Slow Train Coming - Bob Dylan

...you are caught in the slow romance of the previous song because the abrupt drum will make you jump! This is the title track and returns to the first track's funk-groove fusion. Twanging guitars, Horns, moving drums, backing vocals, excellent lead guitar - you name it and more than likely this song has it! "Man's ego is inflated, and his laws are outdated" .. I agree Bob! It's all round a good performance and I particularly like the piano ...
...Of Thinking'. This is a slow rock blues number with by far the roughest guitar heard so far on the album. The organ work is sublime, there is no other word for it, it just fills so well and dances with the excellent lead guitar. The Horns fit perfectly with the rhythm section to make yet another very solid musical song. Dylan I can't help but feel is slightly too quiet in the mix. On the previous songs it worked well but with the harder edge of the ... more

The time is 1979 the place is heaven and hell; your host for this battle shall be a Mr Dylan of Zimmerman.

This was the first Bob Dylan born-again Christian phase album and in my opinion by far the best. So many people run away from this album because they don't like religion, and most certainly a lot of Dylan fans don't like religion. It almost seemed like the worst possible thing that could have happened to Dylan. He had gained his reputation for liberating the mind, freeing people's thought from the shackles of conformed society. So to suddenly find this faith and then bible bash the audience with it is considered by almost all to be a dark chapter in the legend's history. I say almost all because I personally don't see it as quite the terrible thing many do. I have read comments in the past from morons saying that the best thing Dylan could have done was die in his motorcycle accident in the mid 60s. His name would only have ever been associated with freeing the world's mind, and inventing Folk Rock. What they fail to see is that Bob Dylan DID die in the accident!

Bob Dylan is the persona of Robert Allen Zimmerman and he has died and been reborn numerous times, many many times. A lot of people don't even think 'that' famous accident happened, and on the same note there are those who question whether Bob Dylan finding religion was in fact just another rebirth planned by Zimmerman for his creation. I don't think many would ever try and dispute that Zimmerman is a highly intelligent man who lives as an existentialist. When you look at his work you don't know if it's really him or if it's part of him or somebody totally different. In that light when I listen to the born-again albums I don't take offence at the sentiments expressed. Yes normally I'd object to hearing some of the things said, I don't like religion one little bit, but here it somehow seems more of an exploration of human beings involved in religion. It's almost like Zimmerman is provoking the audience to consider what it's all about and to see why people can be sucked into religion.

~~~The Music~~~~

The album starts with 'Gotta Serve Somebody' abruptly grooving in. I don't like the sentiment of the song but I do love the song! If you put aside meanings and whatnot the fact remains that this is an excellent song. "It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody" Dylan sings. Whilst I may not like the sentiment I have to confess the more I listen to it the wider brief this song seems to have. Whilst he's saying that in the end you'll have to serve either of the two characters the Lord or Devil, what I like is that this song is saying that in the end we are all equal. No human is worth more than another, no matter how much money you have or what your social status is. I don't believe in any afterlife but it's a nice thought all the same!

As I mentioned the music has certainly got groove! A nice steady drum and bass drive the song along, but the song is given buckets of funk by the organ that fills throughout. This song also provides a rare personal line: "you may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy." Bless! Five and a half minutes of cool groove!

'Precious Angel' is the next song on the album; it starts with a brief ambient guitar intro. The drum beat then kicks in and is very solid all the way through; it gives you something to hold on to. The strumming of acoustic guitar is joined by electric lead, piano and lots more; it's a great effort. Dylan is singing quite soft, it's almost talk-singing but not rough. This is the longest track at six and a half minutes long but it keeps interest well. The choruses are sung "Shine a light, Shine a light on me" with the assistance of some angelic backing singers. To the wisdom of Dylan the angelic backing singers sing at different times throughout the song, which gives an alteration that sustains interest. At some points they sing when he sings, sometimes just after and then towards the end they sing without him. It sounds really good, the arrangement of a musical genius!

'I Believe In You' starts with an Acoustic guitar being strummed. A nice full bass line then supports this and only after about a minute does the drum come in. This is quite a sweet song. Dylan vows that he'll believe in "you" and though we know that is most likely God I think this song can be applied to so many other things too. As far as I'm concerned this is a love song, and if I had someone I loved who perhaps was at one of life's great lows I can imagine singing this to them. It's a wonderful song of faith that even if someone loses everything and no matter how hard the path may be you will give your belief and faith to them. "I'll believe in you when white turns to black, I believe in you even though I may be outnumbered." I find that endearing, and the music is once again very strong indeed. This song fades away with a frankly beautiful instrumental.

'Slow Train' starts with a real thud, watch out if you are caught in the slow romance of the previous song because the abrupt drum will make you jump! This is the title track and returns to the first track's funk-groove fusion. Twanging guitars, Horns, moving drums, backing vocals, excellent lead guitar - you name it and more than likely this song has it! "Man's ego is inflated, and his laws are outdated" .. I agree Bob! It's all round a good performance and I particularly like the piano that appears halfway through wiggling itself away.

Another walloping start for next song 'Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking'. This is a slow rock blues number with by far the roughest guitar heard so far on the album. The organ work is sublime, there is no other word for it, it just fills so well and dances with the excellent lead guitar. The Horns fit perfectly with the rhythm section to make yet another very solid musical song. Dylan I can't help but feel is slightly too quiet in the mix. On the previous songs it worked well but with the harder edge of the music here you occasionally lose what he's saying unless you specifically listen to him and not the music. The lead guitar here is very 70s rock style and an excellent addition so listen out for it.

'Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)' funks its way in next. Talk about a funk-groove Bassy performance! It's a very cool and relaxed song musically and the message I suppose is quite a noble one. Lines like: "I don't want to defeat no one, who has already been defeated" and "If you do right to me baby, I'll do right unto you... Do unto others like you'd have them, like you'd have them do unto you" make for an agreeable song. Another interesting line is "don't want to put my faith into nobody, not even a scientist."

'When You Gonna Wake Up' is perhaps one of the biggest challenges of the album. It starts "God don't make promises he don't keep, you got some big dreams baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep, When you gonna wake up" as if to suggest a judgment day will come perhaps. Challenge aside for a moment, this song is excellent. How people could somehow not be caught up in the waltzing jazzy music is beyond me. There is once again a funky steady rhythm section with all manner of excellence laid on top. One of the best things about the song though is the changes in tempo for the choruses. One moment you're just bouncing along the next you're running full pace down a hill. I'm not sure how his Bobbiness did it but somehow these changes in tempo don't seem to be predictable. This gives the song a real edge.

The words are challenging to the audience, for example: "Karl Marx has got you by the throat and Henry Kissenger has got you tied up into knots." And it seems 'Waking Up' is about finding God. But lines like "Gangsters in power and Lawbreakers making the rules" again give the song a slightly wider appeal than on first glance. You see, I think sometimes it doesn't matter if you believe in the God Dylan talks of. But you could perhaps think of yourself as your own personal God and the songs still work. It's a case of using this old concept of God to work for your personal belief, and this album provokes you to think about that.

Wobbling in next is 'Man Gave Names To All The Animals'. Dylan begins supported by backing singers. There is a constant sparse Drum and Bass pattern supported by twanging guitar and organ (later morphing into a Piano). It's a nice sound they've got here, and it doesn't get the credit it deserves sometimes. It's good for telling a tale like this song does. Dylan's vocal performance is consistently good; he seems to use some kind of technique here, which is unusual!

The final track 'When He Returns' from the outset feels like a gospel song. It's Piano and Dylan's vocals, in stark contrast to the rest of the album. I like this way of ending, a very different track to the rest. The vocal performance I believe to be outstanding. You occasionally hear the odd strain and it somehow makes it sound better, something not many can do. "How long can I listen to the lies of prejudice, how long can I stay drunk on fear out in the wilderness" is a good line. But yes I suppose I'll have to come to the inevitable issue given away in the title: HE! It seems this is a song about the second coming. "Like a thief in the night, he'll replace wrong with right, when he returns" Dylan reports, which I'm sure you'll agree is a comforting thought to have if you believe. But did Dylan really believe? I'd say "God Knows" but it's probably inappropriate. It sounds good; I enjoy listening to this song a lot even if the sentiments are almost too obvious for me to enjoy it. But no, actually I think this kind of religion is quite sweet really, if a little naive.

~~~Conclusion~~~

I see this album as yet another confrontational performance from Dylan. He is challenging the audience to think! Just like he did at the Royal Albert Hall gig in Manchester 1966, just like he did so many other times before this is an artist forcing people to start thinking for themselves. I admit I really struggle to see Robert Allen Zimmerman himself finding religion even if his creation Dylan did. I see this as another area of exploration for Dylan. After all 40 years of making the exact same art would be terrible for a great artist like Dylan. Change is needed, new areas need to be examined and experienced. Life is about experiencing for many. The way many true intellectuals think is that they need to experience as much as possible in search of wisdom. Those who sit around all their lives preaching out of textbooks aren't clever, they are fools!

There is a sweetness to this album. Even if Dylan had actually truly found religion you get the impression that he's still a fair-minded liberal thinker. By that I mean I can't see him for example ever saying gays should burn in hell forever even if his religion did say that, which it does! But do I honestly believe the guy who took his 'if you're looking for someone to trust, trust yourself' artistic vision to the world abandoned those beliefs and turned to religion? Well no. I personally can't see that, it's like living a good honest life and then insisting the police put you in prison. That's why I personally see this very much as a subtle concept album.

But the fact is, here we are again, having to really think about what's going on. I was once describing my musical tastes to someone. I said I loved Queen and that Queen gave you a fully built house complete with furnishings and kitchen sink. I said I loved Bob Dylan even more and that Bob Dylan gives you some bricks and says: "here you go, take them away and build something, anything you like with them. Use your own mind." And whether he found religion or not doesn't alter the fact that he made us all think for ourselves once again. A remarkable artist, and this is a remarkable album.

Musically this is one of my favourite Bob Dylan albums, it is full of groovy swing and has kick in it too. The words are interesting and contain some good thoughts. As said I look upon this as a concept album rather than a Bob finding Christ album. And if you look at it in that manner and forget your objections to religion (if you have them) whilst you listen to it- Slow Train Coming unravels to be a time-less masterpiece. It really deserves a lot more credit than it gets.  

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