A Contrarian's View of Dylan

Shot Of Love is one of Dylan's most confused, schizophrenic albums (the all-over-the-map Self-Portrait was at least done deliberately). I'm not just talking about the half-secular half-sacred lyrics. While the personnel remains fairly consistent throughout the album, the feel, the producer, and even the studio seems to change from song to song. Other than Street Legal, this is the album I'm most undecided about. There are some great songs one here. Shot Of Love continues in the vein of Slow Train Coming and Saved in that the title track is one of the best songs on the album. "In The Summertime" and "Every Grain Of Sand" are two of the strongest of the slow ballads during the whole born-again period. "Trouble" is another great, but sadly forgotten, song composed almost entirely from a single riff. "Dead Man, Dead Man" chugs along with a modest aplomb. "Heart Of Mine", "Property Of Jesus" and "Watered Down Love" just lay there limply. The worst song on here though - by a wide margin - is "Lenny Bruce". Forget the fact that the lyrics give no indication why such a non-Christian kind of man should be so lionized by the same guy who wrote "Property Of Jesus". According to this song, Lenny's greatest accomplishment was just being misunderstood by his peers and persecuted by the government. The same reason Bob idolized (and wrote songs for) Joey Gallo, or Billy the Kid, or Rueben Carter and George Jackson. Actually, if all it takes to gain Bob's admiration is to be wrongly accused and punished, then Dylan's Christian conversion makes a lot more sense. But putting the horrible lyrics aside, "Lenny Bruce" is still a long boring annoying song. And while Bob has a habit of changing his mind at the last minute on his albums (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks), his decision to add the B-side "The Grooms Still Waiting At The Altar" to line-up several years after the fact, is kind of cheating. But it does make a big difference. Now the balance of the album is finally tipped towards the good songs. And "Groom", another simple riff-song, is one of Bob's best. It's almost impossible to think of Shot Of Love without it.

A spiritual record for a spiritual time

This is a great holy album. While the specifically JC oriented songs stand alone, the rest of the album depicts the spiritual struggle of our generation. The standout Every Grain of Sand coulde be the holiest song ever. Time will tell.

Nearing the end of an age

Shot of Love is the second to last in an eight album sequence that rivals Dylan's initial original album sequence from the '60s. It's often looked at as his last "Christian" album, though apocalyptic lyrics and blatant biblical references have been very common in his work since then.



Shot of Love is not an album that many people reflect kindly on in the Dylan catalog. Dylan's three album Christian sequence (Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot of Love) is often looked down upon, though Slow Train is sometimes spared wrath. Shot of Love is more in the vein of Slow Train thematically, dealing with the consequence of man's ego and ignorance - and it is very biting throughout much of the album. This can make it hard for some to digest as Dylan does attack the non-believer on several occasions (though his own flaws are also cataloged). It's more accusatory than Slow Train and not as straight biblical as Saved (which has several notable straight lifts from scripture).



And how is it musically? It's all over the map. Gospel. Pop. Straight rockers. Reggae. Roadhouse. Ballads. There are a couple spots where the delivery is not quite spot on (the beginning of "Watered Down Love" is not very strong) and "Lenny Bruce" doesn't really work on the album very well. The addition of "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" is fantastic and makes the album stronger, but what is left is enjoyable as well. Outside of "Lenny Bruce" the album is consistenly strong and flows well. I find "In the Summertime" to be especially touching and lovely to listen to. The album closes with one of the best songs Dylan has ever written, the reflective "Every Grain of Sand." While some prefer the demo version on Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3, I prefer the studio version. Dylan seems more at ease and focused here, though I do prefer the end of the demo lyrically, where Dylan is a part of a "perfect, finished plan" instead of "the reality of man". Both work, just my preference.



Where does Shot of Love rank in Dylan's catalog? Well, to be honest, it's weaker overall than the album preceding it (Saved) and also weaker than the album that would follow (Infidels). It is Dylan's weakest album between Blood on the Tracks and Infidels, but it's still very good and is worth a couple of listens at the least. I would have preferred that "Lenny Bruce" not be here and be replaced with the wonderful "You Changed My Life". That would have pushed it up to five stars.