Saturday 14th February

We should have seen it coming, Dylan had sprinkled his songs with religious imagery over the years, and there was always an unmistakable tone of preaching in many of his songs.  Maybe that was why so many hung on his every word.  For me, it was always the poetry, the beauty of the words, the sentiments so cleverly expressed.  Anyway in late ’78 Dylan, born a Jew, had a Christian conversion; according to one version someone threw a silver cross onto the stage which Dylan picked up and immediately felt enthused and enlightened.  Whatever.  You can accuse Dylan of many things, but he is always honest.  Given his being ‘reborn’ he threw himself into it wholeheartedly and four “Religious Albums” followed.

“Slow Train Coming” was released in ’79, and featured a still young Mark Knopfler on lead guitar.  His playing is brilliant and must have influenced the whole sound, the tenor of the album.  But the words were Bob’s and they were all about some sort of ‘Judgement’ coming soon, and warning non-believers to watch out.  Not that the songs weren’t brilliant in themselves but the whole album is so overtly religious.  This was followed by “Saved” with possibly the most tasteless cover he ever chose and a bunch of songs which were even more “Christian” in their message.  Many people stopped listening to him now, but I don’t think he cared at all – he had a message he needed to tell us, whether we were listening or not.

“Shot of Love” (another awful cover) followed, but this was much better; some brilliant songs on this one ‘Heart of Mine’ and ‘In the Summertime’ and the majestic ‘Every Grain of Sand’.  The mood was shifting away from specifically Religious songs and even included a tribute to Lenny Bruce, who had recently died.

The last of what I call his religious albums is “Infidels”.  But though full of great songs this was a return to a vengeful God, most of the songs were angry, targeting Isreal’s enemies or cheap foreign labour.  Again Mark Knopfler was on board and the songs sound wonderful, especially ‘ Sweetheart like you’ and ‘Jokerman’ with its poetic imagery and great melody.

I am never really sure what I feel about these four records.  Moments of brilliance I must admit and his voice and singing are wonderful as ever, but the words are often bitter or just too Religious for me to listen to.

But compared to what came next they are indeed still wonderful….