Bob Dylan’s “Wilderness Years”
Published on May 30th, 2010 in: Culture Shock, Music |
What people got was actually a logical extension of his quasi-redneck, common-man, God-fearin’ pursuits. Put aside his tangential Jewish upbringing, and understand that he was a boy from the Iron Range, a Minnesotan at heart whose connection to the world was a short-wave radio that picked up blues, folk, and Sunday spirituals. So when Bob grew up loving the soulful sounds of the Staples Singers, the first thing he did was make it a point of chasing down the root of their sound—hence, his recording Slow Train Coming (1979) in the Muscle Shoals studios, the heart and soul of that particular vibe.
His first outing in the triptych (I prefer to look upon these three albums as a sort of strange, religiously iconic painting that shifts across panels) is definitely heavy-handed; it’s not make-out music. The whole album is a love letter to Jesus, which will either have you running from the room or biting your lip or just nodding, depending on where you stand.
What’s important to recognize here is the musicianship—he employed a trio of female African-American singers who can blow the roof off a place with their sweet backing.
There’s only nine songs here, generally mishmashing Old and New Testament stuff together with Dylan’s typical linguistic hollandaise sauce atop it all. Album stand-outs are “Gotta Serve Somebody,” “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking,” and “When You Gonna Wake Up,” all infused with that crackle-and-pop late-70s snare and Mark Knopfler’s loping guitar work, sort of a musical Sancho Panza to Bob’s Don Quixote, in a sense.
Can you look at this work objectively? Well, sure—people of all stripes visit cathedrals in Europe without curling up in a ball of cynicism. The same applies here. Bob’s work is sort of the aural equivalent of Hieronymous Bosch, except with a disco ball perhaps.
I got a God-fearing woman
One I can easily afford
I got a God-fearing woman
One I can easily afford
She can do the Georgia crawl
She can walk in the spirit of the Lord.
—”Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking”
Bob apparently likes women who can pray and do the “Georgia crawl,” which I’m guessing is a sexual position that could put you in the hospital. The point is, Bob’s human; just because he discovered Jesus didn’t mean his libido got thrown under the bus. I like the blunt duality and the fact that he’s not confused about the apparent contrast.
2 Responses to “Bob Dylan’s “Wilderness Years””
May 31st, 2010 at 11:33 pm
I never understand why people deride Dylan’s Christian years. I’m not a religious person – I’m an agnostic – but I believe some of his best music came out of the beliefs he appeared to hold (albeit briefly) during this period. ‘I Believe In You’, ‘Every Grain of Sand’, ‘Slow Train Coming’ – the vocals and lyrics on some of those songs are phenomenal. You don’t have to share his beliefs to know that this is great music. He should be respected for this. We all change – he just went through his changes in full view of the public eye, making them seem more volatile and irrational than they really were. Or to put it another way: to change is to be human.
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 am
Dylan again left his best songs on the floor. “Caribbean wind”, “Trouble in mind”, “Yonder comes the sin”, “You changed my life”, “The Groom is still waiting at the altar” and “Thief on the cross” were better than the songs he chose to release. Bobs truly great gospel album never entered the shops.
Ps. Every Grain of Sand is overrated.
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