A Shot of Love (1981)
1. Shot of Love
2. Heart of Mine
3. Property of Jesus
4. Lenny Bruce
5. Watered-Down Love
6. The Groom's Still Waiting at the Alter
7. Dead Man, Dead Man
8. In the Summertime
9. Trouble
10.Every Grain of Sand
 
For the most part, the 1980s weren't
particularly kind to Bob Dylan. Occasionally he would put out a strong
album, but a lot of his work was mired in muck. It shouldn't be
surprising when you consider that Dylan was "really" a sixties artist,
and the sixties and the eighties would prove to be as different as night
and day. Yes, the album cover is quite ugly, but the overall album is
one that sort of sits on the fence in terms of listenability. There are
some great things, some awful things, and a lot of so-so things.
First, he's still in his Born Again phase. This album is generally
considered the last of his Christian "trilogy". Fortunately, the lyrics
overall are the best where areas of religion are concerned. The songs
are mostly upbeat with a strong message that's obvious he's singing
about his savior, but the preaching is toned down significantly from the
overt messages of his last two albums. Sadly, it's the music that suffers
somewhat this time. The band is pretty loose, yet many of the songs
come across as a bit heavy and cacophonous. Adding Dylan's signature
voice to the mess really only makes things a bit more muddled. Stylewise,
it's miles apart from Slow Train
Coming in other words. And that's too bad.
There's one true gem on the album, the closer Every Grain of Sand
is such a refreshing change from the rest of the album. It doesn't
really sound that different from everything else here, it's
just....well...a very good song. And those are rare here. Other
highlights are the catchy The Groom's Still Waiting at the Alter,
Property of Jesus and Heart of Mine. He's starting to
pull away from his strict dogmatic approach, which was probably pleasing
to most of his fans. Sadly, the worse song on here seems completely out
of place, the tribute to the recently deceased controversial comedian,
Lenny Bruce. it's a slow, almost dirge like tune that is pretty
awful.
The rest of the album is so-so. It stays mostly upbeat both
musically and lyrically. It's just a shame that more of the songs here don't
resonate quite as well as some of the others.
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