Dylan's Christian period

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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.

Popture, Friday, 23 October 2015 13:36 (eight years ago) link

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

niels, Friday, 23 October 2015 13:46 (eight years ago) link

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.

Popture, Friday, 23 October 2015 13:58 (eight years ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 23 October 2015 14:01 (eight years ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 23 October 2015 14:02 (eight years ago) link

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

j., Friday, 23 October 2015 14:49 (eight years ago) link

HEY KILL ME A SON

j., Friday, 23 October 2015 14:50 (eight years ago) link

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

marcos, Friday, 23 October 2015 20:02 (eight years ago) link

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

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:06 (eight years ago) link

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.

playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:13 (eight years ago) link

singing AMAZING GRACE all the way to THE SWISS BANKS

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:15 (eight years ago) link

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!!!

playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:16 (eight years ago) link

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

Comme Si, Kamasi (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:24 (eight years ago) link

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

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:27 (eight years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Friday, 23 October 2015 20:28 (eight years ago) link

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

Comme Si, Kamasi (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link

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*

Comme Si, Kamasi (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:56 (eight years ago) link

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

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 October 2015 20:56 (eight years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Friday, 23 October 2015 20:57 (eight years ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 23 October 2015 21:02 (eight years ago) link

good to seem some stadows material in there

j., Friday, 23 October 2015 21:05 (eight years ago) link

Xxp MY GOD THEY KILLED HIM

JoeStork, Friday, 23 October 2015 21:05 (eight years ago) link

good to seem some stadows material in there
yeah and a couple from Stadows In The Night II: Still Stadowy

tylerw, Friday, 23 October 2015 21:35 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

JEFFERSON TURNIN OVER IN HIS GRAVE

j., Sunday, 6 December 2015 22:28 (eight years ago) link

two weeks pass...

just put on side 2 of Saved and maybe it's just the holidays but sounds pretty good to me! remembered this as a total dud...

niels, Friday, 25 December 2015 09:37 (eight years ago) link

I love how "In the Garden" is as much about Dylan as Jesus

droit au butt (Euler), Friday, 25 December 2015 11:52 (eight years ago) link

it's certainly not abt Mel Gibson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCRFeRyfJW8

niels, Friday, 25 December 2015 13:31 (eight years ago) link

anyone know who's drumming?

niels, Friday, 25 December 2015 13:36 (eight years ago) link

It's not Stan Lynch?

Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 25 December 2015 15:05 (eight years ago) link

I guess it must be - was that an entire tour with Petty & Heartbreakers backing Dylan?

niels, Friday, 25 December 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link

Not 100% sure, but obviously from that video you can see Petty and some other Heartbreakers, and I just glanced at Behind The Shades and some other books and it seems to be the case. And Stan didn't leave the band until much later.

Die Angst des Elfmans beim Torschluss (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 25 December 2015 16:50 (eight years ago) link

two months pass...

SO much oPRESSion
can't keep TRACK OF IT NO MORE

denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 February 2016 22:37 (eight years ago) link

how many 60s dinosaurs went into the 80s as cleareyed as "well i dunno which is worse / doin your own thing or just being cool"

denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 February 2016 22:44 (eight years ago) link

SO much oPRESSion
can't keep TRACK OF IT NO MORE

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, February 26, 2016 4:37 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this makes me of think of dylan keeping a spreadsheet of forms of oppression and needing to hire interns to update it

wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 26 February 2016 23:18 (eight years ago) link

for one of his list songs

denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 February 2016 23:24 (eight years ago) link

Doctor, can you hear me? I need some MEDICAID!!!
I seen the kingdoms of the WORLD and it’s makin’ me feel afraid!!!

tylerw, Friday, 26 February 2016 23:27 (eight years ago) link

three months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0J3Y5s_kfo

Just stumbled over this reappearance of the Toronto 1980 show. Much improved quality!

Also, thanks to all in this thread who convinced me to revisit this so-wrongly-dismissed era.

doug watson, Wednesday, 15 June 2016 13:48 (seven years ago) link

the sermon around the hour twenty mark and the blistering song afterwards...I just love seeing him so unjaded

The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 15 June 2016 14:23 (seven years ago) link

yeah, such an intense performance overall.
was just revisiting this early take of "caribbean wind" which isn't quite there, but is nice nonetheless
https://vimeo.com/66756497

tylerw, Wednesday, 15 June 2016 14:25 (seven years ago) link

four months pass...

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/no-man-righteous-dylan-and-pseudoconservatism/

j., Tuesday, 18 October 2016 17:31 (seven years ago) link

time is forever just running out … The apocalypticism of the paranoid style runs dangerously near to hopeless pessimism, but usually stops short of it

...

a fear of the end-times quickly becomes indistinguishable from a yearning for them

...

the various songs yield an exhaustive, Whitmanesque catalog of villains

but enough about 60s dylan

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 18 October 2016 17:54 (seven years ago) link

ew rob horning

who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 18 October 2016 18:18 (seven years ago) link

YA HEAR THAT, ROB HORNING??!?

j., Wednesday, 19 October 2016 00:31 (seven years ago) link

one year passes...

Has anyone here been discussing THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOLUME 13: TROUBLE NO MORE?

the pinefox, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 13:55 (six years ago) link

yep quite a bit in the Dylan bootleg series thread

Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 14:15 (six years ago) link

everyone loves it and is baptised in the blood of the lamb

Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 3 January 2018 14:17 (six years ago) link

two months pass...

im going to see the "trouble no more" film tonight!

marcos, Friday, 9 March 2018 22:18 (six years ago) link

jealous!
i love the lord & these live albums

It's not delivery, it's Adorno! (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 March 2018 22:38 (six years ago) link

jesus christ & bobby dylan are my reconciliation

marcos, Friday, 9 March 2018 22:40 (six years ago) link

I DON'T CARE ABOUT ECONOMY

I DON'T CARE ABOUT ASTRONOMY

tylerw, Friday, 9 March 2018 22:44 (six years ago) link


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