There is no doubting the strong case that can be made for Bob Dylan recording the very best album released in each of the past six decades.
In a few sentences it is nigh on impossible to fully acknowledge the importance of his work on the development of popular music, the innovation, symbolism and vision of his lyrics making him the defining songwriter of the past fifty five years – his impact and influence as a recording artist matched only by that of The Beatles.
Whilst readily acknowledging there is nobody as compelling to listen to as Dylan, that is not to overlook the occasional thin spots, anomalies and unforeseen twists of his career; the strangest of which may turn out to be the music that accompanied his conversion to Evangelical Christianity in the late 70s – which was the focus of a fascinating documentary entitled BOB DYLAN – TROUBLE NO MORE shown on BBC 4 last week.
Even allowing for his mastery of reinvention, which by 1979 had become second nature, when Dylan became a Christian convert it threw even the most devout of his following into a spin.
The explicit, faith-based songs that filled the albums ‘SLOW TRAIN COMING’ (1979) and ‘SAVED‘ (1980) were greeted with bewilderment and choosing to play nothing else but this material in his concerts of the time, Dylan alienated a large section of his fan base.
Early in the documentary one who was not prepared to make this leap of faith with Dylan, sums up the feelings of many by saying:
‘I came to hear some rock ‘n’ roll man – for sermons I could’ve went to church.’
‘Trouble No More‘ features footage from two live performances (Toronto, April 20 1980 and one in New York ten days later) interspersed with sermons delivered in a church by actor Michael Shannon (whose suit looks to be of the same late-70s vintage as if to blend with the era).
When he speaks of prudence, virtue and righteousness it bears comparison with the songs Dylan was writing at the time – titles such as ‘When He Returns‘, ‘Do Unto Others’ (which contains a passage from the Bible), ‘Are You Ready‘ and ‘Saved‘ all testament to his new-found belief.
Making the confession of not listening to any of these songs for at least thirty years, it came as a surprise to find them far more uplifting than previously remembered – without exception, each one sounding much better when performed live than the somewhat perfunctory album versions.
There is also no doubting the conviction Dylan must have felt as he performs with an exuberance he rarely displays in concert – indeed at one point in ‘What Can I Do For You,’ he takes the microphone from its stand and still wearing his electric guitar, paces the stage like a born-again Bruce Springsteen, smiling at the audience throughout the song.
With a four strong troupe of female backing singers, the performances take the feel of a Gospel show and with a top-notch band containing a slew of Dylan stalwarts (Jim Keltner, Fred Tackett, Tim Drummond, Spooner Oldham), claiming these as among the very best live shows he has ever played does not sound so outlandish as it once would.
But in finding God, Dylan was to discover it was not all goodness and light on the path to redemption.
The British rock press (particularly the ‘New Musical Express’) were far from sympathetic and while the song ‘Gotta Serve Somebody‘ – which opens the ‘Slow Train Coming‘ album – won him a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal performance by a male in 1980, it was viciously lampooned by John Lennon in his song ‘Serve Yourself‘ written shortly before he died. (In a recent poll, Rolling Stone magazine voted it the second worst Bob Dylan song of all time).
In the same year as winning the Grammy, Dylan also made some controversial remarks about the death of Who drummer Keith Moon and the tragedy occurring at a Who concert in Cincinnati in 1979 when eleven members of the audience were trampled to death – saying it might be God’s way of punishing The Who for their unruly behaviour.
‘You can tell Bob Dylan when you see him,’ retorted angry Who guitarist Pete Townshend, ‘that I found God long before he did and will be with him long after he is.’
It is worth noting, however, that Dylan’s conversion to Christianity represented a change in personal beliefs rather than adoption of a new musical approach, unlike say his contemporary Neil Young, who at roughly the same time made two albums of largely electronic music – Dylan’s relationship with God lasting a little longer (although not by much) than Neil’s with the synthesiser and vocoder.
The ‘Trouble No More‘ documentary closes with Dylan sitting at the piano in a rehearsal room when backing vocalist Clydie King (whom it is believed he was in a relationship with at the time), comes to sit beside him.
Together they deliver an extraordinarily moving rendition of ‘Abraham, Martin and John,’ a song popularised by Marvin Gaye, that reads as a eulogy to four men (Lincoln, Luther King and Kennedy brothers John and Robert), who strove to make the world a more just place.
For all of the weighty religious concerns contained in his songs of the period, it may well stand as the most deeply spiritual performance of Bob Dylan’s career.
Authors Note: Sadly since this article was first published on 9/4/2018, Clydie King (1943-2019), has passed away.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
