should see it again.

I've still not seen the film (or heard the soundtrack, though I'm less excited about the latter---I fell for too many tributes in the 90s)...mostly because I don't watch any films these days. I'll try to check it out in the next few years, though; I've heard lots good about it.

Soundtrack has some duds, but is overall pretty good. Willie Nelson w/ Calexico doing "Senor" is probably my fave.

oh "Angelina" is really great, isn't it? The organ playing is terrific, and overall the playing is very sympathetic to what Dylan is trying to get across: a lament, presumably for a woman; but it's much more sympathetic to the woman than his 60s songs about women (and more sympathetic than the Blood on the Tracks too I think). Her relationship with God is confusing Dylan: she's surrounded by God's angels, but she doesn't seek God, exactly. But Bob isn't sure about his relationship to her: she can read his mind, but she's wearing a blindfold too. There is too much occlusion, but he'll do anything for her in God's truth.

oh man it's so good.
Do I need your permission to turn the other cheek?
If you can read my mind, why must I speak?

A Better Contract: November 16, 1979 @ Warfield, SF...wow. Dylan's singing on "I Believe In You" sounds like it comes from a very deep place, like crying somehow expressed as a moaning shout. There are none of the "greatest hits" on this show: just the new gospel songs, and the playing is hot; not so different from the 1978 live sound (that we talked about sorta recently on the Street-Legal thread), but more focused. The crowd seems into it, too!

What ferocious courage he has! his preaching at the end of "Precious Angel", going into "Slow Train", about how the world is going to be destroyed & Christ is going to set up his kingdom in Jerusalem for a thousand years; & after the crowd erupts he asks, "Do you believe those things?" and they just shout back, & it's hard to tell what they really think. But I'd gather that a typical Dylan show in San Francisco is not going to attract a lot of people believing those things. It's pretty in-your-face!

i don't think i've heard that one -- is it a good recording?
euro tour from 1981 is probably the best gospel-era tour recordings I've heard.

The only boot from that era I have is Rock Solid - the Massey Hall 1980 show. Absolute stunner.

yeah, that's a killer show -- the 81 stuff is a little less fire n brimstone (he mixes in older material), but the arrangements/band are very nice.

The recording is pretty ace, as far as I can hear---they could put it on a Bootleg Series. Actually a comp of this with the Massey Hall show would make a great Bootleg Series.

yeah, a gospel bootleg series would be welcome. one of the rare pre neverending tour eras not represented by a live album ... guess there's no official petty/dylan live album.

The 30th anniversary show is a Dylan/Petty show of sorts, no?

well, it's not from the period when they were touring together -- 1986-87, I think? 30th anniversary thing is 92, right?

ah, ok---and anyway they only play together on a few songs.

i dl'd something recently that was a SF show from 1980 w/ Jerry Garcia sitting in on a few tracks. Haven't listened yet, but a cool setlist. I'll see if I can dig up the link for it.

I'll highly recommend this 1979 show: high energy, great guitar work (I guess by a guy from Little Feat?).

yeah, it's a cool band - spooner oldham, jim keltner, tim drummond ... buncha top notch 70s session dudes.

Euler did you find this online somewhere or is it a physical boot?

If it's online, please point us in that direction.

I checked Dime, it's there but there are no seeders at the moment.

http://www.dylannl.nl/Live-1979/1040-1979-11-16-San-Francisco/View-details.html

Thanks Tyler!

that site is sort of weird to navigate, but it's pretty comprehensive

I'm currently reading Volume 2 of Clinton Heylin's Songs of Bob Dylan, and I'm at the Born Again part. That era makes for pretty samey reading, but I was shocked at how little I knew Slow Train Coming and especially Saved. I'm incapable of considering Shot Of Love with anything approaching objectivity as it was my first Dylan album and I loved it then and still. I put Saved on for the first time in years yesterday, and man, it is great.

There was talk of one of the gospel gigs being recorded for a potential live album release, it's bootlegged as Rock Solid and was recorded in Toronto 1980. From everything i've read about them, the Warfield shows could come up with an outstanding Bootleg Series between them.

yeah, I got it online; tyler's link looks good! I might try the other Warfield shows too; reading around, they're evidently legendary, and I can see why: the one I was writing about yesterday is smoking.

Thanks Tyler/Euler!

Okay, this is great

Yep this boot is amazing. The band is so good that when the gospel stuff finishes i'm getting pretty bored by the solo acoustic Tambourine and Times.

aaaaactually these songs are from a different show aren't they?

Yes! Those "bonus tracks" are from a 1976 show, btw.

i did think he was being surprisingly fan friendly with that hit filled encore

kind of rad that dylan's most famous "christian" song is pretty much the sleaziest sounding thing he's ever written.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavBDpg91gA&feature=related
especially this version. the tuxes add a certain something.

who is that on the axe? that's some hair! also Crosby is shaking some mad tambourine

just watched the trouble no more film! bob's harmonica solo during "what can i do for you?"! literally transcendent

That is one of my favorite things of this entire period. Like he is channelling the holy spirit.

Fuck yeah brad otm wrt Caribbean Wind, just floored me the first time I heard it on Biograph

i know i said upthread that shot of love was maybe the best of these but that was initial excitement i think, even though "property of jesus" and "in the summertime" really knock me out. saved is the best one imo and is swiftly becoming... my... favorite... dylan... record?

both of the complete live shows in the box set are AMAZING. toronto 1980 is perfect, and then just the next year at earl's court all the arrangements are completely fuckin different!

Agree that Saved is the best studio and that Toronto 1980 show is the best period.

Bob Dylan acting out "Shot of Love."

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: Interpretive Dance Bob Dylan is the best Bob Dylan. pic.twitter.com/QLRWlmnvN4

— HarryHew (@harryhew) August 30, 2023

Gestures aside, I find this musically scintillating.

Extraordinary that he had this much vitality after almost 20 years and numerous other career phases.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI3xRnihh4c

Randomly popping up on my YouTube feed today, someone posted a couple of TV news stories from Pittsburgh from when Bob came through for one of the gospel tours. Guessing Slow Train Coming era? Not only did Bob give them an interview, but features some fantastic footage of unsuspecting fans walking out in the middle of the show.

haven't seen that before — pretty great stuff. would love to see the uncut interview there.

Interesting that he said the same thing about his old stuff in 1979 as he did in No Direction Home. "I don't know how I wrote it" as if it was a different person that did it.

Love this thread. I bet a full 65% of the most insightful and hilarious commentary written about these albums is right here (and the percentage would be higher if not for Christopher Ricks' Visions of Sin)

I listened to Slow Train Coming start to finish for the first time in a long time today. It's been one of my "five favorite albums of all time" for something like thirteen or fourteen years, and while my take on the title track has always been "real great, but not as outlandishly great as most of the rest of this stuff is," today it blew my head right off. What a magnificent rant. Yes, absolutely written in all caps.

A REAL SUICIDE CASE BUT THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO TO STOP IT

Trouble No More is the perfect soundtrack to these times. "When you gonna wake up?"

― Why, I would make a fantastic Nero! (PBKR), Thursday, March 19, 2020 7:32 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is also making me want to crack open the sealed 70s copy of this Jews for Jesus album that my Dad had and never opened:

https://www.discogs.com/release/26620745-The-Liberated-Wailing-Wall-We-Were-Like-Dreamers

Maybe some day.

Yeah, When You Gonna Wake Up is perennial. Never stops meaning something important, and I've been listening for thirteen years.

HE UNLEASHED HIS POWER
AT AN UNKNOWN HOUR

......THAT NO ONE KNEW