Dylan's Christian period

Not that all the lyrics are bad, but this set incl. recurring, off-putting syndromes.

sheiks walkin around like kings

god every line of this song is so bonkers amazing

yes!

i was just listening to that album the other night, it is so great

she was a backwoods girl but she sure was realistic

sons becomin husbands to their mothers

'change my way' a close second, i roffle every time

His eyes were two slits that would make a snake proud
With a face that any painter would paint as he walked through the crowd
Worshipping a god with the body of a woman well endowed
And the head of a hyena

'precious angel' has one of the best

you either got faith or you got unbelief and there ain’t noooooooooooooo neutral ground

I've yet to find a copy of Shot of Love but Saved shouldn't be slept on either - "Pressing On" is great

so is "covenant woman" imo

Yeah, "Covenant Woman" is one of my favorite Dylan love songs.

Dylan to perform on Letterman apparently

maybe he will do Gotta Serve Somebody lol

i can remember staying up to see him play on letterman in the early 90s. he was terrible!
the 80s performance is one of my favorite dylan clips though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkfxa8UYeGo

yeah that's a good one

was that 90s one where he had like Michelle Shocked and K.D. Laing and I forget who else as backup singers, and he mumbled his way through Like a Rolling Stone? (I have clear memories of this performance but forget what it was for)

haha yeah just watched it. the backup choir is wild - michelle shocked, emmylou harris, nanci griffith, mavis staples, rosanne cash.

ah right KD wasn't there, I remember it was just this insane list of great female singers

feel like Dylan's was thinking to himself "words... what are words anyway?" during the whole thing

"People like to talk about the new image of America but to me it's still the old one -- Marlon Brando, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, it's not computers, cocaine and David Letterman, we gotta get off of that."
- Bob Dylan, Biograph liner notes
boy dylan was wrong about that one... America is computers, cocaine and David Letterman!

Dave interviewed Paul the other night, who mentioned when Dylan appeared in the 80s, the first thing he said to him backstage was "Can you introduce me to Larry 'Bud' Melman?"

yeither got faith or unbelief
thereain't NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO neutral graaaauuuuuuuuooond

Just came across this---haven't listened yet, but looks promising/Promising, and be sure to read the transcribed Bobtalk:
http://www.themidnightcafe.org/?p=4908

xp j that is like the best line and there are so many great lines from this era, I love it

he almost makes me want to become a christian so i can go around judging ppl

all the stuff on 'slow train' about the law is about alimony and taxes, y/n

MIGHT BE WORKING IN A BARBER SHOP YOU MIGHT KNOW HOWTA CUT HAIR.

PEOPLE STARVING AND THIRSTING
GRAIN ELEVATORS ARE BURSTING

GOD DON'T MAKE PROMISES HE DON'T KEEP
YOU GOT SOME BIG DREAMS BABY BUT YOU KNOW THAT TO DREAM YOU GOTTA STILL BE ASLEEP

always think "karl marx has got you by the throat and henry kissinger's got you tied up in knots" is going to be "and henry kissinger's got you by the rocks"

Someone school me on Mr. Dylan, is Knock Out Loaded during or after his Christian period? As a new generation listener, Brownsville Girl, to me, is the best thing he's ever done as it feels the most honest examination of Dylan the myth and Dylan the man he ever recored. From a habitual liar, it strikes the most true. Though much later, Not Dark Yet, is a close second.

Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love (to a lesser extent) form the christian trilogy (even though a lot of Dylan's other material is ofc also christian in imagery, topics etc.) so the first post-christian period album is, fittingly, Infidels (1983)

Knocked out Loaded (1986) is a terrible post-christian album but Brownsville Girl is a fantastic standout track, believe there are also some cool demos available somewhere - no live versions though afaik

Christian albums are pretty recognizable since they deal in unambiguous terms with christianity, words like satan jesus etc. pop up a lot

Okay, cool thanks. :) More than 30 years removed, the three years starting with Infidels to Knock Out Loaded are more blurred, at least initially to me, than they as distinct as they were at the time. I'm so excited to listen to and wade through all of Dylan, but it is not an insignificant body of work to get your arms around.

GOT A GOD FEARING WOMAN, ONE THAT I CAN AFFORD
SHE CAN DO THE GEORGIA CRAWL, SHE CAN WALK IN THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD

timely revive, was just listening to this bootleg this morning, so good
http://www.bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-s17.html

i like the idea that when dylan is speaking in the name of the LORD his lyrics are in all caps

HEY KILL ME A SON

knocked out loaded is a terrible album but brownsville girls is like top 3 dylan tunes for me, it is amazing

I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
IN YOUR BUSTED DOWN FORD AND YOUR...platform heels

i like (the terrible) "drifting too far from shore" because i imagine it as written to himself. "they killed him" is close to the worst dylan song. "brownsville girl" obv a historic masterpiece. not christian dylan tho no. around the three albums niels mentions there are (as usual) some amaze outtakes-- "foot of pride" maybe the best source of insane ALL CAPS zingers in the period.

singing AMAZING GRACE all the way to THE SWISS BANKS

she'll feed you coconut bread
and spice buns in bed
IF YOU DON'T MIND SLEEPING WITH YOUR HEAD FACE DOWN IN THE PLATE!!!

listening to knocked out loaded right now
and i kinda wonder how much better pro forma blues raveups like "you wanna ramble" would sound w/his current band and production style, minus the gated snare and 80s backing vox etc

you mean without the "Sunglasses at Night" synth at the start of "Driftin' Too Far From Shore"?

i think that his latter day approach would've done wonders for a lot his 80s material ... not quite the same thing, but I'm always surprised by how great Under the Red Sky songs sound in Neverending Tour form.

yeah back when I was still playing in the Dylan fantasy league Never-Ending Pool, he was suprisingly fond of "Cat's in the Well" (especially) and would also pepper in "Handy Dandy"

we ended up quitting because his setlists have really calcified compared to what they were in the mid 00s

man you know...who's got two thumbs and likes to critically re-evaluate an underrated Dylan ablum? - this guy - but outside of brownsville girl & a couple others knocked out loaded is straight *poop emoji*

^^^ didn't know whether to duck or run so you ran

ha yeah, it's not a dylan album i actually want to listen to.
but yeah aside from a few one offs, it seems like he just picks a setlist for a tour and sticks to it these days. which actually is fine (if less fun for internet trainspotters like you & me) -- the recent shows i've heard have been really solid and together, probably because the band knows those songs cold.

this is his current set, which is impressively non-greatest hits for the most part.

1. Things Have Changed
2. She Belongs To Me
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
4. What'll I Do
5. Duquesne Whistle
6. Melancholy Mood
7. Pay In Blood
8. I'm A Fool To Want You
9. Tangled Up In Blue
(intermission)
10. High Water (For Charley Patton)
11. Why Try To Change Me Now
12. Early Roman Kings
13. The Night We Called It A Day
14. Spirit On The Water
15. Scarlet Town
16. All Or Nothing At All
17. Long And Wasted Years
18. Autumn Leaves

(encore)
19. Blowin' In The Wind
20. Love Sick